8 JULY 9, 2020 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
Mayor, NYPD brass disagree on the cause of the
city’s spike in shootings
BY TODD MAISEL
EDITORIAL@QNS.COM
@QNS
Mayor Bill de Blasio and NYPD
Chief of Department Terence
Monahan off ered two vastly
diff erent opinions Monday for the sudden
surge in street shootings across New
York City culminated by a bloody Fourth
of July weekend.
During the mayor’s July 6 press conference
at City Hall, he and Monahan
had agreed that the city had been hit by a
“perfect storm” of crime. While de Blasio
linked the spike to issues related to the
COVID-19 pandemic, Monahan was more
strident, blaming bail reform, the early
release of inmates from Rikers Island,
and a failure of some leaders to support
the police.
The mayor has taken a conciliatory
stand on bail reform; he has maintained
that releasing prisoners from Rikers Island
was the right thing to do “because
we had a public health crisis.”
De Blasio believes one contributing
factor to the crime rise are court
systems that “are not working” due to
the pandemic. Because certain functions
have been suspended for public
safety, a number of those arrested for
crime are being released back into the
community.
“The fact that the court system is not
functioning and then police make arrests
and there is no follow through
from courts, Commissioner Dermot
Shea is working on that to get it up and
running,” de Blasio said.
Mayor de Blasio said Shea is meeting
with district attorneys to convince them
to prosecute crimes and stop putting
criminals back on the streets. He said the
commissioner would seek the reopening
of the courts in order to prevent the
immediate release of those arrested for
gun-related crimes.
The NYPD maintains that many of
those released from Rikers are now committing
new crimes, and many released
under bail reform are also involved
in the seven major felonies, including
murder.
“A lot of diff erent things are going on —
bail reform, releases from prison, courts
are shut down, half the population of the
jails are out and the animosity towards
police tremendous,” Monahan said. “Everyone
is trying to fi ght police offi cers
when they want to make an arrest. We
want to hear support for cops leaders to
Chief Terrence Monahan took issue with bail reform, RIkers release and
the choke hold bill that makes using a knee to hold a prisoner a crime.
Photo by Todd Maisel
speak up for the police who are out there.
Morale is low and the rhetoric is a small
minority.”
Monahan said they are seeking input
from the community as to what they
want offi cers to do for them.
“Neighborhood policing is designed to
get them on our side, to ask them what
they want from police and we need to
deal with the community,” Monahan
said. “Our concentration on quality of
life led to reduced crime. We need to
know from the community how they
want their neighborhood policed.”
Further, Monahan blasted the City
Council for passing the chokehold laws
to include using a knee to hold down a
prisoner who is resisting. He said cops
“are afraid to make an arrest of someone
resisting.”
Even so, the chief dismissed speculation
that offi cers were “slowing down.”
“Our guys not slowing down,” he said.
“Investigations take time, homicide investigations
are not overnight and there
are a number of arrests … and numerous
individuals ready to indict. But we are
waiting for the courts to open.”
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