Police to Increase Relationships in Communities to Reduce Crime

By Yehudit Garmaise   

     Gun violence in New York has surged in 2020 to heights unseen in a decade, according to NYPD data. For instance, the city has recorded 1,412 shooting incidents in the first 11 months of 2020, which is a nearly 96% rise from 721 shooting in the same period last year.

    Members of law enforcement, criminologists, and elected officials continue to debate the reasons for a recent surge of shootings that is more intense than police officials have seen in the previous 20 years.

     In his morning press conferences, Mayor Bill de Blasio has consistently blamed “the perfect storm” of the frustrations, despair, and alienation that has stemmed from lockdowns and the pandemic. 

    Perhaps a more realistic perspective comes from NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea, who consistent blames bail reform and the early release of 2,500 New York state prisoners because of COVID concerns for the increase in shootings in the city. 

    "We're continuing to see people get arrested over and over and let right back out,” Dermot Shea, commissioner of the New York City Police Department, said in an interview with NBC 4 News in June after Gov. Andrew Cuomo let 2,500 prisoners out of Riker’s Island Prison because of the concern that coronavirus would spread among prisoners. 

    Others blame a drop in arrests on lower-than-usual NYPD staffing caused by the usually large number of NYPD police officers who retired this year and were not replaced because the Police Academy could not train new recruits for months due to COVID-19 concerns.

   Another reason for a drop in arrests could be a drop in morale among police officers after months of angry anti-police protests and rioting and efforts to defund department, which ended in New York City with Mayor de Blasio shifting $1 billion of City Hall’s budget away from the NYPD.

   Still others hypothesize about an influx of coming guns to the city. 

   Some police officials believe that approximately half of this year’s shootings have been linked to gang activity, which inspired the NYPD to mount new efforts to fight gun violence by targeting gang leaders.

   To stem the rise in shootings, NYPD Chief of Detectives Rodney Harrison has said that police would work to collaborate with political leaders and community members to find and arrest violent criminals.

  “The NYPD, we can’t do this by ourselves,” said Chief Harrison, who added that said officers would redouble their efforts to strengthen their relationships in communities with high numbers of shootings.

   “In order for us to have success, we have to work with the community,” Chief Harrison said. “We have to do this hand-in-hand, and there’s got to be a synergy.”