St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones announced a desire to hold gas stations accountable for crime and violence. The Mayor made this controversial statement at the first Black Mayors Coalition summit in Memphis, Tennessee. Jones stated that she took this idea from authorities in Atlanta, who hold nightclub owners accountable when they are consistently the subject of police calls.
Such a plan does not make sense when one takes a step back to look at the nature of gas stations and nightclubs respectively. A gas station does not typically allow drinking or loitering on their property. Night clubs are the opposite, as going to these establishments is to drink and loiter. Night clubs are also not retail locations, unlike gas stations.
Gas stations typically become the target of “youth” flash mobs, where hundreds of people rob the store all at once. Carjackings and car thefts also often happen outside of gas stations. The crimes in gas stations are almost always unpreventable by the owners or workers on duty. In contrast, nightclubs frequently have lapses in security that pave the way for violence to happen inside.
SOURCES:
Philadelphia Wawa Ransacked by Mob of ‘100 Juveniles’ – YouTube
Black Mayors’ Coalition on Crime wraps up first set of meetings – YouTube
Clown World ™ 🤡 on X: “People need to stop stealing 🤦♂️ https://t.co/NfSNUSPh9m” / X
