I'm writing this review because I am so disappointed in the local police. On Saturday, July sixth, I was walking back home and saw a police car outside the Duane Reade near my apartment. I noticed because I planned to go there a few minutes later, after I had first gone home. And indeed I did. The police car was still there. After I was inside for perhaps 10 minutes, I saw a man and woman, I think in their early 50s, literally stuffing slim Jims-a processed meat- and some other items into a huge Fresh Direct bag -and maybe another bag. I was perhaps 5 feet away from them, but one was turned away from me.
As I was leaving the store, the police car was still there. At about 6:05pm I tapped on the window on the driver side, standing in the street. I said something like: "I don't know why you're here, but if it's to protect the store, you should know there are two people inside stealing a lot of items including slim Jims and putting them into a Fresh Direct bag."
When I tapped on the window, the two officers were very nice. But when I told them this, the officer in the passenger seat said something to the effect that they had to go on a call right then, and could not investigate. I was surprised. How often do you have someone willing to be witness who can point out someone stealing? A moment later, the window was rolled back up and, as I crossed the street, they sped away with their lights on. Maybe, but I have a hard time believing it, since they didn't seem in a rush until after I told them what I'd seen.
So then a few minutes later at 6:13pm, I called the 19th Precinct -somewhat bummed out and upset. I spoke to the officer answering the general number. I told him about this incident, the thievery I'd watched, and that the officers in a police car with a plate that read 4773 had sped off rather than investigate.
He told me, as they had, they probably were called to someplace important to go to. I told him that it seemed odd given the timing. At some point he told me he didn't like my way of characterizing this event. I'm sure I did at least suggest that I believed they had deliberately left upon my informing what I had seen.
He then related that I could not file a police report because I was not the manager of the store. I then asked whether that prevented the police from investigating to begin with (?). I gave an example: if I saw someone breaking into a jewelry store from the outside, couldn't I call that in or would I have to be the owner or manager? He seemed at a loss for that. I suspect this was a minor example of the so-called blue wall. But of course I could be all together wrong, and perhaps those officers were at that moment called to handle some important criminal activity.
Have you noticed all the stories in the newspapers about shoplifting and petty thievery? I have. I have also noticed that many stores have empty shelves and not as good a selection as in the past -often items I want (recently, for example, flavored Red Bull). A lot of quality food items are missing even on the Upper East Side from supermarkets. (For example, across the street is a D'agostino's that has gone precipitously down market over the last five or six years.) Prices for goods are up incredibly, everywhere. I've had conversations with employees at that Duane Reade and other stores where they explain how this is the result, at least in part, of people coming in with big bags and just running away with items. This time I saw it. Employees have been told not to try to stop them, and that's understandable. But the police? I really didn't believe it when a Duane Reade employee said they (the police) really don't want to deal with this kind of petty larceny. But now I do.
I've lived on the Upper East Side for more than 25 years. Over the years, I think I had one occasion to contact the police, and they responded at my building and did a good job. But this incident that I am writing about, above, is profoundly disturbing. Perhaps such criminals don't deserve jail time -at least for the first few times- but they certainly need to be detained, go through the criminal court system and perhaps given meaningful community service(?). For everyone's good, though, this has to stop. read more