https://sputnikglobe.com/20211124/peaceful-shopping-social-media-riled-as-public-warned-not-to-call-california-crime-wave-looting-1090990905.html
‘Peaceful Shopping?’ Social Media Riled as Public Warned Not to Call California Crime Wave 'Looting'
‘Peaceful Shopping?’ Social Media Riled as Public Warned Not to Call California Crime Wave 'Looting'
Sputnik International
The California Bay Area witnessed a wave of robberies over the weekend, with San Francisco Police Chief Bill Scott saying in a press conference that the Louis... 24.11.2021, Sputnik International
2021-11-24T15:14+0000
2021-11-24T15:14+0000
2021-11-24T15:14+0000
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Social media users have mocked “woke” criminal experts for urging the public to steer clear of referring to a spate of Bay Area, California, burglaries as “looting.” A gang of about 40 robbers were filmed smashing display cases at a Sam's Jewelers in Southland Mall in Hayward on Sunday, while other groups stole looted a drug store. Another gang was seen grabbing garments from a Lululemon store in San Jose, according to KPIX. However, experts interviewed by a Bay Area news station, including a professor of criminal justice and an ex-cop, said the incidents should to be called “organised smash-and-grabs.” The distinction apparently originates from the California penal code, which defines looting as “theft or burglary... during a “state of emergency, local emergency or evacuation order resulting from an earthquake, fire, flood, riot or other natural or manmade disaster.” While there is no information regarding the identities or races of the thieves involved, no local or national emergency had been declared in the Bay Area. Another expert, ex-police officer Lorenzo Boyd, PhD, professor of Criminal Justice & Community Policing at the University of New Haven, also underscored that the wording mattered. The spate of crimes comes in the wake of the contentious verdict delivered in the Kyle Rittenhouse trial on Friday, when a jury found the teen not-guilty on all counts for shooting three men, killing two of them, during the Kenosha, Wisconsin riots. Local protests over the weekend were reported by local media to have been largely peaceful.However, users on social media have called out the so-called experts for refusing to “call a spade a spade." Julio Rosas, a Marine and Town Hall contributor, tweeted ironically “Mostly peaceful shopping in the Bay Area.” Ex-Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker went on Twitter to compare the language used in the current incidents with that used in the wake of the Jacob Blake shooting in Wisconsin, adding “It's looting.” Scores of other users also blasted the wording.
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‘Peaceful Shopping?’ Social Media Riled as Public Warned Not to Call California Crime Wave 'Looting'
The California Bay Area witnessed a wave of robberies over the weekend, with San Francisco Police Chief Bill Scott saying in a press conference that the Louis Vuitton and Burberry stories in Westfield Mall were "burglarised and looted," as he detailed his department's response after a million dollars worth of luxury goods were stolen.
Social media users have mocked “woke” criminal experts for urging the public to steer clear of referring to a spate of Bay Area, California,
burglaries as “looting.”
A gang of about 40 robbers were filmed smashing display cases at a Sam's Jewelers in Southland Mall in Hayward on Sunday, while other groups stole looted a drug store. Another gang was seen grabbing garments from a Lululemon store in San Jose, according to KPIX.
However, experts
interviewed by a Bay Area news station, including a professor of criminal justice and an ex-cop, said the incidents should to be called “organised smash-and-grabs.”
The distinction apparently originates from the California penal code, which defines looting as “theft or burglary... during a “state of emergency, local emergency or evacuation order resulting from an earthquake, fire, flood, riot or other natural or manmade disaster.”
While there is no information regarding the identities or races of the thieves involved, no local or national emergency had been declared in the Bay Area.
“This seems like it's an organized smash and grab robbery. This doesn't seem like looting,” Martin Reynolds, co-executive director of the Robert C. Maynard Institute of Journalism Education, stated.
Another expert, ex-police officer Lorenzo Boyd, PhD, professor of Criminal Justice & Community Policing at the University of New Haven, also underscored that the wording mattered.
"Looting is a term that we typically use when people of colour or urban dwellers are doing something. We tend not to use that term for other people when they do the exact same thing," said Boyd.
The spate of crimes comes in the wake of the contentious
verdict delivered in the Kyle Rittenhouse trial on Friday, when a jury found the teen not-guilty on all counts for shooting three men, killing two of them, during the Kenosha, Wisconsin riots. Local protests over the weekend were reported by local media to have been largely peaceful.
However, users on social media have called out the so-called experts for refusing to “call a spade a spade." Julio Rosas, a Marine and Town Hall contributor, tweeted ironically “Mostly peaceful shopping in the Bay Area.”
Ex-Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker went on Twitter to compare the language used in the current incidents with that used in the wake of the Jacob Blake shooting in Wisconsin, adding “It's looting.”
Scores of other users also blasted the wording.
