How New York City Mayor Candidates Plan to Tackle City Crime Surge

New York's next mayor will inherit a lot of tough challenges when he or she takes office on January 1, 2022 - a pandemic, cutbacks in income, and police reform, just to name a few. But there is one pressing problem that has received relatively little attention - crime in the city. As mayoral candidates plan to fight the spike in crime after taking office, the newspaper said. NYDailyNews.

In 2020, the number of murders and shootings in the city skyrocketed. Homicides increased by almost 47%, from 319 in 2019 to 468 in 2020. The number of skirmishes increased by 97%.

But so far, most of the top candidates running for mayor have spent relatively little time discussing how they will handle NYPD through the lens of how they will fight crime. Instead, they focused much more on reforming the Police Department.

No wonder.

The death of George Floyd at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer and the protests that followed made police reform a major challenge for anyone running for any elected office. This dynamic is even more pronounced in New York's Democratic primary, which target the city's more liberal voters.

However, many New Yorkers are also thinking about fighting crime. This has become even more apparent recently when a homeless man attacked four people in the subway with a knife, two of them died.

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So what are the candidates for mayor of New York planning to do with the crime in the city.

Eric Adams

Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams is a former NYPD captain. A recent poll put him in second place among candidates for the mayor's seat - after Andrew Young.

The first thing he plans to do is to recreate the plainclothes cop squadron. The unit was previously involved in the fight against violent crime and was disbanded in the summer due to fears that its over-aggressive approach has led to a deterioration in relations between NYPD and communities.

The newly formed unit will focus in much the same way as before - on removing weapons from the streets. But Adams said he would weed out cops with a history of being “overzealous” on these tasks.

Adams also plans to take the police outside and fill the office positions they now hold with civilian workers. Detectives and other police officers assigned to low-crime areas will also be relocated to hotspots when crime spikes in those areas.

“Public safety is a prerequisite for prosperity, and we must focus on addressing the surge in crime, especially gunfire and violent crime,” he said. "We can reduce crime by simply making better use of our resources."

Catherine Garcia

Garcia wants to broaden the scope of statistical analysis to determine how to improve suppression programs and to better understand how police officers interact with the public. She believes that there are ways to interact in police action protocols that are often overlooked, but can lead to greater trust with communities.

“The public needs to feel that you understand what the problem is, and that you have a plan for solving it and that you are responding to it,” Garcia said. “As mayor, you can't just tell people to stop being afraid because that's how they feel. You cannot tell someone that they are mistaken in their feelings. You must accept this as reality. And then you have to take steps to make them feel safer. "

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Garcia didn’t say that she would like to see more cops on the street, but she is also not going to cut the ranks of the New York police. In her opinion, seeing the police where they are is also an important tool in reducing crime.

Scott Stringer

Stringer, who serves as the city's chief financial officer, said he would put the "most effective" officers and detectives in high-crime areas, but he has no intention of re-creating an anti-crime unit.

He intends to increase the number of staff working with people at risk, and will use data collected by the NYPD and other agencies to better identify these groups.

“We have seen proven results from the Cure Violence programs in Brownsville, Crown Heights and Jamaica, and I would allocate an additional $ 28 million to expand it,” he said. "We need more research and data in the future, but there is real evidence from both New York and other jurisdictions that well-structured and resourced programs to end violence with strong supervision are effective."

Raising the NYPD's unsolved cases will also be a priority, which Stringer says he will address by "strategically deploying" detectives to high-crime areas.

Diane Morales

When asked how she would deal with the rise in murders the city has witnessed, Morales, the former head of the nonprofit, said she would not return the crime-fighting unit, but would insist “to identify safe places to address homelessness ”And launch an attempt to provide vulnerable New Yorkers with access to the resources they need through cultural measures.

She also plans to put much more emphasis on interruption programs.

“They are much more effective in responding to violence in the community, as well as providing assistance in the social sphere,” she said. “This is why I am calling for a fully funded emergency services unit outside of New York, and for the recruitment and training of professionals who are truly qualified to handle the majority of emergency and mental health calls that come in on 911.”

Ray McGuire

McGuire, a former Citigroup executive, plans to expand CompStat (computerized scoring program used by police departments)to focus on problem areas, including measuring the effectiveness of police response methods.

He intends to increase the number of police officers tasked with removing weapons from the streets to combat the surge in killings and shootings.

“First, we need to expand community policing so that officers build rapport with the people they serve so that it is easier to identify problem areas and those to focus on,” he said. "Secondly, we need to make ShotSpotter a citywide event so that any time a shot is detected, law enforcement can save vital minutes of tracing its source."

Maya Wiley

Wylie said she will move NYPD away from the "containment and control" police force that leads to unconstitutional stops and searches and make police work focused on communities and concerns.

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“Too often, NYPD is focusing on poverty, not crime. We need to ensure that if the NYPD gets a call about a poverty issue, the City will be involved and the NYPD will not. ”

Andrew Young

“If we're going to get New Yorkers back on public transport - and ultimately back to offices and other institutions - we need to make sure their public transit is as safe as ever,” said is he.

Young is open to the possibility of re-establishing a crime-fighting unit if it does not lead to "mistrust that will ultimately harm public safety."

Sean Donovan

Donovan said strengthening policing would not solve systemic problems.

Like many of his opponents, he wants NYPD to divest from current responsibilities such as providing health care in schools and responding to mental health calls and focusing on violent crime.

He also plans to rely on his ties to the Biden administration (Donovan worked in the Obama administration) to stem the flow of arms into the Big Apple.

“To reduce the proliferation of illegal weapons on our streets, the Donovan administration will make closing the out-of-state weapons pipeline a top priority and target resources accordingly,” he said. “My administration will also focus on effective collaboration between the police, the City Hall's Criminal Justice Department, courts and district attorneys to ensure that gun cases are resolved quickly and fairly.”