Though he admits there is more work to be done, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg spoke about the decrease in crime in New York City. According to a recent interview with FOX 5 NY, he credits the decrease to daily communication between his team and law enforcement officials.
According to the outlet-
“…NYPD crime statistics that show hard crimes like shootings, murders and robberies decreased in numbers during the first six months of the year, with shootings dropping 24%, and murders decreasing by 3%.”
-FOX 5 NY
Reportedly, however, with a reputation of being soft on crime, and not focused prosecuting the most violent criminals, DA Bragg, admitted that even he gets "a knot" in his stomach when members of his own family use the subway in New York City.
Bragg said-
"I know the statistics that transit crime is down, but when one of my family members gets on the train, I, too, get a knot in my stomach,"
-Manhattan District Attorney, Alvin Bragg
He also reportedly said that prosecutors and police are conducting more long-term investigations involving wire taps, and targeted enforcement. He attributes better returns to these investigative measures between the DA’s office and NYPD.
Compared to the same period last year, Bragg indicated that overall, in the first six months of the year, major crime in the subway has decreased 4.4%. However the statistics also showed major crimes in the transit system increased 18.2% last month, with 195 incidents last month alone compared to 165 during the same period last year. This is despite the fact that the New York City subway now incorporates the use of video surveillance cameras that monitor the subway platforms.
Bragg acknowledged that the statistics on crime across the city were moving in the right direction and that the signs were encouraging, However, he noted that still more needs to be done. He reportedly told the same outlet-
"I live here, I’m raising my family here, so we have a lot more work to do,"
-Manhattan District Attorney, Alvin Bragg
Bragg was elected as a reform-minded DA, who campaigned on criminal justice reform. However his form of cutting crime was to alter the statistics to show immediate success. On day one in office, Bragg sent a memo to staff, to downgrade certain felonies like armed robberies of commercial businesses.
Apparently, the move came when crimes were up 27.6% in New York City. In fact, during his first year as the top prosecutor in 2022, Bragg downgraded over half of the felony cases to misdemeanors.
This is would seem to be a good reason for the conflict for Bragg, in that the statistics are down but he knows the “knot” in his stomach is justifiable based on his own actions to bring the numbers reported down. Lowing the bar as he has done distorts reality, and doesn’t really allow for true evaluation of whether true crimes are on the increase or not.
Bragg has repeatedly been criticized for letting murderers and abusive individuals off the hook. Lowing the bar essentially, and giving career criminals a wide berth to not see prosecution or commensurate jail time is apparently his way to fight crime.
One example is the allegedly sweetheart of a deal that Bragg orchestrated with a career criminal, who went on to punch a woman randomly. Other examples are - his slap on the wrist, for a man who viciously assaulted a 55-year-old nurse; and jailing, yet ultimately releasing, the bodega owner who killed an aggressive ex-convict who attacked him on murder charges.
Best known now, for indicting Donald Trump, while career criminals go free, Bragg will go down in history as the pawn of the Biden administration’s DOJ. His high-profile position in doing so, will be a pivotal point in his career one way or the other. Some New Yorkers are not impressed.
Bragg has effectively, twisted the law to elevated a high-profile case to the level of felony, all the while he lowers felony cases to that of misdemeanors in everyday criminal events. When the truth finally comes out, Bragg will be the one who has to live with his own mark in history. Time will tell, meanwhile, according to residents across the city, New York remains a dangerous place.
“If the public safety be provided, liberty and propriety secured, justice administered, virtue encouraged, vice suppressed, and the true interest of the nation advanced, the ends of government are accomplished . . .”
-Algernon Sidney