New York Police Commissioner Bill Bratton has expressed concern about the nationwide trend of becoming more lenient in marijuana policies, saying this makes it more difficult to combat crime.
Speaking on
"The Cats Roundtable" Sunday radio show on AM 970 New York hosted by John Catsimatidis, Bratton said this is one of the main concerns he plans to discuss in the conference of major city police chiefs he will be hosting later this week, which will be attended by 75 police chiefs from the largest municipalities in the United States and Canada.
Bratton emphasized that in New York "most of the violence we see around drug trafficking involves marijuana, and I have to scratch my head as we are seeing many states wanting to legalize marijuana or a liberalization of policies."
He added that there is a growing concern about heroin and heroin overdoses nationwide, and that currently the Coast Guard is managing to stop only about 20 percent of the amount that is smuggled into the country.
Adding to the difficulty of police work, the commissioner said gangs are now also getting more heavily involved in cybercrimes.
Bratton said that other concerns to be discussed at the conference will focus on the threat of terrorism in the United States, especially the Islamic State (ISIS) and the fact that al Qaida is trying to revitalize itself in Syria.
Turning to the presidential elections, Bratton said he hopes that "instead of savaging each other personally, [the candidates] start focusing on issues of terrorism, on issues of national crime on issue of resolving race issues… because we are going to need help in the years ahead in focusing on these issues ,which are right now growing exponentially."
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