Kendall County Times

Republican state Sen. Sue Rezin insists she’s struggling to make sense of Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s position on the city's rising crime rate. 

“I am absolutely astonished that the mayor of Chicago would try to blame businesses for the increase in crime within the city that she is the top official,” Rezin recently tweeted. “The responsibility to uphold public safety and prevent crime doesn’t belong to businesses.”

Violence isn't a new concern for Chicago business owners. In July,  after more than 60 arrests, business owners asked Lightfoot to do  something about the issue, according to CBS Chicago.

Now Lightfoot is turning heads with her insistence that store owners are not doing enough to defend themselves from the rash of thefts now taking place at businesses across the city, Newsweek reported.

"Some of the retailers downtown in Michigan Avenue, I will tell you, I'm disappointed that they are not doing more to take safety and make it a priority,” she said during a recent crime summit at the University of Illinois in Chicago.

“For example, we still have retailers that won't institute plans like having security officers in their stores,” she added. “Making sure that they've got cameras that are actually operational, locking up their merchandise at night, chaining high-end bags — these purses seem to be something that is attracting a lot of organized retail theft units."

Illinois Retail Merchants Association CEO Rob Karr also thinks the mayor is steering the blame in the wrong direction.  

"The comments that retailers need to do more are sadly misinformed,” he told Fox Business. “I think it ignores the fact that retailers spend hundreds of millions of dollars every year on security. We're not going to put the entire store behind glass cases or under lock and key. Retail doesn't work that way. We have a fine line to walk. I don't think the mayor wants a line of armed personnel in every store."

More recently, White House press secretary Jen Psaki responded to questions about the spate of smash-and-grab robberies in major U.S. cities, including the remarks made by Lightfoot and claims made by U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) about such crimes not being widespread.

Psaki insisted those at the White House "don't agree" and stressed that the Biden administration is committed to working with the Justice Department and the FBI in providing resources for local police departments, Newsweek reported.

"We have seen some of these extremely disturbing videos showing retail theft,” she added. “State and local leaders like [California] Governor Gavin Newsom have identified this as a serious concern. We agree. That's the reason why we have sent additional support from the FBI providing additional assistance.”