Former New York City Police Commissioner William Bratton went on the Bloomberg Businessweek podcast last week and raised quite a few liberal eyebrows when he said that liberal criminal justice reform efforts have led to “a spike in crime,” not just in the Big Apple, but in major cities around the country. Such a comment was bound to have many progressives setting their hair on fire, particularly when you consider that he was the NYPD boss under another liberal, Democratic mayor in the person of Bill de Blasio. So it wasn’t surprising when Mayor Eric Adams had the question tossed to him on Sunday by George Stephanopoulos. To the disappointment of the “defund the police” movement, Adams said that he agreed with Bratton’s assessment. (Townhall)

New York City Mayor Adams (D) said Sunday that he agreed with comments made last week by former NYPD Commissioner William Bratton, who said progressive politics surrounding the criminal justice system has led to a spike in crime in American cities.

Bratton said Thursday on the “Bloomberg Businessweek” podcast, “The scales right now are tipped very heavily in favor of the reforms of the progressive left. Well-intended, some needed, but a bit too far, and what we have as a result is this growing fear of crime, this growing actual amount of crime in almost every American city.”

When asked by host George Stephanopoulos on ABC’s “This Week” if Bratton’s assessment was correct, Adams said he believes the former commissioner “is right.”

Here’s the clip from the ABC interview from their Twitter feed.

“We have to rebuild that trust. But we can't rebuild that trust by allowing those who are dangerous and that have a repeated history of violence to continue to be on our streets,” NYC Mayor Eric Adams tells @GStephanopoulos. https://t.co/ahuu0Up1K4 pic.twitter.com/ppgyvXnlEN

— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) April 17, 2022

Just to establish the baseline here, Bratton’s original comments weren’t some sort of incendiary attack on progressive culture. He was just about as gentle as he could possibly be without completely shutting his eyes to reality. As noted in the excerpt above, he described the progressive “reform” efforts such as bail reform as being “well-intended, some needed, but a bit too far.” And that has left more criminals on the streets who are far less fearful of the police.

Adams didn’t go all that much further either. He said that trust in the police has been eroded by “major mistakes” made in the past and he wants to rebuild that trust. But that can’t be done, he said, if we are “allowing those who are dangerous and that have a repeated history of violence to continue to be on our streets.” Honestly, was there anything he said there that was even remotely controversial to anyone with an above-room temperature IQ?

It’s worth noting that current NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell was also on the ABC program with Adams. When asked if she also agreed, she said that she did and went even one step further. She actually had the audacity to bring up the victims of crimes and their right to justice, not just the feelings of the criminals.

“I do agree. We cannot lose sight of the victims of crime,” Sewell said. “We believe the system has to be fair and balanced, but when we lose sight of the victims of crime, we are not doing what public safety is intended to do.”

We’ve discussed this here countless times, but Sewell rang the bell nicely. In all the talk about how terrible the police are and how poorly suspects and prisoners are treated, you rarely hear anyone bring up the actual people out on the streets paying the price for these policies that promote revolving doors on the jails. Those would be the victims of all of this crime and gang violence. We are reminded on a regular basis that Black lives matter, right? But that apparently doesn’t apply when it’s one Black person shooting, assaulting or robbing another Black person. The victim’s life really doesn’t seem to matter at all and most of our leading media mavens don’t want to discuss that category of crime.