As crime spikes, Shea and Blaz debate impact of bail reform
BY TODD MAISEL
Overall crime in New York City
jumped 17% this month, mainly
due to a 28.8% increase in
shooting, burglaries, assaults and grand
larcenies including auto theft, police officials
say.
Commissioner Dermot Shea maintains
that bail reform may have contributed to
the rise in crime and they were changing
strategies to deal with it. The commissioner
was outspoken on bail reform
recently, saying it has gone too far.
But Mayor Bill de Blasio said he does
see a correlation of increase in crime due
to bail reform, but he said they are working
closely with advocates in Albany to
tighten the law so that people who present
a danger to the public will remain
behind bars. However, “we should be
drawing conclusions.”
Some major index crimes decreased,
including hate crimes which decreased
by 24%, homicides are down 20.7%
from last year – after last year’s increase
in those crimes caused alarm among law
enforcement officials. Rape reports have
also dropped just over 28% this month
with 127 cases reported compared with
155 last year – though officials believe
this crime has been historically under
reported by victims.
Transit crimes are also on the rise with
261 serious crimes reported for January
of this year. Compared to 201 last year,
this marks a nearly 30% increase over
the year before.
Chief of Transit Edward Dellatore said
much of the increase in transit crime was
attributed to an increase in robberies in
PHOTO BY TODD MAISEL
Mayor Bill de Blasio acknowledged that some of the bail reforms that Albany passed must be changed as
crime has increased in New York City this month. He is joined by Commissioner Dermot Shea.
Cops, protesters clashed at Grand Central
BY MARK HALLUM
Protestors crammed their way into
the center of Grand Central Terminal
Friday night, forming around
the landmark clock and ticket boxes to
demonstrate against increased fare evasion
enforcement.
The demonstrators against the 500
new cops to be hired to patrol the turnstiles
in subway stations and buses led to
conflict with police, as police threw some
to ground and carted them off to vans
outside the building.
In terms of making a disruption, the
protesters were successful; NYPD and
state police blocked off access between
the main concourse and the subway access
corridor which made the terminal a
chaotic maelstrom. Ironically, that prevented
mass turnstile hopping similar to
Brooklyn North, “mostly small groups
preying on other young people.” He said
many of these groups have been apprehended
and he expects transit crime to
drop in the next month.
Graffiti has also become an issue on
the trains, though he said the large scale
graffiti vandalism has dropped significantly
as they have made arrests in transit
yards, where many of these crimes occur.
Shea said many of the graffiti incidents
are being committed by “tourists who
come here, some of them grown people
– though a few are from the city.”
The stats also revealed an increase in
domestic violence, including the murder
of a young child. Chief of Crime Control
other fare evasion enforcement protests.
The MTA itself took a dim view of the
demonstration, which made its way out
of the station, down 42nd Street, then
south on Broadway before the thousands
of people snaked their way from Herald
Square in different directions.
“This demonstration activity follows
the dangerous pattern of previous activities
that have resulted in vandalization
and defacement of MTA property – clearly
violating laws,” Patrick Warren, MTA
Chief Safety Officer, said. “Those actions
divert valuable time, money and resources
away from investments in transit services
that get New Yorkers to their jobs,
schools, doctors and other places they
need to go. The MTA has zero tolerance
for any actions that threaten the safety of
the public and our employees, and impede
service for millions of customers.”
Strategies Michael LePetri, said three
domestic violence victims were shot, two
were stabbed, and one asphyxiated.
Contributing to the increase in crime,
LiPetri said, was grand larceny and car
theft.
Shea has blamed the uptick in crime
partially on bail reform, and has been
critical in published reports in the past
few weeks. Officials said parolees and
those on probation have been committing
a large number of the crimes, but
Shea said those out on bail are part of the
problem and he called for allowing judges
to have more discretion when granting
bail or no bail at all. He said he stands
by his position that bail reform has gone
too far.
“I stand by my comments on bail reform,
and while I favored reforms, there
has been a dramatic increase in crime by
people who are being let out of Rikers
Island – and we will deal with that,” Shea
said.
De Blasio saw things a bit differently.
“We have raised concerns about the
current bail reform and we are now having
a dialog in Albany about any changes,
but our police officers can handle anything
that is thrown at them,” de Blasio
said. “Law enforcement professionals
think reform principals make an even
playing field for everyone, but we are
asking for pullback to be considered.”
PHOTO BY MARK HALLUM
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