New York City’s police department reported a decrease in crime for the second quarter, but from January 1 to July 14, the Big Apple tallied 880 rapes, 84 more than last year during the same timeframe, according to the New York Post. Just to clarify, that’s not 880 pockets picked, joints found in backpacks, or even 880 total violent crimes – but rapes, all occurring in one city within six months. Compared to 2023, some Manhattan precincts have seen rates double or triple.
It’s possible, according to experts, that the NYPD’s dwindling manpower, the surge in the migrant population, and failing bail-reform policies are contributing to the city’s rise in rape cases. But are they? Or are these factors merely talking points for politicians and government officials who seem more concerned with who’s to blame than solving the problem?
Need Police to Fight Crime: Overtime Available
Back in May, Liberty Nation News’ Kelli Ballard reported that New York City’s police department had 33,695 officers, its lowest count since 1990. During the year’s first quarter, over 800 officers quit. More than 250 left before their 20-year mark, surrendering their full pensions. In 2023, the department hired nearly 2,300 recruits, but in the same year, 2,900 cops left the force.
One officer, who requested anonymity, told the New York Post that he “retired in January after 20 years because he had had enough of the long hours, anti-cop rhetoric and bail reform laws that prevented him from doing a job he once loved.” Next, a Bronx cop named John said, “When I first got on the job, there was a certain level of respect for the police officer. In regards to no-bail, these guys know they can punch a cop and be let out the next day. There’s no consequences. So, a lot of cops are like ‘What the hell are we doing?’’’
The city’s law enforcement is overworked, too, with extra officers covering the subways, a routine summer crime wave, and protest details. Since October 7, the city’s officers have encountered 2,400 protests. Surely the local government is doing all it can to hire, train, and recruit more officers, right? Well, as Kelli Ballard wrote, “Mayor Eric Adams canceled from the budget five classes that would have trained new recruits in order to help offset the cost of migrants surging into New York City. Earlier this year, he was able to bring back one of the classes, but that still leaves a gross shortage of fully trained police officers.”
To Protect and Serve Migrants
The Big Apple is a “sanctuary city,” meaning the local government shields migrants from deportation and limits how officials share information with federal immigration authorities. In June, New York’s WABC highlighted, “At least 201,200 migrants have arrived in New York City in the past two years and more than 65,000 are in the city’s care.” As many as 1,200 new asylum seekers enter the city weekly. It operates over 200 shelters and has spent north of $4.6 billion on the immigration dilemma.
Two months before WABC’s report, Spectrum News’ Kelly Mena wrote an article describing the surge in NYC’s crime by migrants. The story featured a robbery spree: Fourteen migrants committed 62 thefts, snatching purses from women on the streets and in the subway system. Only seven were arrested.
Republican Congresswoman Nicole Malliotakis expressed her concerns:
“Despite the city’s attempts to play semantics, the reality is they’re refusing to cooperate with federal detainer and deportation requests with administrative warrants from ICE, even as hundreds of migrants continue to be arrested for murder, stabbings, robberies and assault across the city.”
Near the time of those arrests, police were also “grappling with some isolated incidents involving migrants, including an assault on an officer in Times Square.” But, according to the Brennan Center for Justice (BCJ), “One study found that undocumented immigrants are 33 percent less likely to be incarcerated than people born in the United States.” The BCJ also claimed that “unauthorized immigration status was associated with reductions in arrests for those offenses.” That study was published in 2021 by the Oxford Economic Press. The US has changed a lot since then. More importantly, it’s difficult to believe those statistics when what is happening on the streets tells a different story.
Catch and Release
NYC’s bail reform is supposed to ensure people don’t remain locked up just because they can’t afford the bond. The BCJ claims keeping some low-level offenders free enables “equitable treatment across socioeconomic backgrounds and reduces disproportionate impact of the justice system on marginalized communities. By prioritizing risk assessment and alternatives to incarceration, bail reform promotes public safety by focusing resources on addressing the root causes of crime and supporting rehabilitation rather than perpetuating cycles of poverty and incarceration.” Huh?
So many progressives swear these laws aren’t affecting crime rates, but again, what’s happening in the real world suggests otherwise. Liberty Nation News’ Joe Schaeffer wrote an article in April covering NYC’s torrent of crime by repeat offenders. Schaeffer detailed the death of Jonathan Diller, a police officer in New York City, who was shot “while he was checking out an illegally parked SUV.” The killer had 21 prior arrests. Another repeat offender, Emmanuel Santiago, had seven open cases for various crimes, including the intent to sell narcotics, weapons possession, and grand larceny. Had he been in jail, he couldn’t have broken into a police car and stolen, among other items, handcuffs, mace, bulletproof vests, and ammunition.
What’s baffling is that the NYPD’s report on July 5 boasted about its “sixth straight month of major crime reductions.” The two paragraphs detailing its decreased numbers for offenses such as larceny, murder, and robbery, do not include the rape statistics. Readers must scroll further down to locate the rape index. Yes, there’s a rape index. And beside an asterisk below the first chart is a message alerting readers that “39 of the 175 rapes reported in June 2024 occurred in prior years.” Makes sense. Sexual assaults are notoriously underreported, which means that even if you round down to account for people coming forward months after an incident, the total is probably still much higher than 880.
Not to worry, the NYPD “takes all rapes seriously,” the New York Post reported.
Maybe it does, but the city’s leaders appear to care more about protecting criminals and migrants than keeping the streets safe. Their futile and counterproductive endeavor to fabricate equity has seemingly generated inequity as they cast aside anybody who doesn’t meet their criteria. Meanwhile, nearly five people are raped every day in the city hailed by many leftward bureaucrats as a sanctuary for asylum seekers. Yet when the Citizens Budget Commission asked New Yorkers if they felt safe in their neighborhoods, only 37% said yes. Perhaps instead of contriving evidence to prove their decisions aren’t responsible for a supposedly unreal rise in crime, NYC officials could strive to make the city feel like a sanctuary to everybody who lives there.
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