New York City Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell and the police department are doing all within their power to reduce crime in the city, but they're also fighting back against a government that won't support them, former NYPD Commissioner Bernie Kerik told Newsmax on Sunday.
"You have a city council that wants to defund the police," Kerik said on Newsmax's "Sunday Report." "You have a mayor that's not giving the cops the support they need to do the job. You have a governor that has allowed these bail reform laws to stay in place that allows criminals to conduct criminal activity, engage in criminal conduct, and they're back on the streets within hours."
And with that kind of leadership, "you're going to continue to have increases in crime, murder, shootings, which is what we're seeing in the city," said Kerik.
The former commissioner also discussed the case of U.S. Marine Corps veteran Daniel Penny, 24, who is charged with manslaughter after putting another man, Jordan Neely, 30 in a chokehold on a subway in Manhattan on May 1, after Neely had been allegedly accosting other passengers.
Kerik said he hopes that there are people who will step in and take "some action" when they see violence happening and to stop others from being threatened, but too often, people who try ot defend themselves and others end up being charged by "Soros-backed prosecutors."
"People have to make that judgment call on their own, but the way the prosecutors around the country call for defending the bad guys, it makes people think twice before they take action," said Kerik.
Meanwhile, Neely had been arrested several times in the past before his death and had been included on a New York City list of 50 people with the "most severe cases" of "problematic mental health, and Kerik said he wants to know why the city couldn't handle dealing with that few people.
"Why wasn't he being taken care of?" said Kerik. "It's 50 people for God's sake. I mean, the city of New York can handle dealing with 50 people. Why wasn't he being taken care of…I just have to tell you under [Rudy] Giuliani, if there was a list of 50 people and somebody slipped through the cracks, there would be heads rolling because it shouldn't have happened."
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Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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