Former Secret Service agent Dan Bongino, also an ex-New York City police officer, said Monday that Chicago residents "deserve better" than the deadly violence that is affecting their city, and they need new leadership and possibly for President Donald Trump to become involved.
"I'm not going to make a cheap political argument," Bongino told Fox News' "Fox & Friends."
"It's not the time for that. It may be time for new leadership and new people."
He added that he's not suggesting that either Democrats or Republicans have all the answers, but that "maybe it's time for new people."
"You deserve better," he said. "You are American citizens too. It's your country."
He said he also encourages Trump to "start these task forces up again and clean it up if Chicago isn't willing to do it themselves."
Forty-four people were shot during a 14-hour time span, killing five, on Sunday in Chicago. Overall, since Friday, 60 people were shot, with nine dead. Out of the 50 shootings, 34 occured between 10 a.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. Sunday.
"I remember being in New York City, a police officer in one the tougher areas of New York crime wise at the time, 75 precincts in New York," Bongino recalled. "One of the things that touched me. A young man trying to figure out the world for myself all the good folks that came outside.
"An area that was really high crime at the time and said please, help us, this guy on the corner is slinging drugs. I can't be seen talking to you. But will you do something? Please, anything?"
He said he was still in New York, when Rudy Giuliani became mayor, and began the crackdown on crime including stopping small crimes before they become larger ones.
"You see a broken window you fix it you don't wait for the building to fall down," said Bongino. "In other words, if you see a guy jump in a turnstile get on a train free in New York, they used to let him go. I've got news for you, the guy who jumped the turnstile was the guy who committed the more serious crime. You don't let them go jumping the turnstile."
In Chicago, he added, "it's time to let the cops be cops," said Bongino. "Those people there deserve better. These are American citizens living in a place with zero opportunity. You could walk out of your house and be killed. That 17-year-old girl deserves a shot at life. This is a stable on our -- stain on our country."
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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