October 20, 2025 • 38 mins
The Lululemon store on Newbury Street in Boston was hit twice in one week by shoplifters. The thieves made off with over $6K in the first hit and reportedly $700 in the second hit. Police are still looking for the suspects. Retail theft has been on the rise nationwide with Lululemon being a popular target. The 2024 Retail Theft & Violence report by the National Retail Federation shows a 93% increase in the average number of shoplifting incidents per year in 2023 compared to 2019. This trend is accompanied by a 90% increase in dollar loss due to shoplifting over the same period. Boston City Council member Ed Flynn talked about how Boston is tackling shoplifting crimes as Dan has some ideas of his own for how to tackle it.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
It's Night Side with Dan Ray on WVS Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Well, if you have watched any television news in the
last week or so, you have seen some retail robberies
on Newberry Street. I think most of you who know Boston,
and most of my audience does, Newberry Street is the
most fashionable street in the city of Boston. Fine restaurants
(00:29):
are there and also a lot of retail shops. One
of which stands out is Lulu Lemon. And if you
talk to any young person, particularly female, uh, Lulu Lemon
is the place to go and get some great, great
equip you know, clothing, casual clothing. I'm not an expert here,
(00:54):
trust me on that, but my daughter's friends who are
a very sick and in their late twenties, early thirties,
Lulu Lemon is the place to go. Well, apparently a
lot of young people in Massachusetts, in the Boston area
had decided they're going to go to Lululemon, not to shop, well,
(01:16):
to shop in a manner of speaking, to go in
there and basically rip off literally racks of clothing and
head to the door. And they've had several events as
well as other retail stores, not only in Newbury Street,
but in all Aback Bay and for that matter, throughout Boston.
And one city council that is concerned about it is
(01:37):
Ed Flynn. Ed Flynn, Boston City Councilor.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
What's going on.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
Is this a new development that we're seeing played out
or is this something that the media was finally taking
note of.
Speaker 4 (01:49):
Hi, Dan, It's good to be with you. Yeah, thank you, Dan.
This has been ongoing for a long period of time.
I know the media is focused on it as well,
but the ongoing theft, retail theft really is having a
major impact almost in every neighborhood. You know, Newberry Street,
(02:09):
in Boylston Street, there's some wonderful UH stores there, but
especially on Newberry Street. I have a lot of constituents
businesses in the South End, so there's a lot of
retail theft in Roxbury, throughout the city of Boston, but
it's having a devastating impact in my opinion, on quality
(02:30):
of life issues in on prices. It's hurting, hurting consumers,
and many of these stores are closing. We had a
City Council hearing on it last week and this is
the subject subject we talked about in residents of furious
with the with what's going on, and they want some
(02:50):
action from the City of Boston.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
Well, the city of Boston also, I assume the Sefer
County DA's office has to have some obligation in this
as well. Look, the bottom line is if kids are
going in, and what I've seen on television is four
or five kids. And when I say kids, I don't know,
I can't tell if they're fifteen, eighteen, or twenty five.
They're young people who go in. Sometimes the video is
(03:16):
kind of grainy, sometimes it's really good. But they're just
pulling stuff off the rack. They're not going in and saying, Okay,
my size is this. I'm going to take two of
these and one of these and one of these and
scoot out the store. They're carrying out as many items
as they can, so I assume that these items expensive
(03:36):
as they are, are being sold at very discount prices
to people who.
Speaker 3 (03:43):
In the old days we used to call fences.
Speaker 4 (03:45):
Right right, that's right, Dan. I think what's happening on
Newberry Straight and Boylson Street. I think it's organized, and
it's an organized group of criminals that are stealing from
high high end businesses and selling it cheap as you
as you mentioned to consumers, but also Dan, the consumers
(04:08):
are not helping matters by buying. By buying these products,
maybe they get something for you know, a third of
the cost or half the cost, but they're really hurting
their naghbor is. They're really hurting the city. They're hurting
the small businesses that play a critical role in our city.
And you know a lot of it is organized criminal
(04:31):
criminal groups, but also being throughout the city. A lot
of it is due to the ongoing drug crisis we
have throughout the city, including at Mass and casts as well.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
Yeah, I mean that is that's a festering sore, which
which I know you have tried to address, but the
city has not effectively addressed it as yet. And yet
most of the neighborhoods, including the South End, seemed happy
with the incumbent mayor because she carried I think, you know,
so many of the communities. That to me is sort
(05:03):
of mystifying. But we leave that for another time. So
let me come back to the situation we have generally,
what happens, You'll see a video clip that I guess
lu lu Lemon has released to the police department or
has released to the media in hopes that someone might
recognize these individuals and some friends of theirs would wrap
(05:24):
them out. Well, I suspect that they're probably selling the
products to their friends at a cut rate, and the
friends don't have much incentive to to to rat out
their their friends who are procuring these this high end clothing. However,
you'll see the the people who either our other customers
(05:47):
or our employees, who stand by and just watch this happen. Now,
we as a society have been conditioned don't get involved,
don't get involved. And I think generally, and I assume
you would agree with me, that that's a pretty good idea.
Speaker 3 (06:02):
You you just don't want to end up. Even the
employees are told.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
I guess by oftentimes the owners of the companies don't
get involved.
Speaker 3 (06:12):
That's for liability.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
Issues, correct, that's correct, in okay. And then the customers
they they have been, they have been, been, they have learned.
I should say that it's crazy for them to get
involved because they could get hurt, they could get injured,
they could get pushed, and there's no great acclaim that
(06:35):
comes to them. So therefore, these these young groups, the
groups of gang members by the way, even if they
get caught, they're not going to be prosecuted because they
only have let's say seven hundred dollars or eight hundred
dollars worth of stolen goods and that goes back to
Rachel Rollins.
Speaker 3 (06:53):
Correct.
Speaker 4 (06:54):
Yeah, that's Correctdan. I think it was in twenty eighteen
or two thousand nineteen maybe, but they limited was raised
from two hundred and fifty bucks to you know, twelve hundred,
so any theft under that amount is considered basically a misdemeanor,
which is a three hundred dollars fine, I believe, but
(07:18):
the penalties for shoplifting are much lighter. It reduces the
risk of serious punishment, in my opinion, in it almost
in a way encourages repeat offenders in organized criminals to
continue what they're doing, and it's having a devastating impact.
Speaker 5 (07:38):
Dan.
Speaker 4 (07:38):
We need to have zero tolerance for any type of
stealing in the city of Boston. We're not there right now.
The Boston Police are doing the best job that they can,
but we just don't have enough police officers. I'm fighting
every day to get more police on the street, even
though my city council colleagues want to cut the police budget.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
Yeah, well, I do know that there was a push
when Rachel Rollins was the district attorney. The argument was, well,
if some guy steals a loaf of bread to feed
his family, why should he be prosecuted? And I think
most of us would say, okay, even though there's a
lot of food programs available and all of that, if
(08:22):
someone is that desperate, we're not looking to prosecute then.
But it's not fear to the person who owns the
small variety store or a grocery store, even if it's
a large grocery store, to have items being pilfered and
going out the door when we come back in. I
want to run an idea by you that some people
are going to think it's crazy, but I think I
have a simple solution to this problem. And you can
(08:44):
feel free to disagree with me or this if you want,
but I'm going to mention it on the other side,
and I want to hear from listeners as well. I
think I have a simple solution, and let's see if
people agree or disagree. And if you like to with
Boston City councilor Ed Flynn, you can give us a call.
Sometimes I wonder if I need to give the number out.
(09:06):
Oh well, let me do it this one time. Six one, seven, two, five,
four ten thirty or six one seven, nine three one
ten thirty.
Speaker 5 (09:14):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (09:15):
Whatever your position is.
Speaker 2 (09:16):
If you're in favor of these retail gangs that are
going out and hitting stores, feel free to tell us
why you believe in that.
Speaker 3 (09:23):
Uh, if you.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
Think it is insane that this would be tolerated in
any city, never mind Boston, the Athens of America, we'd
love to hear from as well. We're coming back on
Night's Side with Boston City Councilor Ed Flynn and my
idea that I think would actually work back on nights
Side right after.
Speaker 1 (09:41):
This, It's Night Side with Dan Ray Boston's news Radio.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
So Ed, before we get to phone calls here, one
of the things that if I owned Lulu's Lemons store
on which I don't, on Newbury Street, my idea would be,
since the being now hit on a fairly regular basis
by these gangs that are coming in and walking out
the door, you know, with thousands of dollars worth of merchandise,
(10:10):
because that's a high end merchandise, I would have a
device installed which would allow my clerk to lock the
front door of Lululemon, or lock all the doors of
Lulu Lemon. When somebody comes in and there are people
who are pulling clothes off the racket takes them a
few a couple of minutes to do that.
Speaker 3 (10:31):
I would lock the front door so they couldn't get
out and call the police.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
I think if word got around, that would probably be
a disincentive for these gangs to do this.
Speaker 3 (10:41):
You might disagree with me. I'm sure the lawyers are
going to disagree with.
Speaker 2 (10:44):
Me, but I think that'd be a pretty effective way
to basically trap the thieves in the store caught red handed.
Speaker 3 (10:51):
How crazy is that is an idea?
Speaker 5 (10:54):
Well?
Speaker 4 (10:54):
The only pushback I think, and I think I asked
this question at the City Council here during the Retail
Association general counsel was there. We asked them about some
of those types of questions, and he the policy of
DAN is just to let the criminals when they're stealing
(11:15):
walk out or run act to run out to protect
to protect the employees, but also to protect the public.
The only problem I would have is if you do
lock it, does then does the persons stealing do they
then attack the employee? Or or the public to try
(11:39):
to get out. So that's that's a concern I would have.
I I haven't thought about it all that much, but
I do know that they let the people stealing walk
out in the interest of safety of the public and
the employees.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
Yeah, And I think what that is is I think
it's a mistake because I think it basically said the
message that.
Speaker 3 (12:00):
Hey, it's not that serious a crime.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
Well, in fact, it is a serious crime because insurance
policies pay for that, and the rates of the insurance
policies for the stores increases, and the prices increase, and eventually,
if the prices get too expensive, the stores have to
go out of business.
Speaker 3 (12:20):
That's the other thing I mean.
Speaker 4 (12:21):
And a lot of them dan have closed already throughout
the city of Boston, especially drug stores of variety stores,
when people just feel like they can walk in there
and steal products because they know the criminal justice will
not hold them accountable. But I think we have to
have criminal justice reform and if you steal any type
(12:45):
of items, there should be a penalty that you pay
when you get arrested. In your case is not just
dismissed because the low amount of the product we need
to hold people accountable, and you don't have the right
to go in to a store and to steal it.
It impacts the entire city, and it impacts the entire neighborhood.
Speaker 2 (13:06):
All right, let's let's let's get some calls in on
this and uh, we'll go that full lines here, so
let's keep Let's start it off real quickly with the
first call. Of course, what I have to do is
grab the right mouse. I have too many, too many
pieces of equipment on by front of me here. I'm
going to go to Somerville first. And Tornn is calling Turin.
I'm sorry, Torrent, Sorry, sorry, Torryn, I mispronounced today.
Speaker 6 (13:32):
All right, guys, Dan, that's a horrible that's a horrible
idea because the clerks are gonna get shot, stabbed or beat.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
Well, first of all, I don't necessarily. First of all,
if somebody comes in showing a gun and says give
me the money, you want to get that guy out
of the store immediately. But when you have five or
six teenagers come in, each of whom have an armful
or two armfuls of dresses, sweaters, whatever, they're not gonna
(14:02):
they're not gonna be walking in there with firearms and
so I I just think you got to think outside
the box sometimes. But that's okay. Say hi to to
my guest city councilor Ed Flynn.
Speaker 3 (14:14):
How would you affect the test? What would you do?
Speaker 6 (14:19):
It's all it's all about the justice department. They need
to crack down. These kids are running rampant. Where's their parents?
Speaker 7 (14:26):
You know?
Speaker 6 (14:28):
Where's the accountability? I work one hundred hours a week
to buy I apologize. I apologize, Yeah, Torri, I call it.
Speaker 2 (14:37):
I don't ever remember you calling, so I'll give you
that one mistake.
Speaker 5 (14:41):
Okay, I apologize. I listened to you often.
Speaker 6 (14:44):
I'm working nights, so I listen to you every night.
Speaker 3 (14:47):
Well that's fine. So you but you agree, you agree
with us the problem.
Speaker 2 (14:52):
You agree with both council, Council of Flynn and I
on the problem.
Speaker 5 (14:56):
There's no doubt that big, big problem.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
Who do you blame the politicians? Do you blame the prosecutors?
Do you blame the district attorney? Who do you blame?
Speaker 6 (15:06):
I blame the judges forgiven such lenient sentences, the prosecutors
who make the deals with these people.
Speaker 5 (15:14):
I blame a lot of people.
Speaker 6 (15:16):
I blame wu.
Speaker 3 (15:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:19):
By the way, there was a judge last week, Judge
Tresler in Boston, and there was another judge as well,
But Judge Tresler actually held the people who were protesting
and engaged in violence against the police department in that
demonstration in downtown Boston. He held people on bail higher
(15:41):
than the prosecutors had asked for Judge Tresler.
Speaker 3 (15:44):
So there you got a great judge.
Speaker 4 (15:47):
He's an excellent judge. We need we need more judges
like that. We need people to be held responsible and accountable,
and it can't be the wild West on the streets
of Boston.
Speaker 2 (15:58):
And also, I want to mention the other judge who
held these kids respond to these young people I used
the word kids, was Judge Stanton as well. So there's
at least two judges on the district court in Boston
who were ready to actually do something. Now, if we
can just get the district attorney taking things seriously, we
(16:20):
might actually be able to do what Turin suggests that said.
Speaker 6 (16:26):
Have a good night, guys, Thanks, thanks.
Speaker 5 (16:27):
So much, thank you.
Speaker 3 (16:29):
Thanks.
Speaker 2 (16:29):
Okay, take a quick break here, Ed, why don't you
stick with us if you'd like.
Speaker 3 (16:34):
I'm going to go to Tom and West Virginia.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
I got Paul and Needham, Rich and JP and pauland Pennsylvania,
so we got people outside the state. This is probably
impacting elsewhere because this whole criminal justice reform of twenty
eighteen twenty nineteen was brought in by a whole bunch
of district attorneys around the country who's who. They were
(16:57):
not interested in prosecuting crime. They were inter and basically
encouraging crime. In my opinion, my guest, Boston City councilor
ed Flynn back on Nightside right after the news break
at the bottom of the hour.
Speaker 1 (17:09):
It's night Side with Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
My guess is Boston council ed Flynn. We're talking about
retail thefts across Boston. But it's also, by the way,
this stuff with Lulu Lemon has been going on for
about a year at Lulu Lemon stores across the country
and even up in Canada. They because they are a
high end store, they are a target rich environment for
these groups who feel they have a right to go
in and basically help themselves to as much merchandise as
(17:39):
they can carry out of the store without paying. Tom
is in West Virginia. Tom next on Nightside with Ed Flynn,
City Councilor Ed Flynn.
Speaker 7 (17:49):
Good evening for the both of you. First off, Ed,
I lived in Ward Tenem, Mission Hill. I was an
earshot from the Tobin School on Hillside Street and campaign
for your dad in nineteen eighty three. He was a
very very good mayor and he was not part of
(18:12):
the Boston Brahmin crowd. So I just want you to
know that he was a sincere guy that honestly cared
about the average resident, whether they lived in Blue Hill Avenue, Jamaica, Plane, East, Boston,
Mission Hill, Fenway, you name it.
Speaker 3 (18:31):
You did no disagreement either of us on that. Tom,
That's for sure. He's a great one.
Speaker 4 (18:36):
No, thank you Tom for those time words.
Speaker 7 (18:41):
Is your dad still is he Okay?
Speaker 5 (18:43):
Yes, yes he is.
Speaker 4 (18:44):
He's doing well.
Speaker 7 (18:47):
Okay, tell him the electrician of Mission Hill. He may
or may not remember me, but anyway, I just said
hello to the question. Is all right? And your voice
sounds the same as his. By the way, I left
my house in Brockton October fourth, and just a quick
question my leaves. I've got a pretty large piece of
(19:09):
land or a lot in Brockton one point seven acres
with a backyard goes back four hundred feet, most of
the leaves have changed. Is that the case in the
city of Boston. I know it's off topic, but there's
a point to it.
Speaker 4 (19:25):
Yeah, the leaves are changing now, the changing throughout Boston,
Greater Boston.
Speaker 7 (19:33):
Okay, fair enough, So anyway, I'm just curious on that.
But the next question, well, the next comment is I
believe it was Rachel Rollins, the Suffolk County District attorney
a few years back, basically said no, you know what,
we're not going to enforce shoplifting laws as well as
(19:56):
kids jumping the turnstiles. And if I remember her words correctly,
and I could be wrong, but she made the comment, oh, well,
because young males made a mistake, it's gonna haunt them
for the rest of their lives. Well, take it from
a kid that used to smash pumpkins during Halloween time
(20:18):
in my hometown of Foxborough, thinking it was really cool
grabbing someone's pumpkin off their porch and then smashing it
on the street.
Speaker 5 (20:26):
Ha ha.
Speaker 7 (20:27):
That was not a mistake.
Speaker 5 (20:29):
Tom.
Speaker 2 (20:29):
By the way, I'm going to try to just move
you here a little bit, because you're right, it was Rachel.
Speaker 3 (20:35):
It was Rachel Rawlins, but that was her campaign. She
ran on that policy.
Speaker 2 (20:41):
It wasn't as if she ran supporting law enforcement and
then changed when she was elected. She's like some of
these other DA's around the country, including the guy down
in Pennsylvania and Philadelphia, gascon out of Los Angeles. A
whole bunch of them ran on this let's not punish
what they considered to be small crimes, and that's why
(21:03):
they raised the amount of money you can you can
chop with up to twelve hundred dollars.
Speaker 4 (21:08):
You know, Yeah, that's right over the point is go ahead?
Speaker 7 (21:13):
Ed? Point is Tom ed.
Speaker 3 (21:15):
One jump in here? Tom hold on, Ed wants to
jump into.
Speaker 4 (21:20):
Yeah, the the felony, the felony, larsony, they haven't that
that's increased significantly in Boston and the the the pot
one crime, especially as it relates to theft, has increased
in Boston. So we're seeing we're seeing that type of
(21:40):
crime to increase significantly in the city throughout Greater Boston
as well. It's it's an issue that the city is
starting to take to take seriously. But we have been
behind the eight ball, in my opinion, for a period
of years, but there has to be some criminal justice
reform them up at the state House as well. Regardless
(22:04):
of how much you steal at a store, everything should
be prosecuted. They should be arrested, and we can't give
people a slap on the wrist anymore because it's having
a devastating impact on quality life, public safety. But it's
also hurting consumers, and consumers are working hard for their
money and they want to buy milk or they want
(22:26):
to buy bread or milk for their kids, and now
it's so expensive because everything is locked up and it's
almost impossible to even access it now without a key,
and so it's having it's having a big impact on
spending and hurting, hurting working class families in my opinion.
Speaker 7 (22:45):
Go ahead, Tom, Yeah, Okay, Well, I live in Brockton.
Two Star markets have been closed since COVID A uh
excuse me, Stop and shop stores that wet rape produce
have been closed due to theft, as well as a
Star market. And who is that affected in Brockton? Okay?
(23:09):
Working class people. And I just pray the new mayor
that they're going to elect there is going to put
his foot down and say no moths enough of this all.
Speaker 2 (23:20):
Right, sure, appreciate it, well said all right, top Tom,
gotta keep rolling.
Speaker 3 (23:24):
Thank you much, appreciate it very much.
Speaker 2 (23:25):
To get one more in here real quickly, let me
go to Rich in Jamaica.
Speaker 3 (23:31):
Plane Rich, you're on its bus city council ed Flinn.
Go ahead, Rich.
Speaker 8 (23:36):
I'm echoing what people have been saying, and that is
simply the legiency is the problem. So the petty theft
amount used to be two fifty, I believe now is
twelve hundred. And that's just an open door policies thanks
to your stuff. So what you know, in my whole neighborhood,
everything's locked up. We've alreadys talked about that. The CBS
(23:56):
workers are told do not engage shoplift, let them seal stuff.
So that I mean it was you know, I echo
all those things. But to your point that you made, Dan,
that I thought was brilliant until I kind of thought
through it's I realized the wrinkle is. So the brilliant
idea was if somebody's got an armload of you know,
(24:17):
thousands of dollars worth of expensive.
Speaker 5 (24:19):
Clothing, ye, lock the doors.
Speaker 3 (24:22):
Yes, Well, the.
Speaker 8 (24:22):
Thing is it's not a crime until they leave the store.
Speaker 2 (24:28):
Well, I think that once somebody starts to sprint from
the store with everything as they approach the doors, I
think you can me. I also think that just having
that as an option will tend to discourage these kids
from doing it. If anything, if the word got out, hey,
if you if you tried to rip off a Lulu
(24:50):
Lemon store, you might be locked in and in a
few minutes the police are going to arrive. Obviously, the
kids are counting on say kids, teenagers or whatever. Young
people get out the door and run like hell uh,
and they'll never be caught. So now if all of
a sudden they say, wait a second, hold it, you
know that I might get caught.
Speaker 5 (25:11):
I might go to jailer.
Speaker 8 (25:12):
Yeah, you know what, I think it's a good idea
if that, if it works, Yeah, I'm all for it
because it's it's absurd.
Speaker 3 (25:22):
Yeah, let me let me get it in here, go ahead.
Speaker 5 (25:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (25:24):
The one wrinkle to it though to that to that
point though, is the response time from Boston Police. As
as I mentioned, we don't have enough police on the street.
Our response time has gone up, and when you call
nine one, nine one one, the operator prioritizes the calls
(25:49):
that come into the system, whether it's a priority one, two, three,
all the way down to all the way up to nine.
Uh So, depending on where shoplifting is, it could be four,
it could be five. That police officer, that response could
be fifteen minutes, it could be twenty minutes, it could
(26:09):
be five minutes. But do you know so that's another factor,
and that's why Dan for many reasons. But you know,
I have to go to city Hall every day fighting
for more police and now a city. But it's been
challenging with my city council colleagues that really are trying
(26:29):
to cut the police budget on me almost every year.
So it's it's a very challenging time in the city.
When elected officials are not supporting the police department.
Speaker 2 (26:40):
You're fighting on your fighting on many fronts here because
there is an anti police attitude that pervades the Boston
City Council currently, and a lot of it comes from
the philosophical view of life that a lot of these
councilors have, all of whom have I guess, their own
experience that have formulated those those points of view. And
(27:03):
I think that until the city turns around and says, hey,
we got to start electing some people who reflect security
for the city and safety for people. Uh, if you
live in in the South End and you have the
people breaking into your homes who are the residents of
mass and gas, I don't know why you'd vote for
(27:24):
any incumbent in Boston.
Speaker 8 (27:26):
But that's that's crazy, a little.
Speaker 5 (27:30):
Bit off topic.
Speaker 8 (27:31):
But but more praise for Counser Flynn, and that is
on these you know, buzzing around mopeds that have been
wreaking havoc for like five or ten years.
Speaker 3 (27:40):
Another issue. There's another issue, absolutely.
Speaker 8 (27:43):
And there's a crackdown this weekend which I think fifteen
of the mopeeds got's incarcerated whatever the word is for it.
So that's the beginning. But you know ed your your
you're spot on when you say they.
Speaker 3 (27:57):
Were I think I think you meant they were confiscated
right ahead.
Speaker 8 (28:04):
Yeah, we're glad that on it.
Speaker 4 (28:08):
No, thank you. We we just can't have Boston be
the wild West out there, anything goes, people can do
what they want. There's rules on the book for a reason.
I saw I saw a person on a motorbike or
an e bike who's actually on the MBT a platform
with his e bike buzzing around, and you know there's
elderly people that are jumping out of the way, persons
(28:30):
with disabilities. I see e bikes or electric bikes or scooters.
They're buzzing down Washington Street on the sidewalk. They're on
Boilston Street on the sidewalk. You know they you can't
you can't be impacting public safety like that. They need
to be We need to be aggressive with reckless driving,
(28:51):
regardless of who it is across the city.
Speaker 8 (28:54):
All right, question why why are their bike lanes? Why
do we have bike lanes? And then these bikes are
on the sidewalks.
Speaker 2 (29:02):
But because the bicyclists only want the bike lanes for
people who were riding bicycles. They don't want the mopeds
in there. They don't want the e bikes in there.
And they want the mopens and the e bikes. They
don't care where they are, whether they're on the sidewalks
or regular traffic.
Speaker 3 (29:18):
Their interest is one thing, and that is.
Speaker 2 (29:20):
To have a dedicated lane for people who ride, you know, bicycles.
And so you have all these constituencies, and the constituency
that makes the more noise and raises the more money
and produces the more votes they're the ones who are.
Speaker 3 (29:36):
Taking care of bikes.
Speaker 2 (29:38):
Rich, good luck, Thank you, Ed Flinn. Will take one
more quick break here, We're going to come back. We'll
finish up, I promise. Thank you so much for staying
with us. I still I still like my idea. I
think even if there was a threat of that idea,
I could just see you have you have some some
(29:58):
sort of you hit the button and all of a sudden,
the doors, you can't get through the doors, some sort
of electronic machine brings a steel curtain down.
Speaker 3 (30:12):
I think that would probably and a lot.
Speaker 2 (30:15):
I understand the consideras you're raised, but I think you
have that happen once or twice. I think that Lulu
Lemon would be doing a lot better, or maybe they
should now they maybe they need to have security guards,
armed security guards, higher off duty police officers that would
if they're concerned about the safety of their their employees
and their patrons and their insurance payments, maybe they need
(30:40):
to start nesting in some off duty police officers.
Speaker 3 (30:42):
Back on Night Side with possa city councilor Ed Flynn.
Speaker 1 (30:45):
Right after this, you're on night Side with Dan Ray
on w Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2 (30:53):
Let's see if we get everybody, let me go to
Paul in Pennsylvania. Paul, you were next on nightside. Thanks
for calling in. How are you, sir?
Speaker 5 (30:59):
All right? Thank what they might call. I agree with
Counsel and Flynn that these are probably organized like a
flash mob. They probably you know, coordinate on their soul phones.
But one bad thing about your idea dat is you
never know what these people. If there might be a
place where people working in the store to hide when
that thing comes down, with anybody who's in that store
buying something, these people might be like cage rats. They
(31:21):
might flip out and take hostages. You never know what
they'll do if something like that happens, and they might
have what was on it. If you don't know that,
you can put some kind of electronic taggets, these different
clothing and things that trace them. But I don't know
if that's worth the worth the effort. And you know,
security guard is probably a good idea, but a lot
of this stuff has to do with not only as
they're making money on it, but you know the ratoric
(31:42):
that you know, the haves and the have nots. So
a lot of that's being preached around the country and
they think they're like some kind of a Robin Hood
doing this.
Speaker 2 (31:50):
Yeah, they're not Robin Hood's that's for sure. And I
think ed Flint has made that very very clear. Is
there a problem like this And we're in Pennsylvania and
in Pittsburgh or Philly, we're part of the.
Speaker 5 (32:00):
States Bary Ooksbury and everything's locked up. When you go
to a story, can't even get shampoo, Harley.
Speaker 4 (32:08):
You know, that's a great, great call, a great message.
And you know in in Boston, the the there's so
much availability for food for people in need, so many
different churches and nonprofits of the city of Boston there's
access to food. So in my opinion that you know,
(32:29):
anyone that is stealing really is is being selfish and
they're hurting the public, they're hurting the small business because
there's there's so many opportunities to for for for assistance,
especially for people in need.
Speaker 2 (32:44):
That's an urban myth, and stealing for food for their family.
There's stealing, maybe probably for a drug addiction or something else.
Speaker 5 (32:52):
Great quick question, Mayor, we'll brought your card with her.
Speaker 2 (32:58):
We got a lot of we got a lot of
who are that's for sure. I'll we go to Joe
and Lynn. Joe, you gotta be quick for me, buddy,
go ahead.
Speaker 9 (33:08):
I will thank you very much. Uh, mister ed Flynn,
I loved your dad. You could talk to him. I'm
going to call you and talk to you privately. He
was wonderful to me on the radio. Things just didn't
work out. I want to compliment and echo Thom's words.
I'll call you sometime and I hope you'll take my call. Sure,
and you and your dad are brought up right. You're
not typical politicians. You'll help even out of the out
(33:31):
of your area. But now I want to say I
agree with you, Dan, I think that would help. And
you could just make an announcement. Ladies and gentlemen, we
have people that are stealing and lock them up and
have the security hold them not hurt him. I know
there's uh uh, there's that burner stuff they advertise. It'll
knock him down and not hurt him, but it'll make
him sore for a while while there's detained, and then
(33:53):
the police come take him. Because you have this stuff
is foolish and it has to stop. There's no reason
for this.
Speaker 3 (34:00):
Thanks thanks Joe for the support. I got one person
support my idea.
Speaker 4 (34:04):
Thanks buddy, appreciate you have one vote.
Speaker 6 (34:06):
Dan.
Speaker 9 (34:07):
Thanks Joe, and I'll call you sometime. Take care, bye, buddy.
Speaker 3 (34:10):
Yeah, give me a call.
Speaker 4 (34:12):
I'll take your call.
Speaker 3 (34:14):
Tom and Lancaster. Tom next on Knights, I go right.
Speaker 5 (34:16):
Ahead, Hey Dan, how are you hi?
Speaker 9 (34:19):
Mister Flynn?
Speaker 7 (34:20):
Hey Tom?
Speaker 5 (34:21):
Dan. Dan knows what I.
Speaker 10 (34:23):
Used to do for a living in New York and
now I work security at a major retailer in back Bay.
And Uh, we're not allowed to touch anybody because we're
not categorized as lost prevention guards, which is a which
is the ones that would be able to handcuff them
and hold them.
Speaker 5 (34:40):
Uh, but our store.
Speaker 9 (34:43):
Can't get that, my guess for some reason.
Speaker 10 (34:46):
H we're not allowed to lock the doors. Even on
a windy day. One of the doors blows open, and
I asked why they can't just lock it and block
it off. Oh that's against the fire code, I said.
I don't think the fire marshals coming today and lock
you up. They're never gonna lock it for thieves. The
other thing is, I'm working at three and a half
years in that area. I've never seen a cop working
(35:09):
off duty in uniform in any retailer like they have
in New York City, which is called the paid Detail Unit,
and the retailers can hire them through the city.
Speaker 5 (35:20):
The city gets paid.
Speaker 10 (35:21):
First and takes their cut, and then the officer gets
his pay, and that virtually eliminates all the shoplifting in
that store. Does that not exist in the Boston PD
or does it?
Speaker 5 (35:33):
Well, the.
Speaker 4 (35:36):
Problem we have really is just so few number of
police officers, the availability of police officers, and it's just
not a priority, unfortunately for people stealing, whether it's on
Washington Street in Dorchester, or in Jamaica, plane or wherever
it might be. It needs to be a priority for everyone,
(35:59):
including the criminal justice system, and we have to set
an example of zero tolerance for any type of criminal
activity in the city or in the commonwealth. I just
don't think we're able to sustain the level of retail
theft that is taking place in Boston. It's hurting our city,
it's hurting our state, and it's hurting the residents and
(36:20):
small businesses, and we just can't accept that any longer.
And I think it's up to the residents to demand
a little bit of respect from elected officials as well.
Speaker 3 (36:30):
Tom. Thank you for what you did.
Speaker 2 (36:32):
You serve the people of New York for many years
and you're still well, You're still in the related activity.
Speaker 3 (36:40):
Let's put let's thank you.
Speaker 2 (36:41):
Thanks Tom touching all more often, Tom need you voice.
Thank you much to the callers on the line, Phil, John,
and Chris.
Speaker 3 (36:50):
Stay there.
Speaker 2 (36:50):
I'm going to go into the next hour. We're going
to let Ed Flynn go. But I think this is
an important quality of life conversation.
Speaker 3 (36:57):
So let's keep this rolling.
Speaker 2 (37:00):
You guys, stay there, We'll take the news and be
right back. Ed Flynn has always thank you very much.
I know that you're going to have a good election day.
But if people want to get in touch with you
in the next couple of week, next, you know, ten
days or so, where can they get in.
Speaker 3 (37:14):
Touch with you?
Speaker 4 (37:15):
Yeah, Dan, they can reach me yet ED for Boston
on social media, but also they can drop me an
email at Ed dot Flynn at Boston dot gov. Give
me a drop me a message and I'll get back
to them. And I return all emails and return phone
calls as well.
Speaker 2 (37:30):
Absolutely, thanks for returning my my phone call, my text
message today. Always great to have you and thank you Dan.
I'll work more on that.
Speaker 3 (37:38):
That idea. I promise Dan see, how do you folks
fool me? Thanks very thank you. We get back.
Speaker 2 (37:44):
We're gonna we will take a break for the ten
o'clock news, and we're going to get everybody here and
we'll all keep the lines open. This is an important
quality of life issue. We need to talk about it.
I want you to think about it, and I want
to hear from some ladies. This is Lululemon. I don't
shop at Lululemon. I could get less. But it sets
a really bad precedent for Boston coming back on nightside
It's Night Side with Dan Ray on WVS Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Well, if you have watched any television news in the
last week or so, you have seen some retail robberies
on Newberry Street. I think most of you who know Boston,
and most of my audience does, Newberry Street is the
most fashionable street in the city of Boston. Fine restaurants
(00:29):
are there and also a lot of retail shops. One
of which stands out is Lulu Lemon. And if you
talk to any young person, particularly female, uh, Lulu Lemon
is the place to go and get some great, great
equip you know, clothing, casual clothing. I'm not an expert here,
(00:54):
trust me on that, but my daughter's friends who are
a very sick and in their late twenties, early thirties,
Lulu Lemon is the place to go. Well, apparently a
lot of young people in Massachusetts, in the Boston area
had decided they're going to go to Lululemon, not to shop, well,
(01:16):
to shop in a manner of speaking, to go in
there and basically rip off literally racks of clothing and
head to the door. And they've had several events as
well as other retail stores, not only in Newbury Street,
but in all Aback Bay and for that matter, throughout Boston.
And one city council that is concerned about it is
(01:37):
Ed Flynn. Ed Flynn, Boston City Councilor.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
What's going on.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
Is this a new development that we're seeing played out
or is this something that the media was finally taking
note of.
Speaker 4 (01:49):
Hi, Dan, It's good to be with you. Yeah, thank you, Dan.
This has been ongoing for a long period of time.
I know the media is focused on it as well,
but the ongoing theft, retail theft really is having a
major impact almost in every neighborhood. You know, Newberry Street,
(02:09):
in Boylston Street, there's some wonderful UH stores there, but
especially on Newberry Street. I have a lot of constituents
businesses in the South End, so there's a lot of
retail theft in Roxbury, throughout the city of Boston, but
it's having a devastating impact in my opinion, on quality
(02:30):
of life issues in on prices. It's hurting, hurting consumers,
and many of these stores are closing. We had a
City Council hearing on it last week and this is
the subject subject we talked about in residents of furious
with the with what's going on, and they want some
(02:50):
action from the City of Boston.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
Well, the city of Boston also, I assume the Sefer
County DA's office has to have some obligation in this
as well. Look, the bottom line is if kids are
going in, and what I've seen on television is four
or five kids. And when I say kids, I don't know,
I can't tell if they're fifteen, eighteen, or twenty five.
They're young people who go in. Sometimes the video is
(03:16):
kind of grainy, sometimes it's really good. But they're just
pulling stuff off the rack. They're not going in and saying, Okay,
my size is this. I'm going to take two of
these and one of these and one of these and
scoot out the store. They're carrying out as many items
as they can, so I assume that these items expensive
(03:36):
as they are, are being sold at very discount prices
to people who.
Speaker 3 (03:43):
In the old days we used to call fences.
Speaker 4 (03:45):
Right right, that's right, Dan. I think what's happening on
Newberry Straight and Boylson Street. I think it's organized, and
it's an organized group of criminals that are stealing from
high high end businesses and selling it cheap as you
as you mentioned to consumers, but also Dan, the consumers
(04:08):
are not helping matters by buying. By buying these products,
maybe they get something for you know, a third of
the cost or half the cost, but they're really hurting
their naghbor is. They're really hurting the city. They're hurting
the small businesses that play a critical role in our city.
And you know a lot of it is organized criminal
(04:31):
criminal groups, but also being throughout the city. A lot
of it is due to the ongoing drug crisis we
have throughout the city, including at Mass and casts as well.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
Yeah, I mean that is that's a festering sore, which
which I know you have tried to address, but the
city has not effectively addressed it as yet. And yet
most of the neighborhoods, including the South End, seemed happy
with the incumbent mayor because she carried I think, you know,
so many of the communities. That to me is sort
(05:03):
of mystifying. But we leave that for another time. So
let me come back to the situation we have generally,
what happens, You'll see a video clip that I guess
lu lu Lemon has released to the police department or
has released to the media in hopes that someone might
recognize these individuals and some friends of theirs would wrap
(05:24):
them out. Well, I suspect that they're probably selling the
products to their friends at a cut rate, and the
friends don't have much incentive to to to rat out
their their friends who are procuring these this high end clothing. However,
you'll see the the people who either our other customers
(05:47):
or our employees, who stand by and just watch this happen. Now,
we as a society have been conditioned don't get involved,
don't get involved. And I think generally, and I assume
you would agree with me, that that's a pretty good idea.
Speaker 3 (06:02):
You you just don't want to end up. Even the
employees are told.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
I guess by oftentimes the owners of the companies don't
get involved.
Speaker 3 (06:12):
That's for liability.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
Issues, correct, that's correct, in okay. And then the customers
they they have been, they have been, been, they have learned.
I should say that it's crazy for them to get
involved because they could get hurt, they could get injured,
they could get pushed, and there's no great acclaim that
(06:35):
comes to them. So therefore, these these young groups, the
groups of gang members by the way, even if they
get caught, they're not going to be prosecuted because they
only have let's say seven hundred dollars or eight hundred
dollars worth of stolen goods and that goes back to
Rachel Rollins.
Speaker 3 (06:53):
Correct.
Speaker 4 (06:54):
Yeah, that's Correctdan. I think it was in twenty eighteen
or two thousand nineteen maybe, but they limited was raised
from two hundred and fifty bucks to you know, twelve hundred,
so any theft under that amount is considered basically a misdemeanor,
which is a three hundred dollars fine, I believe, but
(07:18):
the penalties for shoplifting are much lighter. It reduces the
risk of serious punishment, in my opinion, in it almost
in a way encourages repeat offenders in organized criminals to
continue what they're doing, and it's having a devastating impact.
Speaker 5 (07:38):
Dan.
Speaker 4 (07:38):
We need to have zero tolerance for any type of
stealing in the city of Boston. We're not there right now.
The Boston Police are doing the best job that they can,
but we just don't have enough police officers. I'm fighting
every day to get more police on the street, even
though my city council colleagues want to cut the police budget.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
Yeah, well, I do know that there was a push
when Rachel Rollins was the district attorney. The argument was, well,
if some guy steals a loaf of bread to feed
his family, why should he be prosecuted? And I think
most of us would say, okay, even though there's a
lot of food programs available and all of that, if
(08:22):
someone is that desperate, we're not looking to prosecute then.
But it's not fear to the person who owns the
small variety store or a grocery store, even if it's
a large grocery store, to have items being pilfered and
going out the door when we come back in. I
want to run an idea by you that some people
are going to think it's crazy, but I think I
have a simple solution to this problem. And you can
(08:44):
feel free to disagree with me or this if you want,
but I'm going to mention it on the other side,
and I want to hear from listeners as well. I
think I have a simple solution, and let's see if
people agree or disagree. And if you like to with
Boston City councilor Ed Flynn, you can give us a call.
Sometimes I wonder if I need to give the number out.
(09:06):
Oh well, let me do it this one time. Six one, seven, two, five,
four ten thirty or six one seven, nine three one
ten thirty.
Speaker 5 (09:14):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (09:15):
Whatever your position is.
Speaker 2 (09:16):
If you're in favor of these retail gangs that are
going out and hitting stores, feel free to tell us
why you believe in that.
Speaker 3 (09:23):
Uh, if you.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
Think it is insane that this would be tolerated in
any city, never mind Boston, the Athens of America, we'd
love to hear from as well. We're coming back on
Night's Side with Boston City Councilor Ed Flynn and my
idea that I think would actually work back on nights
Side right after.
Speaker 1 (09:41):
This, It's Night Side with Dan Ray Boston's news Radio.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
So Ed, before we get to phone calls here, one
of the things that if I owned Lulu's Lemons store
on which I don't, on Newbury Street, my idea would be,
since the being now hit on a fairly regular basis
by these gangs that are coming in and walking out
the door, you know, with thousands of dollars worth of merchandise,
(10:10):
because that's a high end merchandise, I would have a
device installed which would allow my clerk to lock the
front door of Lululemon, or lock all the doors of
Lulu Lemon. When somebody comes in and there are people
who are pulling clothes off the racket takes them a
few a couple of minutes to do that.
Speaker 3 (10:31):
I would lock the front door so they couldn't get
out and call the police.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
I think if word got around, that would probably be
a disincentive for these gangs to do this.
Speaker 3 (10:41):
You might disagree with me. I'm sure the lawyers are
going to disagree with.
Speaker 2 (10:44):
Me, but I think that'd be a pretty effective way
to basically trap the thieves in the store caught red handed.
Speaker 3 (10:51):
How crazy is that is an idea?
Speaker 5 (10:54):
Well?
Speaker 4 (10:54):
The only pushback I think, and I think I asked
this question at the City Council here during the Retail
Association general counsel was there. We asked them about some
of those types of questions, and he the policy of
DAN is just to let the criminals when they're stealing
(11:15):
walk out or run act to run out to protect
to protect the employees, but also to protect the public.
The only problem I would have is if you do
lock it, does then does the persons stealing do they
then attack the employee? Or or the public to try
(11:39):
to get out. So that's that's a concern I would have.
I I haven't thought about it all that much, but
I do know that they let the people stealing walk
out in the interest of safety of the public and
the employees.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
Yeah, And I think what that is is I think
it's a mistake because I think it basically said the
message that.
Speaker 3 (12:00):
Hey, it's not that serious a crime.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
Well, in fact, it is a serious crime because insurance
policies pay for that, and the rates of the insurance
policies for the stores increases, and the prices increase, and eventually,
if the prices get too expensive, the stores have to
go out of business.
Speaker 3 (12:20):
That's the other thing I mean.
Speaker 4 (12:21):
And a lot of them dan have closed already throughout
the city of Boston, especially drug stores of variety stores,
when people just feel like they can walk in there
and steal products because they know the criminal justice will
not hold them accountable. But I think we have to
have criminal justice reform and if you steal any type
(12:45):
of items, there should be a penalty that you pay
when you get arrested. In your case is not just
dismissed because the low amount of the product we need
to hold people accountable, and you don't have the right
to go in to a store and to steal it.
It impacts the entire city, and it impacts the entire neighborhood.
Speaker 2 (13:06):
All right, let's let's let's get some calls in on
this and uh, we'll go that full lines here, so
let's keep Let's start it off real quickly with the
first call. Of course, what I have to do is
grab the right mouse. I have too many, too many
pieces of equipment on by front of me here. I'm
going to go to Somerville first. And Tornn is calling Turin.
I'm sorry, Torrent, Sorry, sorry, Torryn, I mispronounced today.
Speaker 6 (13:32):
All right, guys, Dan, that's a horrible that's a horrible
idea because the clerks are gonna get shot, stabbed or beat.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
Well, first of all, I don't necessarily. First of all,
if somebody comes in showing a gun and says give
me the money, you want to get that guy out
of the store immediately. But when you have five or
six teenagers come in, each of whom have an armful
or two armfuls of dresses, sweaters, whatever, they're not gonna
(14:02):
they're not gonna be walking in there with firearms and
so I I just think you got to think outside
the box sometimes. But that's okay. Say hi to to
my guest city councilor Ed Flynn.
Speaker 3 (14:14):
How would you affect the test? What would you do?
Speaker 6 (14:19):
It's all it's all about the justice department. They need
to crack down. These kids are running rampant. Where's their parents?
Speaker 7 (14:26):
You know?
Speaker 6 (14:28):
Where's the accountability? I work one hundred hours a week
to buy I apologize. I apologize, Yeah, Torri, I call it.
Speaker 2 (14:37):
I don't ever remember you calling, so I'll give you
that one mistake.
Speaker 5 (14:41):
Okay, I apologize. I listened to you often.
Speaker 6 (14:44):
I'm working nights, so I listen to you every night.
Speaker 3 (14:47):
Well that's fine. So you but you agree, you agree
with us the problem.
Speaker 2 (14:52):
You agree with both council, Council of Flynn and I
on the problem.
Speaker 5 (14:56):
There's no doubt that big, big problem.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
Who do you blame the politicians? Do you blame the prosecutors?
Do you blame the district attorney? Who do you blame?
Speaker 6 (15:06):
I blame the judges forgiven such lenient sentences, the prosecutors
who make the deals with these people.
Speaker 5 (15:14):
I blame a lot of people.
Speaker 6 (15:16):
I blame wu.
Speaker 3 (15:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:19):
By the way, there was a judge last week, Judge
Tresler in Boston, and there was another judge as well,
But Judge Tresler actually held the people who were protesting
and engaged in violence against the police department in that
demonstration in downtown Boston. He held people on bail higher
(15:41):
than the prosecutors had asked for Judge Tresler.
Speaker 3 (15:44):
So there you got a great judge.
Speaker 4 (15:47):
He's an excellent judge. We need we need more judges
like that. We need people to be held responsible and accountable,
and it can't be the wild West on the streets
of Boston.
Speaker 2 (15:58):
And also, I want to mention the other judge who
held these kids respond to these young people I used
the word kids, was Judge Stanton as well. So there's
at least two judges on the district court in Boston
who were ready to actually do something. Now, if we
can just get the district attorney taking things seriously, we
(16:20):
might actually be able to do what Turin suggests that said.
Speaker 6 (16:26):
Have a good night, guys, Thanks, thanks.
Speaker 5 (16:27):
So much, thank you.
Speaker 3 (16:29):
Thanks.
Speaker 2 (16:29):
Okay, take a quick break here, Ed, why don't you
stick with us if you'd like.
Speaker 3 (16:34):
I'm going to go to Tom and West Virginia.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
I got Paul and Needham, Rich and JP and pauland Pennsylvania,
so we got people outside the state. This is probably
impacting elsewhere because this whole criminal justice reform of twenty
eighteen twenty nineteen was brought in by a whole bunch
of district attorneys around the country who's who. They were
(16:57):
not interested in prosecuting crime. They were inter and basically
encouraging crime. In my opinion, my guest, Boston City councilor
ed Flynn back on Nightside right after the news break
at the bottom of the hour.
Speaker 1 (17:09):
It's night Side with Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
My guess is Boston council ed Flynn. We're talking about
retail thefts across Boston. But it's also, by the way,
this stuff with Lulu Lemon has been going on for
about a year at Lulu Lemon stores across the country
and even up in Canada. They because they are a
high end store, they are a target rich environment for
these groups who feel they have a right to go
in and basically help themselves to as much merchandise as
(17:39):
they can carry out of the store without paying. Tom
is in West Virginia. Tom next on Nightside with Ed Flynn,
City Councilor Ed Flynn.
Speaker 7 (17:49):
Good evening for the both of you. First off, Ed,
I lived in Ward Tenem, Mission Hill. I was an
earshot from the Tobin School on Hillside Street and campaign
for your dad in nineteen eighty three. He was a
very very good mayor and he was not part of
(18:12):
the Boston Brahmin crowd. So I just want you to
know that he was a sincere guy that honestly cared
about the average resident, whether they lived in Blue Hill Avenue, Jamaica, Plane, East, Boston,
Mission Hill, Fenway, you name it.
Speaker 3 (18:31):
You did no disagreement either of us on that. Tom,
That's for sure. He's a great one.
Speaker 4 (18:36):
No, thank you Tom for those time words.
Speaker 7 (18:41):
Is your dad still is he Okay?
Speaker 5 (18:43):
Yes, yes he is.
Speaker 4 (18:44):
He's doing well.
Speaker 7 (18:47):
Okay, tell him the electrician of Mission Hill. He may
or may not remember me, but anyway, I just said
hello to the question. Is all right? And your voice
sounds the same as his. By the way, I left
my house in Brockton October fourth, and just a quick
question my leaves. I've got a pretty large piece of
(19:09):
land or a lot in Brockton one point seven acres
with a backyard goes back four hundred feet, most of
the leaves have changed. Is that the case in the
city of Boston. I know it's off topic, but there's
a point to it.
Speaker 4 (19:25):
Yeah, the leaves are changing now, the changing throughout Boston,
Greater Boston.
Speaker 7 (19:33):
Okay, fair enough, So anyway, I'm just curious on that.
But the next question, well, the next comment is I
believe it was Rachel Rollins, the Suffolk County District attorney
a few years back, basically said no, you know what,
we're not going to enforce shoplifting laws as well as
(19:56):
kids jumping the turnstiles. And if I remember her words correctly,
and I could be wrong, but she made the comment, oh, well,
because young males made a mistake, it's gonna haunt them
for the rest of their lives. Well, take it from
a kid that used to smash pumpkins during Halloween time
(20:18):
in my hometown of Foxborough, thinking it was really cool
grabbing someone's pumpkin off their porch and then smashing it
on the street.
Speaker 5 (20:26):
Ha ha.
Speaker 7 (20:27):
That was not a mistake.
Speaker 5 (20:29):
Tom.
Speaker 2 (20:29):
By the way, I'm going to try to just move
you here a little bit, because you're right, it was Rachel.
Speaker 3 (20:35):
It was Rachel Rawlins, but that was her campaign. She
ran on that policy.
Speaker 2 (20:41):
It wasn't as if she ran supporting law enforcement and
then changed when she was elected. She's like some of
these other DA's around the country, including the guy down
in Pennsylvania and Philadelphia, gascon out of Los Angeles. A
whole bunch of them ran on this let's not punish
what they considered to be small crimes, and that's why
(21:03):
they raised the amount of money you can you can
chop with up to twelve hundred dollars.
Speaker 4 (21:08):
You know, Yeah, that's right over the point is go ahead?
Speaker 7 (21:13):
Ed? Point is Tom ed.
Speaker 3 (21:15):
One jump in here? Tom hold on, Ed wants to
jump into.
Speaker 4 (21:20):
Yeah, the the felony, the felony, larsony, they haven't that
that's increased significantly in Boston and the the the pot
one crime, especially as it relates to theft, has increased
in Boston. So we're seeing we're seeing that type of
(21:40):
crime to increase significantly in the city throughout Greater Boston
as well. It's it's an issue that the city is
starting to take to take seriously. But we have been
behind the eight ball, in my opinion, for a period
of years, but there has to be some criminal justice
reform them up at the state House as well. Regardless
(22:04):
of how much you steal at a store, everything should
be prosecuted. They should be arrested, and we can't give
people a slap on the wrist anymore because it's having
a devastating impact on quality life, public safety. But it's
also hurting consumers, and consumers are working hard for their
money and they want to buy milk or they want
(22:26):
to buy bread or milk for their kids, and now
it's so expensive because everything is locked up and it's
almost impossible to even access it now without a key,
and so it's having it's having a big impact on
spending and hurting, hurting working class families in my opinion.
Speaker 7 (22:45):
Go ahead, Tom, Yeah, Okay, Well, I live in Brockton.
Two Star markets have been closed since COVID A uh
excuse me, Stop and shop stores that wet rape produce
have been closed due to theft, as well as a
Star market. And who is that affected in Brockton? Okay?
(23:09):
Working class people. And I just pray the new mayor
that they're going to elect there is going to put
his foot down and say no moths enough of this all.
Speaker 2 (23:20):
Right, sure, appreciate it, well said all right, top Tom,
gotta keep rolling.
Speaker 3 (23:24):
Thank you much, appreciate it very much.
Speaker 2 (23:25):
To get one more in here real quickly, let me
go to Rich in Jamaica.
Speaker 3 (23:31):
Plane Rich, you're on its bus city council ed Flinn.
Go ahead, Rich.
Speaker 8 (23:36):
I'm echoing what people have been saying, and that is
simply the legiency is the problem. So the petty theft
amount used to be two fifty, I believe now is
twelve hundred. And that's just an open door policies thanks
to your stuff. So what you know, in my whole neighborhood,
everything's locked up. We've alreadys talked about that. The CBS
(23:56):
workers are told do not engage shoplift, let them seal stuff.
So that I mean it was you know, I echo
all those things. But to your point that you made, Dan,
that I thought was brilliant until I kind of thought
through it's I realized the wrinkle is. So the brilliant
idea was if somebody's got an armload of you know,
(24:17):
thousands of dollars worth of expensive.
Speaker 5 (24:19):
Clothing, ye, lock the doors.
Speaker 3 (24:22):
Yes, Well, the.
Speaker 8 (24:22):
Thing is it's not a crime until they leave the store.
Speaker 2 (24:28):
Well, I think that once somebody starts to sprint from
the store with everything as they approach the doors, I
think you can me. I also think that just having
that as an option will tend to discourage these kids
from doing it. If anything, if the word got out, hey,
if you if you tried to rip off a Lulu
(24:50):
Lemon store, you might be locked in and in a
few minutes the police are going to arrive. Obviously, the
kids are counting on say kids, teenagers or whatever. Young
people get out the door and run like hell uh,
and they'll never be caught. So now if all of
a sudden they say, wait a second, hold it, you
know that I might get caught.
Speaker 5 (25:11):
I might go to jailer.
Speaker 8 (25:12):
Yeah, you know what, I think it's a good idea
if that, if it works, Yeah, I'm all for it
because it's it's absurd.
Speaker 3 (25:22):
Yeah, let me let me get it in here, go ahead.
Speaker 5 (25:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (25:24):
The one wrinkle to it though to that to that
point though, is the response time from Boston Police. As
as I mentioned, we don't have enough police on the street.
Our response time has gone up, and when you call
nine one, nine one one, the operator prioritizes the calls
(25:49):
that come into the system, whether it's a priority one, two, three,
all the way down to all the way up to nine.
Uh So, depending on where shoplifting is, it could be four,
it could be five. That police officer, that response could
be fifteen minutes, it could be twenty minutes, it could
(26:09):
be five minutes. But do you know so that's another factor,
and that's why Dan for many reasons. But you know,
I have to go to city Hall every day fighting
for more police and now a city. But it's been
challenging with my city council colleagues that really are trying
(26:29):
to cut the police budget on me almost every year.
So it's it's a very challenging time in the city.
When elected officials are not supporting the police department.
Speaker 2 (26:40):
You're fighting on your fighting on many fronts here because
there is an anti police attitude that pervades the Boston
City Council currently, and a lot of it comes from
the philosophical view of life that a lot of these
councilors have, all of whom have I guess, their own
experience that have formulated those those points of view. And
(27:03):
I think that until the city turns around and says, hey,
we got to start electing some people who reflect security
for the city and safety for people. Uh, if you
live in in the South End and you have the
people breaking into your homes who are the residents of
mass and gas, I don't know why you'd vote for
(27:24):
any incumbent in Boston.
Speaker 8 (27:26):
But that's that's crazy, a little.
Speaker 5 (27:30):
Bit off topic.
Speaker 8 (27:31):
But but more praise for Counser Flynn, and that is
on these you know, buzzing around mopeds that have been
wreaking havoc for like five or ten years.
Speaker 3 (27:40):
Another issue. There's another issue, absolutely.
Speaker 8 (27:43):
And there's a crackdown this weekend which I think fifteen
of the mopeeds got's incarcerated whatever the word is for it.
So that's the beginning. But you know ed your your
you're spot on when you say they.
Speaker 3 (27:57):
Were I think I think you meant they were confiscated
right ahead.
Speaker 8 (28:04):
Yeah, we're glad that on it.
Speaker 4 (28:08):
No, thank you. We we just can't have Boston be
the wild West out there, anything goes, people can do
what they want. There's rules on the book for a reason.
I saw I saw a person on a motorbike or
an e bike who's actually on the MBT a platform
with his e bike buzzing around, and you know there's
elderly people that are jumping out of the way, persons
(28:30):
with disabilities. I see e bikes or electric bikes or scooters.
They're buzzing down Washington Street on the sidewalk. They're on
Boilston Street on the sidewalk. You know they you can't
you can't be impacting public safety like that. They need
to be We need to be aggressive with reckless driving,
(28:51):
regardless of who it is across the city.
Speaker 8 (28:54):
All right, question why why are their bike lanes? Why
do we have bike lanes? And then these bikes are
on the sidewalks.
Speaker 2 (29:02):
But because the bicyclists only want the bike lanes for
people who were riding bicycles. They don't want the mopeds
in there. They don't want the e bikes in there.
And they want the mopens and the e bikes. They
don't care where they are, whether they're on the sidewalks
or regular traffic.
Speaker 3 (29:18):
Their interest is one thing, and that is.
Speaker 2 (29:20):
To have a dedicated lane for people who ride, you know, bicycles.
And so you have all these constituencies, and the constituency
that makes the more noise and raises the more money
and produces the more votes they're the ones who are.
Speaker 3 (29:36):
Taking care of bikes.
Speaker 2 (29:38):
Rich, good luck, Thank you, Ed Flinn. Will take one
more quick break here, We're going to come back. We'll
finish up, I promise. Thank you so much for staying
with us. I still I still like my idea. I
think even if there was a threat of that idea,
I could just see you have you have some some
(29:58):
sort of you hit the button and all of a sudden,
the doors, you can't get through the doors, some sort
of electronic machine brings a steel curtain down.
Speaker 3 (30:12):
I think that would probably and a lot.
Speaker 2 (30:15):
I understand the consideras you're raised, but I think you
have that happen once or twice. I think that Lulu
Lemon would be doing a lot better, or maybe they
should now they maybe they need to have security guards,
armed security guards, higher off duty police officers that would
if they're concerned about the safety of their their employees
and their patrons and their insurance payments, maybe they need
(30:40):
to start nesting in some off duty police officers.
Speaker 3 (30:42):
Back on Night Side with possa city councilor Ed Flynn.
Speaker 1 (30:45):
Right after this, you're on night Side with Dan Ray
on w Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2 (30:53):
Let's see if we get everybody, let me go to
Paul in Pennsylvania. Paul, you were next on nightside. Thanks
for calling in. How are you, sir?
Speaker 5 (30:59):
All right? Thank what they might call. I agree with
Counsel and Flynn that these are probably organized like a
flash mob. They probably you know, coordinate on their soul phones.
But one bad thing about your idea dat is you
never know what these people. If there might be a
place where people working in the store to hide when
that thing comes down, with anybody who's in that store
buying something, these people might be like cage rats. They
(31:21):
might flip out and take hostages. You never know what
they'll do if something like that happens, and they might
have what was on it. If you don't know that,
you can put some kind of electronic taggets, these different
clothing and things that trace them. But I don't know
if that's worth the worth the effort. And you know,
security guard is probably a good idea, but a lot
of this stuff has to do with not only as
they're making money on it, but you know the ratoric
(31:42):
that you know, the haves and the have nots. So
a lot of that's being preached around the country and
they think they're like some kind of a Robin Hood
doing this.
Speaker 2 (31:50):
Yeah, they're not Robin Hood's that's for sure. And I
think ed Flint has made that very very clear. Is
there a problem like this And we're in Pennsylvania and
in Pittsburgh or Philly, we're part of the.
Speaker 5 (32:00):
States Bary Ooksbury and everything's locked up. When you go
to a story, can't even get shampoo, Harley.
Speaker 4 (32:08):
You know, that's a great, great call, a great message.
And you know in in Boston, the the there's so
much availability for food for people in need, so many
different churches and nonprofits of the city of Boston there's
access to food. So in my opinion that you know,
(32:29):
anyone that is stealing really is is being selfish and
they're hurting the public, they're hurting the small business because
there's there's so many opportunities to for for for assistance,
especially for people in need.
Speaker 2 (32:44):
That's an urban myth, and stealing for food for their family.
There's stealing, maybe probably for a drug addiction or something else.
Speaker 5 (32:52):
Great quick question, Mayor, we'll brought your card with her.
Speaker 2 (32:58):
We got a lot of we got a lot of
who are that's for sure. I'll we go to Joe
and Lynn. Joe, you gotta be quick for me, buddy,
go ahead.
Speaker 9 (33:08):
I will thank you very much. Uh, mister ed Flynn,
I loved your dad. You could talk to him. I'm
going to call you and talk to you privately. He
was wonderful to me on the radio. Things just didn't
work out. I want to compliment and echo Thom's words.
I'll call you sometime and I hope you'll take my call. Sure,
and you and your dad are brought up right. You're
not typical politicians. You'll help even out of the out
(33:31):
of your area. But now I want to say I
agree with you, Dan, I think that would help. And
you could just make an announcement. Ladies and gentlemen, we
have people that are stealing and lock them up and
have the security hold them not hurt him. I know
there's uh uh, there's that burner stuff they advertise. It'll
knock him down and not hurt him, but it'll make
him sore for a while while there's detained, and then
(33:53):
the police come take him. Because you have this stuff
is foolish and it has to stop. There's no reason
for this.
Speaker 3 (34:00):
Thanks thanks Joe for the support. I got one person
support my idea.
Speaker 4 (34:04):
Thanks buddy, appreciate you have one vote.
Speaker 6 (34:06):
Dan.
Speaker 9 (34:07):
Thanks Joe, and I'll call you sometime. Take care, bye, buddy.
Speaker 3 (34:10):
Yeah, give me a call.
Speaker 4 (34:12):
I'll take your call.
Speaker 3 (34:14):
Tom and Lancaster. Tom next on Knights, I go right.
Speaker 5 (34:16):
Ahead, Hey Dan, how are you hi?
Speaker 9 (34:19):
Mister Flynn?
Speaker 7 (34:20):
Hey Tom?
Speaker 5 (34:21):
Dan. Dan knows what I.
Speaker 10 (34:23):
Used to do for a living in New York and
now I work security at a major retailer in back Bay.
And Uh, we're not allowed to touch anybody because we're
not categorized as lost prevention guards, which is a which
is the ones that would be able to handcuff them
and hold them.
Speaker 5 (34:40):
Uh, but our store.
Speaker 9 (34:43):
Can't get that, my guess for some reason.
Speaker 10 (34:46):
H we're not allowed to lock the doors. Even on
a windy day. One of the doors blows open, and
I asked why they can't just lock it and block
it off. Oh that's against the fire code, I said.
I don't think the fire marshals coming today and lock
you up. They're never gonna lock it for thieves. The
other thing is, I'm working at three and a half
years in that area. I've never seen a cop working
(35:09):
off duty in uniform in any retailer like they have
in New York City, which is called the paid Detail Unit,
and the retailers can hire them through the city.
Speaker 5 (35:20):
The city gets paid.
Speaker 10 (35:21):
First and takes their cut, and then the officer gets
his pay, and that virtually eliminates all the shoplifting in
that store. Does that not exist in the Boston PD
or does it?
Speaker 5 (35:33):
Well, the.
Speaker 4 (35:36):
Problem we have really is just so few number of
police officers, the availability of police officers, and it's just
not a priority, unfortunately for people stealing, whether it's on
Washington Street in Dorchester, or in Jamaica, plane or wherever
it might be. It needs to be a priority for everyone,
(35:59):
including the criminal justice system, and we have to set
an example of zero tolerance for any type of criminal
activity in the city or in the commonwealth. I just
don't think we're able to sustain the level of retail
theft that is taking place in Boston. It's hurting our city,
it's hurting our state, and it's hurting the residents and
(36:20):
small businesses, and we just can't accept that any longer.
And I think it's up to the residents to demand
a little bit of respect from elected officials as well.
Speaker 3 (36:30):
Tom. Thank you for what you did.
Speaker 2 (36:32):
You serve the people of New York for many years
and you're still well, You're still in the related activity.
Speaker 3 (36:40):
Let's put let's thank you.
Speaker 2 (36:41):
Thanks Tom touching all more often, Tom need you voice.
Thank you much to the callers on the line, Phil, John,
and Chris.
Speaker 3 (36:50):
Stay there.
Speaker 2 (36:50):
I'm going to go into the next hour. We're going
to let Ed Flynn go. But I think this is
an important quality of life conversation.
Speaker 3 (36:57):
So let's keep this rolling.
Speaker 2 (37:00):
You guys, stay there, We'll take the news and be
right back. Ed Flynn has always thank you very much.
I know that you're going to have a good election day.
But if people want to get in touch with you
in the next couple of week, next, you know, ten
days or so, where can they get in.
Speaker 3 (37:14):
Touch with you?
Speaker 4 (37:15):
Yeah, Dan, they can reach me yet ED for Boston
on social media, but also they can drop me an
email at Ed dot Flynn at Boston dot gov. Give
me a drop me a message and I'll get back
to them. And I return all emails and return phone
calls as well.
Speaker 2 (37:30):
Absolutely, thanks for returning my my phone call, my text
message today. Always great to have you and thank you Dan.
I'll work more on that.
Speaker 3 (37:38):
That idea. I promise Dan see, how do you folks
fool me? Thanks very thank you. We get back.
Speaker 2 (37:44):
We're gonna we will take a break for the ten
o'clock news, and we're going to get everybody here and
we'll all keep the lines open. This is an important
quality of life issue. We need to talk about it.
I want you to think about it, and I want
to hear from some ladies. This is Lululemon. I don't
shop at Lululemon. I could get less. But it sets
a really bad precedent for Boston coming back on nightside
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