With most of the attention in the rioting and looting news being focused on Minneapolis and Portland these days, it might be easy to assume that last year’s surge in violent crime in other American cities is finally beginning to abate a bit. That, sadly, would be an inaccurate assumption. The two cities I mentioned have been grabbing most of the headlines because there is a definite political/social twist to the action that tends to draw a lot of clicks. In Minneapolis, for example, there’s the Chauvin trial and the more recent police shooting of Daunte Wright. In Portland, you have all of the hot Antifa action and the attacks on police stations. The press doesn’t seem to place as much emphasis on places like New York City with its routine collection of murders, shootings, and rapes. But the numbers in all of those categories have continued to rise at alarming rates and the locals are definitely noticing. (CBS New York)

New numbers from the NYPD show violent crime has been on the rise in New York City in the past month.

The department says in the 28-day period from March 8 to April 4, there’s been a 95% jump in shootings compared to the same time period last year.

Homicides have gone up 60%.

During the same period of measurement, the number of reported rapes has more than doubled as compared to 2020. To be fair, that period of study last year was the time when the first serious lockdowns were ordered in the city in response to the pandemic and crime was actually down as compared to previous years. Law enforcement officials speculated that there were simply a lot more people staying home, so the streets were eerily empty of people offering opportunities for criminals. But this year’s numbers are still reaching alarming levels.

In that 28 day period, the NYPD investigated reports of 32 murders and 98 shootings. On Friday, a woman called into a radio talk show where Mayor Bill de Blasio was being interviewed to ask him what is being done about violent crimes taking place “in broad daylight.” Hizzoner didn’t have much of an answer for her beyond saying that there are “too many guns” in the city. Keep in mind that all of this is happening in a city with some of the toughest gun control laws in the entire country.

Just yesterday, a 12-year-old boy was shot in the chest in Brooklyn in a suspected gang shooting. Thankfully, he is expected to survive according to his doctors, but it’s yet another example of what some are describing as a return to the bad old days of the 90s.

The Mayor doesn’t seem to have any answers for this surge in violence. But the local media needs to be asking him why people should ignore City Hall’s moves to reduce funding for the NYPD and eliminate their plainclothes violent crime unit last year. Pretending that those actions aren’t related to steady increases in gang activity and violent crime is a denial of reality. Defunding the police is not a way to “reform” them. You’re just taking more cops off of the streets and the gangs of New York are not stupid. They can spot an opportunity when one presents itself. And that’s precisely what we’re seeing this spring.