NYC Sees Surge In Shootings As Mayor Balances Calls For Police Reform With Need For Safety
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- There have been more than 100 shootings in the city in just the past three weeks.
The violence comes as Mayor Bill de Blasio tries to balance calls for reform and the need for safety.
According to the NYPD, there were 125 shooting incidents in the first three weeks of this month alone, violence that has not been seen in June since 1996.
Police say many of the shooters are on parole or have open cases, which is why Police Commissioner Dermot Shea is taking aim at the criminal justice system that is not fully operating during the pandemic.
"You hear terms such as supervised release right now, that is a fallacy. There is no supervision. There is just release, and you are seeing the repercussions of that across the city," Shea said.
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Shea also reiterated a common refrain denouncing bail reform, saying it does not provide the necessary consequences for breaking the law.
This while the mayor and City Council mull even more changes to the department, including cutting the NYPD's $6 billion budget, transferring some money instead to youth and social services.
"We need safety and we need fairness. We need safety and we need justice. We have to do both," de Blasio said.
De Blasio pointed to the decrease in crime over the years while past reforms, like ending stop-and-frisk and neighborhood policing, were implemented.
For now, the NYPD has more officers on the street, especially in high-crime neighborhoods.
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The city is also providing more funding to community organizations like Man Up, which provides opportunities to residents in Brooklyn.
"We always brace ourselves whenever the summer time comes around. We always prepare ourselves because we know it can become pretty violent," said A.T. Mitchell, founder of Man Up.
Violence, he says, the needs to be addressed from its root cause.
"If we take a portion of what is devoted to the police and give it to the community, we can utilize that in the terms of providing more programs in communities that are experiencing the spike in violence," Mitchell told CBS2's Aundrea Cline-Thomas.
A spike that's evidence of deeper problems that even with the best intentions, the city does not have enough money to address, and the mayor and City Council have less than one week to determine the final budget.