As NYC Crime Rates Skyrocket, de Blasio and Shea target "Gun Violence"

 Image a screenshot of Youtube video FDRV, 30 May, 2020, cropped by Dean Weingarten

In response to a skyrocketing violent crime rate in New York City, Mayor de Blasio and Police Commissioner Shea have proposed a package of responses. One of those is to institute more gun "buy backs".  Here is some background leading up to this proposal.

In 2020, New York City has instituted controversial reforms in their criminal justice system. One of the changes is the elimination of cash bail for most "non-violent" criminal offenses.  The law also released information on witnesses before trial. Most Democrat politicians were for the law, which was touted as a way to treat poor people more equitably.

Disorder and illegitimate violence in the city has significantly increased with the riots/protests and a mixed response by Mayor de Blasio. The Mayor and others have blamed the "catch and release" bail system.

Bail is supposed to guarantee the defendant will show up for court appearances. In much of the country, it is used as punishment by process, where politically incorrect defendants sometimes sit in jail for months or even years at a time. From politico.com:

Mayor Bill de Blasio and the NYPD reported a major spike in crime for the second straight month and doubled down on blaming the jump on bail reform — even as public defenders charged police may be manipulating the stats to push their agenda.

Major crime jumped by 22.5 percent in February compared with the same month last year, police said. For this year so far, crime is up 21 percent over 2019.

Mayor de Blasio has lost the confidence of the New York City Police Department (NYPD), although he increased the  NYPD budget from 5 billion to 6 billion dollars, while hiring 1,300 more police since 2015.

The peak numbers for NYPD were in 2000, at about 40,000 police. Most of the money goes to salaries. The $6 billion figure does not include benefits.  In 1990, at the height of the crime wave, there were about 33,000 police in the NYPD. Today there are about 36,000.  About 5,000 of those are school officers, who are generally unarmed.

The crime spike has more to do with how the police believe they are supported, and how they are characterized in the far left New York media, than exactly how many they are. From the leader of the Sergeants Benevolent Association on Facebook:

All of my criticism of Mayor de Blasio is well-deserved and will not cease until he abandons the policies that are placing all members of the SBA and the NYPD at greater risk of injury and death while making it more difficult for us to do our jobs. I am confident that my comments enjoy broad support among the SBA membership and members of the NYPD overall – you have repeatedly told me so – and I will not be intimidated by the coercive tactics employed by City Hall. I assure you a “retaliatory targeted investigation” by the Department will be met with quick legal action by the SBA.

Mayor de Blasio was elected by the far left in New York City. He is kowtowing to them.  He has switched from supporting the police to calling for a cut of 1 billion dollars to their budget.  Crime in NYC is, unsurprisingly, on the increase.

One of the units disbanded in response to the far left Black Lives Matter riots/protests has been the Anti-Crime Unit. Police Commissioner Shea announced the unit would be disbanded for about a year. The unit consisted of undercover officers in unmarked cars patrolling and actively looking for suspects to search for weapons. From cbslocal.com:

Police Benevolent Association President Pat Lynch said in a statement Monday, “Anti-Crime’s mission was to protect New Yorkers by proactively preventing crime, especially gun violence. Shooting and murders are both climbing steadily upward, but our city leaders have clearly decided that proactive policing isn’t a priority anymore. They chose this strategy. They will have to reckon with the consequences.”

Police will now be required to collect racial and demographic data on all low-level offenses.

What seems to be happening in NYC is a replay of the Ferguson Effect. As police become reluctant to risk careers and lives in no-win situations, crime numbers skyrocket.

Mayor de Blasio is caught between what his perceived base, the far left, demands, and what will has been shown to work to reduce violent crime in NYC. The far left agitators will not accept previous solutions. The actual numbers of agitators/protestors are small. They are a few thousands out of eight million people in New York City.

The far left media magnify the importance of those numbers far beyond any reasonable measure. The inability of the police to deal effectively with them, because of the Mayor, leverages their illusory power.

Mayor de Blasio and Police Commissioner Dermot Shea have reacted to the crises, created primarily by the attack on the credibility of the police, with a package of responses said to target "gun violence". From nyc.gov:

Shift patrol resources to areas with high shootings:
The NYPD will increase foot patrols to proactively deter crime and enhance deployments in high violence areas to increase deterrence and closer engagement with the community.

Enhance shooting investigations:
The NYPD will shift detective and investigative resources toward areas that have experienced increases in shooting incidents.

Reorganize the Community Affairs Bureau:
Under newly appointed Chief of Community Affairs Maddrey, Community Affairs Officers will be deployed proactively to areas that have seen increased violence, focusing on areas with the highest need.

Organize gun buy-back events:
The NYPD will be organizing additional gun buy back events in communities with recent upticks in gun violence.

Work with Community Partners:
The NYPD will increase coordination with Cure Violence to better focus resources and hold multi-agency commander council meetings in communities with recent upticks in violent crime.

Omnipresence:
Officers from the Critical Response Group and Strategic Response Group will be deployed across the city. Many of the locations where they are typically assigned remain closed and do not necessitate the same level of resources.

The most blatantly ineffective of these actions is the gun "buy-back". No one believes they actually reduce crime. The academic studies show they have no measurable effect on crime. The only purpose of gun "buy-backs" seems to be propaganda, to demonize guns and send the message: Guns Bad. Turn them in to the Police.

Both "gun violence" and gun "buy backs" are Orwellian terms designed to mislead. Guns don't commit violence. Violence is neutral, like gravity. You cannot "buy back" a gun you never owned in the first place.

As Second Amendment supporters have organized and pushed back against the propaganda, the number of gun "buy-backs" has dwindled. They are now a rare occurrence, seldom happening outside the few states where private sales of guns are banned.

In most states, when a "buy back" is organized, private purchasers show up to buy the best guns from willing sellers. Instead of having the guns being destroyed, they are placed with responsible owners. This destroys the propaganda message of "Guns Bad. Turn them in to Police".

What is needed to restore order in the city is improved confidence in the police, not to demonize them for imagined "systemic racism".

The purpose of the agenda driven BLM riots appears to be to demonize the police, make them less effective, to increase disorder in the cities, at least in cities controlled by leftist mayors.

Another change that prevents the police from being effective have been signed into law by Mayor de Blasio. From dailymail.com:

NYPD Chief of Department Terence Monahan, who was injured in an attack on cops on the Brooklyn Bridge this week, has also taken issue with the law banning pressure on an individual's chest or back.

'Anyone who has ever arrested anybody who has fought and struggled knows that there is a good chance that your knee may end up on someone's back,' Monahan said earlier this month, according to NY1. 'It's a big issue to our cops.'

Monahan called the new law 'insane' and predicted that crime would continue to rise if police were barred from using force on suspects who resist arrest.

The head of New York State Police union has called for the withdrawal of New York State Troopers from New York City because of the new law.

There are always elements of truth in propaganda. New York City tramples on Second Amendment rights far more than most of the rest of the country. NYC police are not known to be the most concerned with respecting the Constitution. About 37% of the residents of New York City were born outside the United States, agravating the problem. There is always room for reform. Reform is not what BLM is about.

Some pushback is happening. There have been counter-protestors, mostly ignored by the Leftist media. From silve.com July 11-12:

NEW YORK, N.Y. -- A crowd of hundreds of mostly white pro-police supporters -- led by elected officials, all Republicans -- marched from Miller Field to the 122 Precinct Saturday to show their support for the NYPD on the heels of nationwide anti-racism and police accountability protests.

“They refer to them as the police and then they have other derogatory terms, these are men and women, these are husbands, wives, fathers, sons, these are brothers, sisters, cousins, aunts, uncles, who do this job to be a public servant,” said “Carmen,” who leads the pro-cop group, Blue Ribbons, and helped organize Saturday’s march.

 Two black Christian activists bravely protested the far left Black Lives Matter "revolution". They publicly painted over BLM lettering in the streets of NYC. They say the police who arrested them "treated them like royalty".  They loudly proclaimed "Refund the Police" "Take Back Your Country". From the gateway pundit:

“While they were detained, Bevelyn and Edmee were treated like royalty! This was the BEST experience they have ever had with any police department,” the statement on Beatty’s Facebook page continued. “During their time with the NYPD, the Lord moved mightily. The police expressed their HIGH APPRECIATION for what Bevelyn and Edmee stood up for today. They expressed their concerns and fears for their city. They are in fear for the sake of NYC and voiced that they need MORE people like them to help and stand up for what is RIGHT! They even asked for PRAYER!!”

Gofundme has shut down their page.

The vast majority of people do not want a revolution. They respect and appreciate the police.  The question is, can the far left media keep the momentum against the police going long enough to affect the elections in November? Can they reverse the reforms pushed by President Trump? Can they stop the appointment of judges who are willing to enforce the Constitution as written?

 The current power elites are terrified of President Donald Trump. The elites, BLM, and Antifa, all believe they are using the other. The power elites have much more practice at manipulation, but cultural revolutions often end up destroying the elites that enabled them.

We live in interesting times.

©2020 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

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