Mayor Adams says he’s sending mental health teams and more cops into the subway system as part of a new plan to address safety. NBC New York’s Myles Miller reports.
What to Know
- Gov. Kathy Hochul has a new 10-point public safety plan which also looks to revamp New York state's bail laws, News 4 has learned.
- Hochul's plan includes reinstating bail for repeat offenders and those who commit gun crimes.
- Additionally, the plan seeks to increase funding for pretrial, diversion and employment programs, as well as increase funding for mental health treatment.
Gov. Kathy Hochul has a new 10-point public safety plan which also looks to revamp New York state's bail laws, News 4 has learned.
Hochul's plan includes reinstating bail for repeat offenders and those who commit gun crimes.
Additionally, the plan seeks to increase funding for pretrial, diversion and employment programs, as well as increase funding for mental health treatment.
Following news of Hochul's public safety plan, New York City Mayor Eric Adams released a statement saying he supported the proposal.
“The governor’s proposal includes significant steps, which I have advocated for, that would make New York safer, while not undoing important reforms," Adams' statement said. "It is a big step forward that these proposals are being discussed at the highest level in Albany, and I am grateful to the governor and the legislature for their partnership.”
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News of the plan comes amid an uptick in crimes in large cities across the country, including in New York City, where the Big Apple is grappling with a significant spike in crimes and the relatively new term for Alvin Bragg as Manhattan's top prosecutor, a term marred in controversy.
Just last month, Bragg sent out a letter to prosecutors clarifying what he called some of the "confusion" from an initial memo regarding prosecutorial guidelines that were met with pushback.
Bragg took office on Jan. 1 and came under fire almost immediately for a set of guidelines he issued to prosecutors, ordering them not to charge certain crimes at all and to downgrade others to lesser charges.
Among the most controversial of those changes was an order not to prosecute some instances of resisting arrest, and another mandating that felony armed robbery be downgraded in many cases to misdemeanor shoplifting.
His order came against a backdrop of sharply rising crime in New York City. In the NYPD's Patrol Borough Manhattan North, major crimes are up 23% this year versus the same period last year, led by a 43% increase in robberies.
Shooting incidents have almost doubled as well. The numbers are even higher in the Patrol Borough Manhattan South.
The widow of one of the two NYPD officers killed by a gunman when they responded to a domestic disturbance call last month further fueled the firestorm around Bragg, saying in a tear-filled eulogy, "The system continues to fail us. We are not safe anymore, not even the members of the service."
However, in the letter Bragg sent out Feb. 4, his office clarified that it will prosecute robberies with weapons as felonies, that gun possession cases will be default prosecution as felonies, and any attempt at violence against police will be prosecuted.
Hochul is running for re-election this fall, and multiple of her opponents, Republicans and Democrats alike, have slammed her for not removing Bragg from office, as she has the authority to do under state law.
“I have options, but I will be monitoring the situation very closely,” Hochul told the Post's Editorial Board earlier this year, later adding "I know full well the powers that the governor has."
She told the Post she was "not prepared to undo the will of the people," but that it was her responsibility to meet with Bragg and to consider whether some cases should be reassigned if the Manhattan DA's office won't prosecute them.
New York State Senate Republican leader Rob Ortt supported Hochul's proposed public safety plan.
"For more than two years, Senate Republicans have joined law enforcement, district attorneys and crime victims in calling out Albany’s “bail reform” and pro-criminal agenda as an unmitigated disaster. As violent crime spikes across the state, leaders in Albany have continuously ignored our pleas for reform," Ortt said in a statement.
"Despite her initial inaction, Governor Hochul has apparently joined me and my colleagues in calling for long overdue reform. We will await details to see if these calls for change are genuine or lip-service," his statement went on to say.
Nevertheless, not everyone was pleased with the governor's proposal.
Legal Aid responded to Hochul's public security plan by saying they are unequivocally opposed to any “backslide” in bail reform.
