Top NYPD brass discussed summer crime statistics Wednesday afternoon while once again taking the criminal justice system to task for allowing repeat offenders back on the street.
NYPD officials used a recently arrested 18-year-old man, with a staggering 78 prior arrests thus far, as a symbol of the department’s plea for action to be taken regarding criminal recidivism.
“We continue these conversations. Obviously, we’ve had these discussions many times. We sat here with press conferences and interviews and radio. We know what we see every single day on the street,” Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell told amNewYork Metro. “I think we do ourselves a little bit of a disservice when we just say bail reform. Criminal justice reform is the total package, and these laws were meant to address disproportionality in the criminal justice system.
This harsh rebuke of the criminal justice system came as police lauded the dramatic decrease in shootings over the summer but saw the rise of other crimes such as robbery patterns. Shootings fell in 14 out of the 18 summer weeks, reducing by 19% when compared to last year Chief of Crime Control Strategies Michael Lipetri explained, adding that it is down 49% when compared to summer 2020. Lipetri also added that they have made over a hundred-gun arrests during the hot season.
“When we looked at what violence and what drives violence in New York City, typically in the summer months, we see that 80% of shooting incidents in New York City occur in less than half of the precincts, so less than half of our 77 precincts account for more than 80% of the shootings that happen. And then we drill down a little further and we found that 42% of those shooting incidents actually occurred between 9pm and 2am,” Chief of Department Kenneth Corey said.
“You know when Chief [of Detectives James] Essig is talking about a guy who was 18 years old, involved in a large robbery pattern, and has been arrested 78 times prior–he’s 18 years old! He’s been arrested 78 times and how many hundreds of New Yorkers has he victimized? And yet, he keeps being released, only to go back and victimize others,” Chief of Department Corey said.