Police Expert Says Recent Rash Of Shocking Gun Crimes May Require New York City To Rethink Its Street Safety Strategy
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Police have arrested a West Side doorman and three out-of-state accomplices on charges of selling an arsenal of 80 weapons on the streets of Manhattan while numerous gun violence cases stun the city.
A police expert told CBS2's Marcia Kramer on Tuesday it's a sign the city's street safety strategy needs a major overhaul.
You can't hear the guns blasting on the surveillance video footage released by the NYPD, but you can feel the terror of a wild shootout in the Bronx. Two groups are seen firing shots at each other as others run or duck for cover.
There was also the terror of a Manhattan robbery. A man is seen walking down West 33rd Street, when two men on a scooter rob him at gunpoint.
In another example, a man is seen sitting in as car on West 72nd and Columbus Avenue when an unknown person in a dark sedan pulls along side and starts shooting.
They were not isolated incidents. They happened over the last few days. Pace University professor and former NYPD lieutenant Darrin Porcher told Kramer things have got to change.
"A lot of the law breakers feel as if they can act with impunity because the NYPD has been more regressive, as opposed to proactive, in targeting these gun violence crimes that have happened," Porcher said.
Porcher said the NYPD needs to pinpoint places where gun violence erupts and flood those areas with cops.
"They're not afraid of the NYPD. In addition to that, our elected officials have not rolled out the necessary agenda to make us feel safe," Porcher said.
Porcher said the iron pipeline -- guns flowing into New York City from states with lax gun laws -- is partially to blame, a fact that was on full display at police headquarters where Commissioner Dermot Shea and Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance displayed 80 guns they confiscated in a huge gun trafficking bust that involved guns from Tennessee allegedly sold on the street by the doorman at the West 55th Street building.
"I don't see guns on this table. What I see is victims. I see kids gunned down in the street. I see mothers standing at funerals," Shea said.
But Kramer questioned Shea about all the other gun incidents striking terror in the hearts of those who live here.
"How frustrating is it for you that despite the fact that you've taken 80 guns off the street there's still this constant drumbeat of gun crime?" Kramer asked.
"The focus has to be more so on these small number of people that carry guns and we must deal with that side of the equation," Shea said.
Vance said one answer may be a new gun kingpin bill that increases penalties for gun trafficking. Porcher said it will also take more cops targeting gun crimes, and it will take a new mayor.