New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio blamed the coronavirus, protests, and reforms to the court system for the uptick in shootings, but data from the police department does not support his claims.
De Blasio and Police Commissioner Dermot Shea have pointed to the coronavirus pandemic and the resulting limited access to the court system as the reason shootings in New York City have skyrocketed. Data obtained by the New York Times showed there is little evidence to tie those events to the number of shootings soaring.
Instead, changes in policing may be to blame for the uptick in shootings. The number of arrests for gun crimes took a nosedive in recent months. The New York City Police Department has made very few arrests for shootings despite the number of reports of shootings and homicides climbing.
De Blasio has continued to blame the courts, however. He said that shootings will decline when the court system is operating at “full strength” after the pandemic has subsided.
“The bottom line is our criminal justice system needs to get back to full strength,” de Blasio said. “Our courts not only need to reopen, they need to reopen as fully and as quickly as possible.”
Lawrence Marks, the state’s chief administrative judge, called de Blasio’s finger-pointing “false, misleading, and irresponsible.” Cyrus Vance Jr., the Manhattan district attorney, also disputed de Blasio’s claims.
“The way we are processing arrests has not changed at all,” Vance said. “In May, the volume and severity of the arrests we were handling was the same as it was in January. We’re open.”
Bill Neidhardt, de Blasio’s spokesman, maintained that it is a “perfect storm” of events leading to the uptick in shootings and doubled down on how the “non-fully functioning criminal justice system is playing a role in this.”
Police Chief Michael Lipetri said that the Police Department has been “stretched” as it tried to address the increase in violent crime while managing the riots that took place following protests against police brutality and racial injustice.
Retirements in the Police Department have soared since the riots began. De Blasio and the New York City Council also voted to strip the department of $1 billion in funding in the latest budget.
De Blasio has maintained that decreased morale among police officers is not to blame for the increase in retirements or the increase in 911 wait times.
