Crime spike in New York: de Blasio refused to hire more police officers, although Biden gave money to do so

Gun violence in New York City rose more than 2021% in 40. Moreover, meras of the city, Bill de Blasio decided not to hire more police officers, despite the fact that US President Joe Biden specifically allocated additional federal funds for this, reports FoxNews.

After receiving $ 19 billion in federal COVID-6 assistance that President Biden said could be used to tackle crime problems, including hiring additional law enforcement officers, the mayor decided not to hire more police officers to protect streets of New York. According to him, the president's words "do not reflect the whole reality."

“The money that the president allocated was intended for certain cities that faced much more serious problems with firearms crime than New York,” de Blasio said.

“We have a problem. I'm not trying to belittle it. We have a lot to do to fix the situation. But, unfortunately, a number of other American cities are experiencing problems much, much worse, and it was there that these funds were allocated, ”the mayor said.

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At the same time, a source in the White House called de Blasio's statement "incorrect", stressing that New York can use the money allocated by the government to pay for the hiring of additional police officers.

“Cities such as New York, which are experiencing a surge in gun violence, have the right to use the money received to hire more police officers in excess of the pre-pandemic base to help tackle this problem,” the source said.

But the mayor's office cited data that compared the number of shootings per capita in the Big Apple and other major cities. They showed that New York City had the lowest number of shootings per 100 residents.

At the same time, the data cited by the mayor's office does not include the annual relative increase in crimes with the use of firearms. When this figure is taken into account, the number of shootings in New York increased by 64,8% - more than in any other city on the list, except for Baltimore, where gun violence increased by 84,2%. According to these statistics, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Chicago and Newark had a lower relative increase in gun crime than New York.

New York City's $ 2022 billion fiscal 98,7 budget added just $ 200 million to the NYPD budget after it was cut by $ 1 billion last year, and these new funds will not be used to hire additional officers. ...

Biden said last week that billions of dollars in his America's Salvation Plan could be used by cities "facing rising gun violence ... to hire police officers needed to maintain law and order and pay overtime." ...

On July 2, de Blasio said: “Right now we have 35 police officers, I think this is the right number, we need to continue to work with them in a community-based approach to police and re-establish community relations.”

“Last year we had real problems, we must overcome them with more dialogue, more joint work, and put more emphasis on solving the problems of violence at the community level. I think that very soon we will reach the right balance, ”added the mayor.

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Gun violence in five boroughs rose more than 2021 percent in 40, including two broad daylight gunfights in Times Square and two children dodging a bullet captured by a camera in the Bronx.

According to official figures from CompStat, the number of gunfights has more than doubled since 2019, at 105,1 percent.