Rising crime in the big apple is caused at least in part by Albany, New York, legislators passing a series of criminal justice and bail reform laws which have "proven disastrous," according to former New York City Police Commissioner Bill Bratton.
New York lawmakers and reform activists think "their primary role is to take care of the defendant and not focus on the victim," Bratton told "The Cats Roundtable" on WABC 770 AM-N.Y.
"They passed a series of criminal justice reform laws and bail reform that have proven disastrous. It's the principal influence on the rise of crime in New York City."
The moves are effectively "reversing 30 years of crime decline" and "New York City on some weekends unfortunately rivals Chicago for who has the most shootings," Bratton added to host John Catsimatidis.
"They made a mess out of it," Bratton said. "The good news is that [the state legislature] is going into their summer vacation, thank God, we don't have to worry about Albany over the summer."
Policing advocates "got complacent" and "took our eye off the ball" as reformists attempted to fix something that was not broken, Bratton said.
"Crime was already at all-time lows in New York when they started messing with it," he continued. "Arrests were down. Sentences were down. Citations were down.
"Use of force was down dramatically," Bratton said, noting "we only had 26 incidents in 2019" of cops engaged in armed combat.
"In the 1970s, we had 900 incidents a year in which police were engaged in use of their firearms," Bratton said. "They threw the baby out with the bathwater and were seeing the effects of it.
"We are going to be in for a long, hot, violent summer."
New York's new bail reform law was in effect for only three months when the state legislature amended it in early April.
By eliminating cash bail for as much as 90% of arrests, it was estimated it would have reduced the jail population by at least 40%.
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