SAN FRANCISCO (TND) — Leaders of several police unions are pinning the blame for the recent uptick in smash-and-grab "flash mob" style robberies in California and other states on the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).

The unions have launched a website, named "aclu-watch.com", dedicated to "exposing those that defend the indefensible".

"When society removes accountability for bad behavior, criminals get emboldened to commit more crimes, drug addicts thumb their noses at mandatory treatment and vandalism and petty theft turn into riotous looting and murder," Craig Lally, the president of the Los Angeles Police Protective League said in an interview with Fox News.

The Los Angeles Police Protective League is one of the organizations sponsoring the ACLU Watch website.

"The ACLU protects some of the worst elements of our society: hate groups, sexual predators and violent criminals while at the same time fighting to reduce victim’s rights," says ACLU Watch on its website.

"One does not need to be clairvoyant to have predicted that in California the ACLU’s Proposition 47 would turn a family trip to the mall or a Home Depot into a dangerous gamble for our residents," Lally said to Fox News.

This comes after a string of thefts in California, including a smash-and grab robbery at a Bay Area Nordstrom which police say involved upwards of 20 people.

“A lot of these perpetrators have been getting just slaps on the wrist and they’re either given fines, or they’re given probation and they’re back on the street,” loss prevention expert Christopher McGourty previously told The National Desk.