News/Commentary

‘Defund the police’ squad member sees 30% spike in violent crime in district

August 17, 2022 | | Print Article

U.S. Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) once participated in a conversation where it was argued that looking at rising crime statistics was “hysteria” and that the numbers had to be considered “in context.” Now, as the freshman term of the representative who ran on defunding the police is nearly complete, demands to cut $1 billion from the New York City Police Department have come back around to paint a clear picture.

In 2020, Bowman was elected to Congress to represent the 16th congressional district of New York which includes the northern portions of the Bronx along with the southernmost portions of Westchester County. His unapologetic stance on defunding the police and other radical progressive policies led to him and fellow freshman U.S. Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.) being labeled part of “the squad” alongside U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.)

The former middle school principal’s rhetoric leading into his election had included his support of slashing the NYPD budget by almost 20 percent, writing on Twitter, “I stand with the movement demanding a real $1 billion cut to the NYPD and reallocating resources to public health and the social safety net. We don’t need to hire more police. Let’s keep building power and organizing to transform our communities.”

 

Even before the death of George Floyd rekindled calls to defund the police as Black Lives Matter protests sprouted across the nation, Bowman was an avid proponent of hampering the capabilities of law enforcement officers.

“It’s time to disarm the police…” he tweeted in 2019.

Then-mayor Bill de Blasio had cut the NYPD budget roughly 6.8 percent, about $382 million, for fiscal year 2021, less than half of what Bowman wanted, and the ramifications have been staggering.

As reported by Fox News, the NYPD precincts within Bowman’s district, 45, 47, and 50 have seen a combined total of 3,396 violent crimes as of Aug. 8, up roughly 30 percent from the same time last year when there had been 2,609 violent crimes reported.

“We are seeing these headlines about percentage increases,” Ocasio-Cortez had said during a conversation with Bowman in June 2021. “Now, I want to say that any amount of harm is unacceptable and too much, but I also want to make sure that this hysteria, you know, that this doesn’t drive a hysteria that we look at these numbers in context so that we can make responsible decisions about what to allocate in that context.”

Crime rates were already on the rise at the time, but since then, Precinct 50 alone had a 74 percent increase in crime from last year with the neighborhoods of Spuyten Duyvil, Fieldston and Riverdale experiencing a 123.5 percent increase in robberies and a 153 percent uptick in grand larceny auto.

“A system this cruel and inhumane can’t be reformed. Defund the police, and defund the system that’s terrorizing our communities,” Bowman had tweeted in part, days before taking his oath of office.

Only as you get further away from NYC has a decrease in crime been identified in Bowman’s district as even less-populated areas at the periphery have seen spikes with Mount Vernon experiencing a 39.4 percent increase in violent crime.

True to the hypocrisies of those on the left who push their policies on the people but never live by their own designs, following the Jan. 6 breach of the Capitol, Bowman reportedly sought police protection at his home in Yonkers.

 

“About a week after the Jan. 6th incident at the Capitol, we received a request from the Congressman’s office for increased police presence at his residence,” Yonkers Police Department Detective Lt. Dean Politopoulos said. “In response, our Intelligence Unit was notified of the request and the local precinct instituted what is called a directed patrol at the Congressman’s home of the next two weeks.”

Meanwhile, Bowman had made claims that policing is rife with “white supremacy” and contended Republican motivations to reform government programs were racist.

“Republicans want to defund every government program except for those that actively terrorize Black and brown people,” he said.

Bowman’s office reportedly did not respond to requests for comment from Fox News.

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Kevin Haggerty
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