Merchants decided to band together as vigilantes in Hinsdale, Illinois. The neighborhood watch already prevented one attempted robbery before it could start. When Police eventually showed up, they followed the trail to another botched robbery, then the gang’s third try was successful. By the end of a rough day, the masked banditos finally made it back to their hideout, safe and sound with the goods. Cops went home with an empty box of donuts.
Merchants band together
Now that liberal jurisdictions have decriminalized crime, shoplifting has spiraled out of control. In self-defense, Hinsdale, Illinois merchants decided to “band together” and form a neighborhood watch. Police can’t be everywhere and even when they are around, they don’t seem to be allowed to do much good, Especially not in Lori Lightfoot’s jurisdiction.
On February 24, the vigilantes stopped a robbery. One witness notes, “It’s very dangerous, I mean what if they were armed.” Xiomara Soto was amazed at the “crazy” way it happened. One thing for sure, it happened “very quick.”
Ms. Soto saw the whole thing because the robbery attempt happened at the Marcus store, “just across the street” from the bagel shop she works at. The band of criminals backed a white Ford Edge into the alley behind their target, then the group tried to come in the front doors.
Thankfully, they have an “airlock” design with inner and outer doors separated by a foyer. “They tried to walk in but very quickly one of the girls from inside she stopped right in front of the door. And I just saw her nodding her head shaking it ‘no,‘” All the men were wearing ski masks.
The vigilant employee inside the Marcus store “locked the ski mask wearing group inside the foyer.” When they realized they were outmaneuvered, they decided to split before the cops arrived.
“A few minutes later, they left the way they came and drove off empty handed.” The band of vigilante merchants are celebrating the victory.
Whole block locked down
Andrea Kaspar is manager of the J.McLaughlin store and also on the Hinsdale Chamber of Commerce Board. “The rest of the block was locked down within minutes,” she relates.
“All the store managers here, we’re on a group text, and as soon as it happened, the store manager at Marcus notified everybody.” She’s the one who encouraged them all to band together in the first place, “after a spike in retail crime in the fall.”
The merchants formed into a neighborhood watch band of vigilantes because they “wanted to know what we could do to kind of protect our businesses and keep an eye out for each other.”
They decided to start with group chat. That way, “anytime we see something suspicious in town it’s pretty immediate and we do notify the other stores, so that everyone can be on the lookout for things that are out of the ordinary.”
The vigilante band got this one right. Hinsdale Police Chief Brian King told reporters that after they were thwarted by the quick thinking employee at one Marcus store, plan B was “try to rob the Marcus in Deerfield.” That didn’t turn out any better so they decided to switch brands.
The Tom Ford employees weren’t nearly as concerned about preventing retail theft. In Chicago’s Gold Coast neighborhood the Black Lives Matter card is better than cash. “It’s just crazy to see it happen in broad daylight and just doing it in front of a bunch of people walking around. It’s just crazy.“
