Crime Rise in New York: Authorities Warn of 'Bloody Summer' Threat

The Mayor of Albany, New York State, Katie Sheehan never thought she would spend her days attending funerals and comforting the families of those killed and wounded in a stream of gun violence. Authorities fear the rise in violent crime foreshadows a bloody summer. The edition told in more detail The Washington Post.

“It's shocking,” Sheehan said. - The neglect that we see in relation to human life. This is a trauma for our city. "

Eight people have been killed in the New York capital this year, including six in May. Destiny Green, 15, was recently killed in a quiet area a block from the governor's mansion after a group of men opened fire.

The spike in violent crime in Albany is no exception. Over the weekend, at least 12 mass shootings took place in nine states, resulting in 11 deaths and at least 70 injuries, according to a database compiled by the nonprofit group Gun Violence Archive, which tracks such incidents.

The list includes a shooting near a Minneapolis nightclub that killed two and injured eight. Two others were killed and a dozen injured in gunfire at a house party in Fairfield Township, New Jersey, and three were killed in gunfire outside a bar in Youngstown, Ohio.

And this weekend, two people were killed and more than 20 injured in the Miami, Florida area after people with machine guns and pistols began “shooting indiscriminately into the crowd” at a concert.

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As the country celebrates Memorial Day, many officials are concerned that this is like a preview of what they might face in cities across the country in the coming months, when warm weather almost always means an increase in violent crime. Some fear the violence may be particularly noticeable this season, as Americans return to society after a year of quarantine and COVID-19-related restrictions.

Last week, Sheehan appealed to state and federal authorities to help fight the violence. New York State Gov. Andrew Cuomo agreed to deploy New York State Police to support the city's police force, which was struggling to keep up with what Sheehan called a "startling" increase in arms trafficking.

Sheehan said she was particularly worried that incidents of accidental anger and conflict seemed to be escalating due to the increasing number of firearms. “We seem to see that gun dispute resolution is becoming the norm,” she said.

Backed by federal money, Albany hastened to invest in violence prevention efforts and launch community outreach programs that were closed during the pandemic and begin them by the summer. But Sheehan said she was worried that this would not be enough. “I'm really worried,” she said of the coming summer months.

Dozens of cities across the country reported double-digit increases in homicide and gunfire. In Columbus, Ohio, police have counted at least 80 murders this year, more than double the same period last year. Growth continues in large cities as well. According to police statistics, 195 people were killed in Chicago, Illinois at the beginning of May, the highest number in at least four years. According to the Chicago Tribune, which tracks such incidents.

In Atlanta, homicide rates are up 50 percent from this period last year, and Keisha Mayor Lance Bottoms said she and police are struggling to prepare for a potentially harsh summer.

Atlanta executives say that in years past, they may have linked much of the violence to the rivalry of certain groups and gangs or the drug trade. But Bottoms said much of the recent violence is driven largely by intense passions between people who usually know each other.

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According to Bottoms, the "common denominator" of the crime wave is the stress of the pandemic and last year's racial justice protests following the assassination of George Floyd. But she said she is addressing a range of causes of violence, including long-term emotional and psychological problems found in so-called long-term victims of COVID-19.

“There are people with depression, anxiety, loss of loved ones and jobs,” Bottoms said. "This led to an unfortunate coincidence of factors, and I believe that this is what we see on our streets."

US President Joe Biden has proposed $ 2,1 billion to fund the Department of Justice's efforts to tackle the nation's "public health firearms crisis." This is in addition to his March proposal to spend $ 5 billion over eight years on community violence prevention efforts to try to prevent violent crime.

But Bottoms and other local officials across the country pushed for the White House to do even more - including increasing funding for mental health, substance abuse and behavioral health programs. Bottoms noted that some of the most heinous recent crimes in Atlanta occurred during incidents involving possible road rage when attackers suddenly shoot another motorist.

“I think part of what's happening is frustration with society as a whole, and that seems to spill over into the streets,” Bottoms said. "And in Atlanta, it turns out to be very deadly."

Adam Gelb, president of the Criminal Justice Council, said the nature of some of the latest killings is worrying. “People are fighting over parking spaces and using weapons,” he said.

This has put a serious strain on elected officials, Gelb said, as the public increasingly feels that crime is "out of control," even though violent crime rates in most cities remain much lower than in the late 1980s. and early 1990s. in the midst of the crack cocaine epidemic.

However, alarming trends have emerged in cities across the country over the past year. In 2020, Wichita, Kansas, recorded 59 murders - roughly one every six days - the highest since 1993. Police Chief Gordon Ramsay said the trend will continue into 2021, in part due to an increase in shootings and other violent crimes committed by children 13 years of age and older.

“This is unlike anything I've ever seen,” Ramzi said, adding that he has consulted with other chiefs of police across the country who are facing similar problems.

Ramzi believes the ongoing fallout from the pandemic, which has shut down many community programs for at-risk youth, is to blame. But he also blamed state lawmakers who in 2016 introduced juvenile justice reforms to keep children out of jail but did not fully fund alternative treatment programs to prevent them from committing future delinquency.

He said juvenile delinquency has further strained the department, whose officers have struggled to keep up with the increase in homicide and assault. The Wichita Police Department has long had one of the highest crime detection and arrest rates in the country, but it doesn't seem like a big deal lately.

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“We are at 80 or 90 percent. It's not that we didn't detain people for these crimes, ”Ramzi said. “But they continue, and that tells me it's not just about the police or criminal justice. This is a problem that we, as a country, must unite and solve. "

Some experts have found promising signs in the latest crime data. More than 500 people have been injured in New York this year, the highest in a decade and more than 50 percent since the same period in 2020. But Jeffrey Butts, director of the John Jay College Research and Evaluation Center, said the percentage was better than the 158 percent increase in gunfights in the city that was reported last fall, suggesting the surge in violence will decline.

Still, Butts said the factors that led to the violence last year are unlikely to disappear anytime soon, even if cities and states gradually ease restrictions. Neighborhoods hit hard by job losses and other economic imbalances are still likely to struggle, and the feelings of alienation and anger that have been behind some of the violence are unlikely to disappear anytime soon.

“I'm worried about the impact of generations,” Butts said, pointing to research on the long-term impact of the crack epidemic on residents in areas hardest hit by that era of violence.

“We have a generation of teenagers who have experienced this, especially if they live in an area where there have been a lot of shootings, and who knows what the long-term effect will be,” Butts said.