Bernard Kerik, a former New York City Police Commissioner, spoke with the Daily Caller’s Samantha Reck about the Defund the Police movement, New York City’s crime spike and more.
New York City officials voted in June to cut nearly $1 billion from the New York Police Department’s budget. The city, which has seen an uptick in violence this year, recently surpassed its 1,000th shooting victim. When asked if he believed this violence was a result of the decision to defund the police, Kerik said “it’s a combination of things.”
“You have a mayor — a very left-leaning, Marxist mayor — that has let thousands of criminals, violent criminals out of jail as a result of [COVID-19],” Kerik said. “Instead of going through a screening process and letting the least dangerous people out, there was a blanket release of inmates released from Rikers [Island Jail].” (RELATED: Ted Cruz Calls Out Democrats Ignoring Antifa Anarchy In Portland)
He continued, “you have the mayor that’s cut the budget by a $1 billion. In doing so, that immediately cut off 1,200 new recruits that were going to go to the academy in July. You’ve got mass retirements because the cops feel that they’re not being supported by the mayor.”
Kerik also discussed what he would do if he were the police commissioner today, leadership in Democrat-run cities and more.
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