NYC Mayor: Majority of new gun crimes unit arrests have one thing in common

(AP Photo/Kevin Hagen)

Many of New York City’s liberal activists were quite unhappy when Mayor Eric Adams brought back the special gun crimes unit that had been disbanded under Bill de Blasio. But the restored law enforcement task force has been spreading out in more than a dozen neighborhoods with the highest crime rates, busting an increasing number of gang bangers and taking many illegal guns out of circulation. The Mayor recently praised their work and pointed out one bit of data that’s been showing up so far. While this will likely come as no surprise to anyone with enough common sense to tie their shoes, the vast majority of these suspects already had prior convictions or arrests, ranging from misdemeanors to felonies. You may now all faint from shock. (NY Post)

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The NYPD’s new anti-gun unit has netted more than 100 arrests since it launched last month — and nearly 70 percent of those busted have a prior criminal history, officials said Sunday.

Mayor Eric Adams lauded the progress made by his Neighborhood Safety Teams, which hit the streets in mid-March in response to the Big Apple’s uptick in gun violence.

“We have to stop the flow of guns, but we also must do the jobs of getting the guns off the streets that’s on there now, and my anti-gun unit, they’re doing that,” Adams said on “Face the Nation” Sunday.

Seventy percent is too significant of a figure to write off as a coincidence. Honestly, I’m kind of shocked that it wasn’t higher. And among those found to be carrying illegal firearms, more than half had previous convictions for violent crimes, but they were back out on the streets.

One of the first gun-crime arrests was a 20-year-old member of the Bloods gang who already had a rap sheet as long as your arm. He was once again roaming his old neighborhood and had already acquired a new illegal weapon. He was picked up on an unspecified, comparatively mild charge but found to have outstanding warrants. This was yet another reminder that the city’s recent return to Broken Windows policing is already delivering results.

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Adams drove home another important point while addressing the press. David Echevarria – the Bloods member mentioned above – was described by the Mayor as “the poster child of the failing system.” At the age of twenty, he already had multiple gun crime charges on his record, including one attempted murder conviction. But prosecutors kept putting him back out on the streets after serving little or no time behind bars. This time they managed to have him held on $10,000 bail, but if the prosecutors can’t manage to bring serious charges with a lengthy jail sentence, he’s going to be right back out in his old neighborhood again before long.

New York needs to undo its “bail reform” law and allow both the police and the courts to do their jobs. They need to send a message to the bad guys that the free ride is over and if they continue to abuse their freedom, they will be going to Riker’s Island for a very long time. If they can’t manage that much, then none of the Mayor’s reforms are going to add up to much of a difference for law-abiding New Yorkers.

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