Even as the Legislature refuses to make real fixes to its disastrous “reforms” of recent years, the barrage of horrific crimes is accelerating. Consider the news of just the last few days:
- An Upper West Side shooter killed a 27-year-old just a block from a stationhouse in broad daylight.
- A fatal stabbing at Dave & Buster’s right in Times Square.
- Chinese-food deliveryman Zhiwen Yan shot dead in Queens.
- A Brooklyn woman choked, raped and robbed.
- A stranger randomly punched an Asian woman.
- In yet another case of revolving-door justice, Ricky Vidal, 23, allegedly tried to shove a straphanger onto the tracks just days after being released on charges of assaulting an elderly man and two cops.
Add in Kerry J. Byrne’s shocker in Sunday’s Post about Manhattan luxury retailers locking their doors and dimming lights to avoid robbers, who’ve made off with hundreds of thousands of dollars in merchandise in recent months, with those who are caught often not prosecuted by soft-on-crime District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
It’s pure insanity. Four months into Mayor Eric Adams’ time, the city’s still headed in the wrong direction: Major crimes are up 42% this year, with grand larcenies rising 54%, robberies 45% and car thefts 65% (double from two years ago).
Adams is trying: He restored a version of the anti-gun units, and on Saturday met with commanders and top brass to brainstorm further. But the Legislature, City Council and DAs like Bragg all seem to be on the other side. How bad does it have to get before other New York politicians back the mayor and get serious about crime?