As lame duck Mayor Bill de Blasio departs Gracie Mansion on Friday and incoming Mayor Eric Adams takes the gig, he has a lot of work to do to slow the city’s crime wave.
The city is on pace to reach 500 murders in the year 2021, something they haven’t recorded in 10 years.
As of Thursday, the city has recorded 481 murders which has been fueled by an increase in gun crime, according to city data.
The last time the city hit 500+ murders was 2011, under then-Mayor Michael Bloomberg, when homicides ended up totaling 515.
The rest of the decade had seen a sharp decrease in murders, going down to 419 in 2012 and heading as low as 292 in 2017 under de Blasio.
Murders have gone up in New York City each of the last three years, with numbers hitting a 10-year high in 2021
Crime overall has gone up 6.13 percent in New York City from 2020 through December 26, with felony assaults up nearly 10 percent
Despite the spike in crime, Mayor Bill de Blasio commended Shea’s leadership in their last monthly press conference on crime statistics earlier this month. ‘I think the commissioner has a lot to be proud of,’ De Blasio said
Outgoing Commissioner Dermot Shea has continually blamed the rise in crime on bail reform laws
But the numbers have climbed since, up to 462 in 2020 during the lockdown phase of the COVID-19 pandemic in the city, which also saw stores hit by looting, and riots in the wake of George Floyd’s murder.
Those numbers have continued to go up this year, even as the city reopens, and are on pace to hit 10-year highs and the numbers continue to increase of late.
Between November 28 and December 26, homicides were double what they were in the same period last year, with 41 murders compared to 24 in 2020.
Overall, crime has risen 6.13 percent in New York City over 2020 through December 26.
The biggest rise came in felony assaults like the ones previously mentioned, which rose 9.6 percent from 2020.
Murders (4.1 percent), shooting victims (0.6 percent), rapes (3.3 percent), and robberies (4.7 percent) have also risen this year.
De Blasio had initially continued the downward trend of murders in the city that happened under his predecessor, Michael Bloomberg
Eric Adams will replace de Blasio, with his swearing in happening on Saturday, as the mayor’s term begins on January 1
Incoming Mayor Eric Adams and new police chief Keechant Sewell will be tasked with harnessing the world’s largest police force to clean up New York City’s worsening crime problem under lame duck Bill de Blasio.
NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea, who departs at the end of the month, has blamed bail reform laws enacted by the Democratic-dominated state Legislature for the spike in violent crime.
In early 2020, criminal justice reform measures passed by the New York State Legislature and signed into law by then-Governor Andrew Cuomo took effect.
The new law has received increasing scrutiny over its rules that allow New York courts to release people who would have remained in jail under the old rules.
The statute, which went into place at the beginning of the year, eliminated cash bail and pretrial detention for a wide majority of low-level cases and nonviolent felonies.
The law also allows courts to release a person under certain conditions, such as a travel or firearm restriction.
Shea and others have claimed that the new law is to blame for the increase in violent crime.
But defenders of the law say that violent crime has increased in most of the country – including in jurisdictions that did not enact any criminal justice reform measures.
Despite the spike in crime, Mayor Bill de Blasio commended Shea’s leadership in their last monthly press conference on crime statistics earlier this month. ‘I think the commissioner has a lot to be proud of,’ De Blasio said.
Shea, who was appointed to his position in December 2019, said he ‘wouldn’t change a thing.’
‘I consider the work that [my executive team] did was the glue that held the city together through one of the toughest times the city has seen,’ said Shea, adding, ‘Obviously, people make mistakes and things.’
Mayor Bill de Blasio (pictured) and Police Commissioner Dermot Shea addressed New York City’s rising crime in their last monthly press conference on crime statistics on December 8
Keechant Sewell, 49, will be the next NYPD commissioner after being chosen by incoming Mayor Eric Adams
Source: dailymail
