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New York City saw an increase in the number of homicides in 2021, especially by firearm. What put Eric Adams, the new mayor, in the face of a challenge, he who wants to “suppress” crime.
On Friday, a 22-year-old police officer was killed and another seriously injured in a shooting in the Harlem neighborhood.
AFP
New York’s newest mayor, Eric Adams, had promised to improve security in the largest city in the United States. The first three weeks of his tenure were marked by gun violence, increasing the pressure on this former police officer.
On Friday, a 22-year-old police officer was killed and another seriously injured in a shooting in the Harlem neighborhood. A test for Eric Adams, whose plan to curb crime, which he decried so much during his campaign, is still awaited. “It’s our city once morest the murderers,” said the Democratic mayor on Friday evening from the Harlem hospital where the agents, who were responding to the call of a mother confronted with a violent son, were taken.
“A Sea of Crime”
Among the recent violence, one incident particularly marked the spirits: an 11-month-old girl was injured in the cheek by a stray bullet in the Bronx, while she was in a stationary car with her mother. “I’m going to roll out a real plan this week, when I talk to the people of New York, and we’re going to tackle the root causes” of crime, promised Eric Adams, 61, Sunday, on CNN. We see “a sea of crime that has been fed by many rivers”, and “we must put a dam on each of these rivers”, he launched.
In addition to the proliferation of weapons, the Covid-19 pandemic and its social or economic consequences have fueled this violence, which will surely be at the heart of this violence.œur of an upcoming confrontation between the new mayor and the left wing of his party, over funding the police and ways to fight crime.
“Shaping Public Opinion”
Eric Adams, a member of the right wing of the Democratic Party and a firm supporter of strict maintenance of order, is indeed preparing to negotiate the new budget of the city. He said this week he was considering keeping the police and its more than $5 billion budget out of the city’s cost-cutting measures. What anger those who campaign to reduce the funding of the police with the slogan “Defund the police”.
For Congressman Adriano Espaillat, whose constituency includes Harlem and parts of the Bronx, “the federal government must play a central role” in the fight once morest violence. The elected official notably mentioned, on Saturday, the need for a law requiring more rigorous background checks when buying weapons. Ken Sherrill, professor emeritus of political science at Hunter College, said the mayor must present his plan without delay, because it is time to “shape public opinion”. “It gives the mayor a huge opportunity and if he doesn’t take it, I’m sure he will regret it,” he said.
Police recorded 488 homicides in the city of nine million people last year, up 4.3% from 2020. Jeffrey Butts of the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, however, points out that he 25 years ago, the number of homicides in New York was four times higher than today. He says he disagrees with the principle of “Defund the police”, but he asserts that allocating “more funds to the police is not an adequate response”. “How are these resources used? What purpose? What is the strategy?” he asks. “The basis of our approach must be the economic well-being, the health and well-being of the population, which is a subject of much broader public policy debate.”
(AFP)
