Leer en Español
NYC Mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat, blamed on Sunday the progressive policies for the City’s soaring crime rates, especially in public transportation, and insisted on the need to increase police presence on the streets and in subway stations.
In an interview with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos, Adams bluntly criticized promoters of the “Defund the Police” movement for refusing to support President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better plan, which directed a portion of the budget to bolster police officer training.
In an episode of the Bloomberg Businessweek podcast, former New York Police Department (NYPD) Commissioner, William Bratton, said that reforms of the progressive left, while hiding good intentions, have resulted in “growing fear” and an increase in crime rates in “almost every major city” in the country.
Eric Adams Agrees with Bratton
Mayor Adams said he agrees with Bratton: “I believe he is right, and he understood what we had to go through during the mid-80s and early 90s when we had to transform policing.” He referred to “major mistakes” that have resulted in widespread distrust of the police.
“We have to rebuild that trust,” Eric Adams continued. “But we cannot rebuild that trust by allowing those who are dangerous with a repeated history of violence to continue to be on our streets.”
Adams asserted that there is a “bottleneck” in the judicial system since the courts closed down in the face of the COVID-19 emergency and that “many people” have yet to appear before a judge and serve their sentences. “And then we have to be honest about some of the mistakes made generationally which have created the crime problem that we are facing now.”
Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell acknowledged that citizens “need visible presence” of police officers on public transportation to promote safety, and assured that her department is steadily increasing the number of officers distributed throughout the city.
Sewell, who also said she agreed with Bratton’s and Adams’ assertions, insisted on the need for a “fair and balanced” justice system, which is not achieved when “we lose sight” of the victims of crime.
