Proof of a Broken City

Perhaps no recent case better points up how broken the city is, as Mayor Adams noted this weekend, than that of Michelle McKelley. A shoplifter extraordinaire, McKelley was arrested for what may be her 100th time — yet prosecutors were forbidden from asking for bail by the state’s disastrous 2019 criminal-justice “reforms” and could request nothing more than supervised release.

The suspect thus had to be set free — no doubt, to shoplift again, get caught and get let out once more. She’s already skipped 27 (yes, 27) court dates and has five pending cases.

And, no, she’s not stealing out of desperation. In her own words, she’s a “professional booster” who steals . . . “to get a new outfit.”

This insanity has to stop. McKelley isn’t even the only serial shoplifter with a record like this. The Post alone has cited Lorenzo McLucas, who actually manages to beat out McKelley with 122 arrests, as well as Laron “I steal for a living” Mack and obsessive Duane Reade targetter James Connelly.

And don’t think (despite what whacko progressives claim) stealing from stores is a victimless crime. It endangers low-wage cashiers and workers who stock shelves. It creates real fear and despair among law-abiding citizens. It forces stores to lock up merchandise, raise prices and/or close. It even winds up hurting the crooks themselves.

Meanwhile, chaos and lawlessness are eating away at the heart of the city — a guarantee there will never be a real recovery.

Even soft-on-crime Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg said recently, “We cannot accept a system where individuals who shoplift again and again cycle in and out of jail, just to shoplift again.”

He’s right. And this is a chance to prove he means it, say, by aggressively finding ways to keep those repeat law-breakers behind bars. And by starting to lobby his lefty comrades to make real fixes to bail reform.

Otherwise, it’s all just empty words.