❛DON'T SHOOT, PLEASE❜
Blas’ gun fix: unarmed volunteers
Mayor de Blasio’s solution to the surge in shootings plaguing the city will involve having unarmed civilians serve as “violence interrupters” in bullet-riddled neighborhoods, he revealed on Friday.
During a City Hall briefing at which NYPD officials were noticeably absent, de Blasio said his long-awaited response to the epidemic of gunfire would begin in Harlem later in the day.
“We have to do better, and this weekend coming up has to be better, particularly in Harlem, where we’re focusing a lot of our efforts,” he said.
De Blasio said shell-shocked residents would “see a combination of things happening,” including “increased NYPD presence at hot spots at key locations, more patrol officers on foot, in vehicles — but also more community presence.”
“Because that is the key to this: community leaders, community organizations, walking with police officers, showing common cause,” he said.
In Harlem, members of the city-funded Street Corner Resources nonprofit will try to prevent disputes from escalating into shootings by “figuring out where conflicts may be, mediating, stopping violence before it even happens,” de Blasio said.
He illustrated his announcement with slides, one of which referred to the effort as “violence interrupters, de-escalating conflict.”
Criminology experts took aim at Hizzoner’s “Take Back the Block” initiative, with one saying that “the chances of this working are remote.”
“I think he deserves to tell the city that it’s his policy that is getting people killed,” said former NYPD cop Eugene O’Donnell, who is now a professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice.
“He stood down anti-crime [efforts] and doesn’t want people arrested. ’Fess up . . . There’s an acceptable level of death on his watch, and he should admit that.”
Another John Jay professor, Maria Haberfeld, said, “The only way that is effective in curbing violent behavior is saturation patrol, not using community members.
“I would not recommend sending inexperienced members of the community to areas where they can become victims of shootings or other violent exchanges,” she said.
De Blasio said his plan would increase the police presence on more than 20 of Harlem’s highcrime blocks and in the neighborhood’s housing projects.
But he didn’t say how many cops would be deployed or how they would be paid amid a $1 billion cut to the NYPD’s operating budget that requires slashing overtime.
De Blasio said he would also seek to get kids off the streets through pop-up basketball clinics and a “youth town hall,” and by enlisting the help of clergy and other faith-based leaders.
Harlem resident Joseph Johnson, who said he had served a total of seven years in prison for two gun raps, said de Blasio’s plan was doomed to failure.
“A lot of politicians are old and haven’t been on the streets in years,” he said. “Honestly, it’s only going to get worse.”
An NYPD spokesperson said the department would be “strengthening uniform police presence at critical locations including subway platforms and locations identified as having a high potential for violence.”