In the Midwest of the fifties and sixties, parents rarely gave kids a key to their house. We never bothered to lock the door, and cars were unlocked when parked in front of the house. We were never robbed, and no one tried to steal the family car. There were car thieves around, of course, and burglars as well, but not as many as today.
We live in a different world today. Cars and houses are double-locked and security systems are ubiquitous. An unlocked vehicle is an invitation to thieves that seldom get caught or prosecuted. Until recently, burglars, car thieves, robbers and other lawbreakers were dealt with harshly and often ostracized for life. As a result, even those with little respect for the property of others were reluctant to risk the consequences that would almost inevitably follow.
Chicago, a once great city that serves today as a laboratory of the left, demonstrates just how much crime increases when police and prosecutors look the other way and politicians blame everyone and everything for the crime but the criminal. Last year, then-Mayor Lori Lightfoot castigated Chicago retailers for not locking up their merchandise to make it harder for thieves to get at it. It was the soon-to-be-former mayor's view that the criminals were innocent victims enticed to rob by the very existence of merchandise they want but don't want to buy.
The desire to excuse lawbreakers is nowhere so prevalent as in the debate over guns. Politicos like Lightfoot and President Biden for that matter rarely blame criminals that misuse guns but the guns themselves. Lightfoot and Biden aren't alone in the progressive desire to blame anything for crime rather than criminals or lax law enforcement. Car theft in major cities increased 7% last year; Chicago's 55% increase led the nation. Cities where officials have cut law enforcement budgets have seen similar if smaller increases though none can compete with Chicago.
Minneapolis, like Chicago, is run by progressives and witnessed a significant increase in auto theft last year. So, city officials joined Minnesota's progressive attorney general to blame the cars rather than those stealing them for the increase. Korean automakers took the brunt. Until a few years ago, Kia and Hyundai did not routinely fit their low-end models with the “smart” computer keys that have to be used to start many of today's cars and trucks. They used the standard keys that everybody used a decade ago. That was fine until some Milwaukee car thieves posted a YouTube video with step-by-step instructions on how to steal a Kia or Hyundai. Since then, there have been double digit increases in thefts of these cars.
The makers' companies have updated security measures, are installing new, more expensive keys in all their vehicles and even give owners with older cars ways to lock and further secure their vehicles. It doesn't matter to progressives eager to find a way to divert blame.
Politicians loath to blame crime on actual criminals had another target. Minneapolis is suing the Korean car makers for irresponsibly failing to make their products theft-proof, alleging that since at least one city resident has been killed in an accident involving a stolen Kia, the auto manufacturer must be held accountable.
No one at the press conference announcing the suit mentioned that YouTube instructions and old-style keys notwithstanding, the Korean vehicles are not even among the ten most often stolen vehicles in the city or that British police are reporting that car thieves in London have figured out how to defeat the “smart” keys and half the cars stolen this year were equipped with “smart” keys to no avail.
Maybe Korea's automakers assumed that today's American criminal justice system detects, arrests, convicts and rehabilitates the individuals responsible for stealing cars. That was how it once was here and still is in Korea.
But America has changed. We didn't have “smart” keys in the fifties and sixties. What we did have was widespread respect for the property of others, a sense that stealing was wrong and an appreciation that crime not only doesn't pay, but that those who break society's laws and are apprehended pay a heavy price. Not anymore. Last week, a study of criminal justice in the District of Columbia found that prosecutors don't bother to pursue charges against two thirds of those apprehended by police and it's a sure bet that lawbreakers in Chicago, Minneapolis and other cities too are finding that in today's America crime does pay.
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News.
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I’m almost 75 years old and I hardly recognize my country anymore, it’s a shame how far this country has gone downhill since I was a teenager.
WHY, CAN”t the police Commissioner of New York arrest Bragg, for not doing his sworen duties.??
They are all demonRATS.
“not doing your sworn duty” is not a crime. the real question us why are the Voters or taxpayers not pressuring their politicians on these serious matters.
Rigged Races day 1 to win, see DA Bragg NYC
“Last year, then-Mayor Lori Lightfoot castigated Chicago retailers for not locking up their merchandise to make it harder for thieves to get at it.”
typical lightfoot and radical dems mentality not so long ago were castrating “retailers for locking up their merchandise” as racism.