New York Representative and esteemed criminologist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez thinks she knows what to blame for the spike in shootings in New York City. It’s not Bill de Blasio’s anti-police administration that caused a 411% increase in retirements and disbanded the city’s plainclothes anti-crime unit that patrolled for street crime it’s simply people wanting to feed their families, says AOC.
Apparently she’s under the impression that there’s a wave of shootings being committed against bodegas?
AOC suggested over the weekend that the crime surge in New York City is likely because struggling residents are forced to shoplift in order to “feed their child.”
In a virtual town hall meeting she hosted Thursday, some clips of which were shared by The Hill, the 30-year-old Democratic congresswoman was asked about the troubling uptick in violent crimes overtaking the city.
“Do we think this has to do with the fact that there’s record unemployment in the United States right now?” she responded. “The fact that people are at a level of economic desperation that we have not seen since the Great Recession?”
“Maybe this has to do with the fact that people aren’t paying their rent and are scared to pay their rent and so they go out, and they need to feed their child and they don’t have money,” Ocasio-Cortez continued, “so they feel like they either need to shoplift some bread or go hungry.”
AOC on increased NYC crime: "Maybe this has to do with the fact that people aren't paying their rent & are scared to pay their rent & so they go out & they need to feed their child & they don't have money so… they feel like they either need to shoplift some bread or go hungry." pic.twitter.com/oHSTWWJZ6a
— The Hill (@thehill) July 12, 2020
The data contradicts AOC’s claim that it’s what she believes to be “crimes of necessity” on the rise.
Compared to last year, as of July 5th, reports of petit larceny by shoplifting were down 20%, and grand larceny by shoplifting was down 18%. Burglaries are on the rise – but home invaders don’t tend to steal food.
As for what’s actually behind the rise in violence, the NYPD writes in their press release for their June crime statistics; “The NYPD is enduring a round of deep budget cuts that have led to a class of 1,163 recruits being canceled. The department has also seen an increase in retirements. The NYPD’s facilitation of peaceful protest continues to utilize department resources. While the NYPD uses a lighter touch in regard to enforcement, offenders no longer eligible for bail are being rearrested: they have been rearrested for approximately 750 additional major felonies through June 26, compared with the population of those released in the same period a year ago.”
Again, no word on how many of those major felonies were bread related.
