California Governor Gavin Newsom took to social media Tuesday to brag about the recent rise in arrests of suspected retail theft suspects, but quickly faced backlash because he and his fellow Golden State Democrats ushered in the air of lawlessness in the state in the first place.

Look how wonderful I am, the governor gushed:

California is stopping organized retail theft.

So far this year, @CHP_HQ's Organized Retail Crime Task Force has made 636 arrests — recovering nearly $5.7 million in stolen goods. pic.twitter.com/rhtGdvmNKO

— California Governor (@CAgovernor) June 18, 2024

To be fair, it is true that arrests have seen a significant rise:

Governor Gavin Newsom announced on Tuesday that the California Highway Patrol’s (CHP) Organized Retail Crime Taskforce (ORCTF) has made 636 arrests and recovered 216,754 stolen goods valued at nearly $5.7 million since January when tackling retail theft, with increased efforts resulting in a 167% increase in arrests and a 525% rise in stolen goods recovered when compared to the same time period from last year.

Of course, crime in the state under his watch has increased mightily as well:

Since the beginning of the decade, organized retail theft has gone up dramatically throughout California. Nationally, events such as the San Francisco Union Square robberies in 2021 and the spate of LA-based smash and grab flash mob robberies in early 2023 have made major headlines.

Criminals simply no longer fear justice in progressive states. Your average Tuesday:

#USA #California #TheSecretOfUs
It is California. They are robbers. Mob of at least 20 men smash their way into a jewelry store in Sunnyvale, pic.twitter.com/HgJUFumAv1

— Mahmood Khan (@Mahmood88239370) June 18, 2024

There are obviously a number of problems with Newsom's glowing narrative about himself. One line jumped out at me: "...increased efforts resulting in a 167% increase in arrests and a 525% rise in stolen goods recovered when compared to the same time period from last year." Wait... what the hell was everybody doing last year? Just letting criminals roam free? (Yes.)

The second thing I note is that, wow, that's a lot of arrests... But why is crime so high that you need to make so many apprehensions? Not surprisingly, the blame lands squarely at the feet of Newsom and his cohorts.

Former Bay Area law enforcement officer and security consultant Frank Ma told the California Globe that it's like bragging about cleaning up all that broken china... after you'd shattered all the tea cups:

...with Newsom and many lawmakers around him in California, this big bump in CHP funding and support is only there because police cuts and laws where criminals aren’t even getting in serious trouble unless the theft is above $950, amongst many others. 

You’re right. They are only solving the problems they created with this. So they can say there are more arrests and more recovered goods, which again, is a good thing. But there is a reason why the numbers are so high and a reason why we even need the task force and the CHP to even focus on this in the first place. Don’t forget that.

Newsom conveniently didn’t say why retail thefts were so high in his press release, I take it.

Gavin Newsom's crime statistics are misleading.

While it's nice that $5.7M in assets were recovered, that's a drop in the bucket.

And you can arrest as many criminals as you want -- if those arrests don't result in prosecutions, convictions, AND prison time, arrests are… https://t.co/EBThirmbm4

— Houman David Hemmati, MD, PhD (@houmanhemmati) June 18, 2024

And you can arrest as many criminals as you want -- if those arrests don't result in prosecutions, convictions, AND prison time, arrests are worthless. Newsom is actively closing prisons (making it impossible to take criminals off the street) and many DA's refuse to prosecute.

Is Governor Hair Gel really serious about crime, or is he just preparing himself for a possible presidential run in case Joe Biden takes himself out of the running? Sure doesn't seem like it's his real priority:

California Dreamin'

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Newsom has proven for decades that he doesn't care about crime, he doesn't care about the homeless, and he doesn't care about the average Californian. The one issue he has shown extensive commitment to, however, is abortion, which I find rather macabre—terminating pregnancies is what gives your life meaning?

Newsom is termed out in '26 (technically Jan. 7, 2027), so he's transparently plotting his next move and trying to clean up some of the messes he's overseen because he knows a national audience isn't as dense as the California electorate appears to be. I pray and hope that he never has a shot at a national office because if there is one person who would be a more destructive president than Joe Biden—it would unquestionably be Gavin Newsom.