NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton: More Cops Hitting Streets To Counter Spike In Shooting Victims
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- In response to the skyrocketing number of shooting victims in New York City this year, NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton is placing extra cops on the streets in high-crime areas.
According to CompStat figures, 129 people were shot last month, a 43 percent increase over the same period last year.
Bratton acknowledged Tuesday fewer guns have been taken off the streets this year and stop-and-frisk has been throttled back.
"Any increase is always of concern," Bratton told WCBS 880's Rich Lamb. "This one is, I believe, a spike, and a spike we'll be able to respond to."
Bratton said the department has already been putting and will continue to place more officers on the streets where needed.
"We graduate a class at the end of this month," he said. "That's another 600 officers that'll be going out to most troubled precincts."
Bratton, who boasted about a reduction in crime overall, noted that the NYPD hasn't eliminated its stop-and-frisk tactics entirely.
"Stop-and-frisk has not gone away," he told 1010 WINS' Juliet Papa. "It's a basic tool of policing, something I advocate and strongly believe in."
He added, though, that a lot of people are happy stop-and-frisk is not being practiced as widely as it was under the previous administration.
You May Also Be Interested In These Stories