Amid a rampant crime wave, Mayor Eric Adams made his second visit to Albany in under a week to plead with state lawmakers to make much-needed bail and policing reforms that will make our streets safer.
If only Gov. Kathy Hochul would show him some support. Instead, she’s trying to have it both ways: appeasing progressives by taking no concrete position on bail reform while telling the greater public that crime reduction is a priority for her.
Through her passivity and unwillingness to oppose the reckless policing policies of the far left, Hochul is emboldening criminals and endangering families across the city.
On Monday, Adams met with Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, the Assembly Democratic Conference and the Senate Democratic Conference — whose support he needs to get the state’s bail “reforms” reversed.
Five days earlier, he had a heated exchange in a meeting about the gov’s budget proposal. Assemblywoman Latrice Walker (D-Brooklyn) challenged the mayor on his priorities. He said she should talk to a mother whose baby was hurt by a stray bullet and two NYPD officers recently murdered.
Mayor Eric Adams has repeatedly called on state legislators to amend bail reform in the face of rising crime. Angus Mordant“I don’t think you should debate me,” Adams told her. “You should debate the 11-month-old baby’s mother. You should debate the two police officers that we lost.”
Indeed, New York City is reeling. A week ago, the NYPD released stats showing crime had increased by 60% in one week alone compared to the same period last year, and many law enforcement officers anticipate rates will climb even further as temperatures warm.
On Sunday, a stalker followed a woman in Chinatown into her home and stabbed her. “While the suspect who committed this heinous act is now in custody, the conditions that created him remain,” Adams declared Monday. “The mission of this administration is clear: We won’t let this violence go unchecked.”
People rallied in Chinatown after Christina Yuna Lee was followed into her apartment and stabbed to death. Getty ImagesIf only Hochul would show the same leadership. It’s clear that unlike Adams, she won’t be pushing the Legislature to institute a specific set of tougher and necessary penalties on a whole range of criminal justice issues.
There are dire consequences to Hochul’s consistent equivocation and inaction. Since the start of the year, overall crime has gone up by nearly 42% in the five boroughs. It’s risen across all major categories, including murder and rape.
In 2021, New York City felony assaults topped 22,000 for the first time in 20 years — a 9.8% jump from 2020 — and murders in the city neared 500 for the first time since 2011. Car burglaries were also up 15%, reaching levels not seen in over a decade.
Hochul insisted that she won’t change her stance on bail reform based on the direction of political winds, promising to carefully consider data and arguments presented to her. REUTERSMake no mistake, the crime wave in New York City is a byproduct of the shortsighted far-left criminal justice reforms that have been adopted over the last two years — namely, the abolition of cash bail in 2019 by the Democrat-controlled state Legislature and the sweeping cuts to policing budgets in 2020 in New York City.
Ensuring public safety is the most important duty of any government. As Adams aptly noted on the campaign trail, “public safety is the prerequisite to prosperity.” New York City cannot truly rebuild and recover from the pandemic without a comprehensive plan to keep our city safe.
The former NYPD captain and self-described moderate Democrat is confronting crime head on and rightly bucking the progressive wing of his party by laying out sensible plans to combat gun violence and rising crime. He wants bail laws amended to make prosecuting gun crimes easier and give judges more discretion when setting bail.
More than four in 10 bail-reform release program participants were rearrested, including 23% of felony charges, between January 2020 and June 2021.
It strains credulity that judges have no discretion in remanding charged criminals in New York, especially those who are a clear and present danger to the public — whether it be because of charges of domestic violence, which some criminals have been allowed to walk on, or patterns of mental illness that result in violent crimes. Judges must be empowered to make an assessment of danger in order to keep our communities safe.
President Biden and Adams met to discuss rising crime after two NYPD officers were killed in the line of duty. Paul MartinkaBeyond the economic and human consequences of Hochul’s lethargy, it will surely backfire on her politically in the November election, as crime rates continue to skyrocket throughout the city. President Biden senses the problem: He recently met with Adams in New York for a public safety summit, hoping to inoculate Democrats against GOP attacks on them as being soft on crime — which are highly persuasive to voters.
By dragging her feet on bail reform, Hochul is handing Republicans political ammunition to use against her in November — and allowing public safety to deteriorate even further.
Douglas Schoen is founder and partner in Schoen Cooperman Research, a polling and consulting firm whose past clients include President Bill Clinton and former Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Andrew Stein is a former New York City Council president, Manhattan borough president and state Assembly member.
