NYPD To Combat Big Spike In Crime With Massive Redeployment, More Overtime
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- The NYPD is going into full battle mode to cope with a huge increase in crime. It's the second month in a row that crime has spiked, and it's going to cost you.
For a mayor who rode into office promising to end stop-and-frisk and still keep crime down, it was not the kind of news Bill de Blasio wanted to deliver.
"A very striking increase, one that causes us tremendous concern," de Blasio said Thursday.
Web Extra: NYPD Monthly Crime Statistics Briefing
Overall, crime is up 22.5%, but as CBS2's Marcia Kramer found out, that's not the whole story.
Robbery is up nearly 38%, from 891 last February to 1,182 this year.
Grand larceny is up nearly 24%, from 2,821 to 3,495.
Grand larceny auto is up nearly 62%, from 305 to 493.
Transit crimes soared nearly 41%, from 189 to 266.
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Police Commissioner Dermot Shea is vowing to fix things with a massive redeployment that will include making cops work longer hours -- getting overtime -- to beef up police presence in high-crime neighborhoods.
"We face some challenges at the moment, as we often do," Shea said. "We will rise to the occasion as we always do."
The battle plan will feature a redeployment of manpower to 15 neighborhoods that are experiencing a major uptick in street crime.
"We'll re-task personnel for high visibility uniformed patrol, utilizing foot and motor vehicles throughout New York City," Shea said.
Shea also plans to move an unspecified number of cops from desk jobs to the street and focus on youth crimes.
Both the mayor and the police commissioner blamed the state's new bail reform laws for a significant portion of the crime spike, including new discovery laws that are forcing prosecutors to either defer or decline prosecutions, leaving the bad guys on the street.
"We will adjust. We'll redeploy and maybe quite significantly as we're working through our plans going forward," Shea said.
The areas slated to get more anti-crime cops include East New York, Southeast Queens, East Harlem, the West Village, and the 1st Precinct, which includes TriBeCa and the Financial District, where there has been an explosion of robberies.
