‘This is a seismic shift in the culture of how the NYPD polices this great city…’
(Claire Russel, Liberty Headlines) Crime in New York City is skyrocketing after government officials forced the New York Police Department to disband “anti-crime units.”
The NYPD warned city leaders that getting rid of anti-crime units, which employed more than 600 officers who patrolled in high-crime areas wearing plainclothes, would have an immediate effect.
“This is a seismic shift in the culture of how the NYPD polices this great city. It will be felt immediately in the communities that we protect,” New York Police Commissioner Dermot Shea said in a statement last week.
The effect was indeed immediate, but not in a good way. Shootings in the city have surged over the past week. In just a few days, 28 shootings took place across the city, taking at least five lives and injuring 28 others.
Last year at this same time, there were only 12 shootings in the entire week, according to the New York Post. As of June 20, there have been 97 shooting incidents in New York City. Last year, there were 89 total shootings in the entire month of June.
Overall, shootings have spiked by almost 25% in New York City this year, gun arrests are up 8%, and murders are up 25%, according to data obtained by the New York Post.
“This is what the politicians wanted — no bail, nobody in Rikers, cops not arresting anyone,” a law enforcement official told the Post. “All those things equal people walking around on the street with guns, shooting each other.”
Officers previously assigned to the anti-crime units have been reassigned as “response autos,” according to the NYPD, which means they patrol in uniform and in marked vehicles.
“Shooting and murders are both climbing steadily upward, but our city leaders have clearly decided that proactive policing isn’t a priority anymore,” Police Benevolent Association President Patrick Lynch said in a statement. “They chose this strategy. They will have to reckon with the consequences.”