July 12, 2020 – 19:13 Clock
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In the video: Expert explains shootings “like at weddings”
On a Sunday afternoon in July, Anthony Robinson just wanted to spend a little more time with his little daughter Kloe. At the end of the day, he’s dead. Shot while walking the streets of the Bronx with Kloe by the hand. A surveillance video shows the passenger of a dark car suddenly holding a gun out of the window and pulling the trigger twice. Anthony Robinson later dies, he was only 29 years old. The little toilet survived – physically unharmed. More on this in the video.
New York: 15 people shot in 15 hours
The shootings in New York City are increasing. 15 people were shot at within 15 hours over the weekend. In the past week alone, the New York police counted 43 shootings. In June alone there were more than 200. An increase of around 30 percent in the summer months is completely normal – but this year it is an increase of 200 percent. This is a very unusual increase, explains Christopher Herrmann, professor at New York’s John Jay College of Criminal Justice, in an interview with RTL.
“In the past two weeks in particular, we’ve seen as many shootings as we did at a wedding in 1996”. The incidents are increasing particularly in socially disadvantaged neighborhoods such as the Bronx, Harlem or parts of Brooklyn.
Mayor de Blasio: “There are so many problems that come into play”
Bill de Blasio at “Occupy the Corner”, a protest against increasing gun violence
© imago images/Pacific Press Agency, Lev Radin via www.imago-images.de, www.imago-images.de
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The reasons for the increase are varied. New York Mayor Bill de Blasio primarily blames the corona pandemic for the current situation. “The court system is down, the economy is not working, and the fact that everyone has been locked up for months. There are so many problems that play into it,” he said at a press conference early last week. For the Commissioner of the New York Police Department, Dermot Shae, one thing is primarily to blame: the numerous discharges from New York’s notorious Rikers Island prison. Due to the high risk of corona infection, numerous inmates were released early in the spring.True to the motto: an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth
Christopher Herrmann lists one more reason: the dissolution of the anti-crime unit of the New York police. That happened in June. This disbanded the unit that is undercover focused on getting illegal weapons off the streets. To dissolve this unity is a signal of surrender, say experts.
The protests of the past few weeks against excessive police violence, the cry for police reform – none of this has exactly resulted in the police currently enjoying a lot of trust, confirms Herrmann. This also means that people in certain parts of the city simply take the judiciary into their own hands. True to the motto: an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.
Police officers lack support, trust and budget
–Police officers face protests for Black Lives Matter and against police violence in New York
© imago images/Pacific Press Agency, Lev Radin via www.imago-images.de, www.imago-images.de
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Lack of trust, budget cuts, criticism from all sides – the incidents of the past few weeks also have one thing: completely demoralized police officers who feel that they cannot do anything right at the moment. Former New York Police Chief Joseph Esposito said in an interview: “The police are currently looking over their shoulders, consciously or unconsciously, and saying why should we bother, we are getting no support anyway.” In the current situation, one thing in particular becomes clear: city officials and police blame each other when it comes to finding the causes of the increase in violence. But it is even clearer: the shootings can only be brought under control together.
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