Community members and local business owners gathered in Bensonhurst Friday to listen to Sen. Iwen Chu's announcement of a new law that will increase penalties for assaults against retail workers and support businesses in making security upgrades.

"With this new legislation, a new law assaulting a retail work is a felony," Chu said. "We're talking about punishable up to four years in prison. We need to send this message loud and clear in multiple language."

Small business owners can soon operate their establishments safely knowing that criminals will be held accountable for their actions.

"The current law is if the stolen property value is less than $1,000, it' s a class A misdemeanor," said Chu. "Now we make sure the prosecutor has the tool to prosecute accordingly."

Local business owners like Phillip Xu joined Chu at the podium in front of his restaurant, New Bay Pkwy Cafe.

Xu mentioned that recently his cafe had been vandalized by thieves - disturbing both customers and his staff.

"The people come in and make trouble while customers are here and scare everybody," he said.

The new law will officially go into effect on Tuesday.