For New Yorkers, the idea of a return to the 1990s, a period of high crime, is shuddering. The specter of this violent era has resurfaced in recent days in the local press and in conversations.
As of July 13, the number of shootings had reached 634 since the beginning of the year, against 394 at the same time in 2019. This is the first time since 2016 that the threshold of 400 has been exceeded in the middle of the year. During the long weekend of July 4, Independence Day, 64 people were hit by bullets. And, the following weekend, 53 more were killed, including 4 fatally. Among them, a 1 year old child, killed during a barbecue in Brooklyn. In June, 205 shootings took place, the highest level recorded for that month since 1996. The number of homicides is also up 21% (to 174) in the first half of the year compared to the same period in 2019 .
A lower budget for the police
The reasons for this explosion of violence divide elected officials, association leaders and experts. Christopher Herrmann, a former NYPD (New York Police Department) and professor of police science at John Jay University, recalls that the summer has traditionally been marked by an increase in criminal activity in New York. However, the trend has been observed since the start of the year. “The numbers were very low. They could only increase, ”he said. For him, several factors explain the large number of shootings in July. Starting with the constant circulation of firearms in the city, yet considered one of the safest large cities in the United States, and the gradual deconfinement, which makes the possibility of settling scores more frequent.
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He also points to the impact of the Black Lives Matter protests against police violence, which continues in New York. In the processions, the demonstrators call in particular to reduce the budget of the police force. What they got. The envelope allocated to the NYPD was cut by a billion dollars (out of a total budget of 6 billion) and the police chief announced, in June, the dismantling of a unit specialized in the tracking of illegal weapons and violent crime. Today, several voices are raised within the police to criticize this decision. Other measures are denounced, such as the recent release of some detainees due to Covid-19 and the easing of bail conditions voted by the State of New York several months ago.
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Christopher Herrmann also insists on the impact of the current climate on the morale of the police officers, who have fallen ill from the Covid by the hundreds. “They don’t feel supported by political leaders and are afraid to make arrests, to end up in the media,” he says. At the same time, the mayor cuts promotions of new recruits and a record number of agents decides to retire. This is not a good scenario, neither for the city nor for the police. “
Coronavirus and racism: the perfect “storm”
This opinion is not shared by all. Several local elected officials accuse the NYPD of deliberately slowing down the pace of interventions. Others, like Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a left-wing Democratic Party figure, blamed the rise in shootings on “economic desperation” caused by the health crisis in New York and other American cities. These acts of violence are concentrated in disadvantaged neighborhoods, mainly populated by racial minorities. The latter were more vulnerable to the virus than the white population.
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In June, the city decided to allocate an additional $ 10 million to the Cure Violence initiative, which brings together several local associations whose volunteers, often former gang members, intervene in at-risk neighborhoods to discuss with inhabitants and prevent acts of firearm-related violence. An approach that has demonstrated its effectiveness in the Big Apple.
K. Bain, one of the founders of this system and president of the Community Capacity Development association, speaks of a “perfect storm” with the virus and systemic racism. “When you combine the historic racism of institutions and the police, which crystallized in the death of George Floyd, with a pandemic that has exposed economic and access to health disparities, the vase is overflowing,” says- he. K. Bain does not believe that the current surge in violence will mark a return to the 1990s – that year, 2,245 murders were recorded. But there are few illusions about the extent of the work. “For that to change, we need to create economic opportunities for African Americans. For now, we’ve watched the American Dream from afar. “
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