VMany people are already comparing the new Mayor of New York, Eric Adams, with his predecessor, David Dinkins. In 1990, he was the first African American to move into the Gracie Mansion, the mayor’s official residence on East End Avenue in Manhattan, with the aim of breaking the city’s crime wave, which was further exacerbated by crack crack. At the time, the Democrat created 6,000 new police officer jobs and kept the schools open in the evenings to give young New Yorkers something to do. When Dinkins moved out of the Gracie Mansion four years later, he had reversed the almost 30-year trend of rising crime figures: The number of burglaries had fallen by almost 18 percent, robberies by about 15 percent, and murders by almost 14 percent.
Now his successor Adams, who has been in office for four weeks, is also trying to fight crime in the most populous city in the United States. As a first step, the former police officer announced that he would track down illegal weapons and their owners. Adams plans to send plainclothes officers, “neighborhood safety teams,” to the city’s 20 most dangerous neighborhoods in the coming weeks to identify potential shooters. In addition to face recognition technology, devices that recognize weapons under clothing are also to be used. The New York Police Department’s (NYPD) Gun Crime Unit will also increase its staff. The unit not only confiscates illegal weapons, but also prepares charges against their owners. Adams also plans to appoint judges who have a history of wanting to “keep armed, brutal criminals off the streets of New York.”
Since Adams took office earlier this year, New York has been rocked by several high-profile crimes. A 40-year-old died when a former inmate pushed her in front of a subway train in Times Square. Just over a week ago, a 47-year-old man unexpectedly opened fire on officers as they entered a Harlem apartment following a domestic violence call. A 22-year-old police officer was fatally injured, and his 27-year-old colleague died in hospital a few days later. Investigators found an illegal Glock handgun and an aftermarket 40-round magazine on the shooter, a professional criminal. In the days before, three other NYPD officers had been shot, some seriously injured. The Federal Police (FBI) calculated that in 2021 in the United States, a total of 73 officers died on operations – more than in any other year since 2001.
More than 1500 “shootings”
The number of shootings also skyrocketed. From January to December 2021, the New York Police Department counted more than 1,500 “shootings”, double the number in 2019 and more than in any of the previous 15 years. Mayor Adams called on New York state lawmakers to tighten bail legislation. In a controversial reform of law enforcement, New York almost three years ago removed the “cash bail” – bail payments to remain at large until the trial began – even for more serious offenses such as assault, stalking and minor cases of arson and robbery. Like many judges who feel patronized by the legislation, Adams is now demanding that bail payments for certain crimes should no longer be ruled out, but instead be made dependent on the “dangerousness” of the alleged perpetrator.
While many lawmakers are still debating whether New York law enforcement should be tougher, President Joe Biden seems convinced. “The President once again expresses his admiration for the women and men in the police departments,” government spokeswoman Jen Psaki said recently. “And he pledges his firm support to Mayor Adams in his attempt to tackle gun crime and violent crime.”
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