Officials in New York should be building up law enforcement, not tearing it down, Rep. Lee Zeldin said Thursday in response to New York Attorney General Letitia James' claims that many people in New York City no longer trust the police to do their jobs.
"She shouldn't be speaking for the entire state," the New York Republican said on Fox News' "America's Newsroom." "When you say New Yorkers, you might get the impression that all New Yorkers feel that way, but I don't even believe that most New Yorkers feel that way . . . I would take it one step further and say you should be making a broad-based statement like that because it's not accurate."
He added that there is a growing call to defund police departments, but protests are moving much further than taking those words rhetorically, Zeldin added, as there are a great deal of "expletives" being used toward police and protesters are "trying to tear them down in very personal ways."
As a result, the streets have become so dangerous that "you actually have a greater chance of being shot than you do of dying of COVID-19," said Zeldin. "On top of passing out masks, maybe they should be passing out vests as well."
There is also a call to move away from arresting people for "little things," but it's important to protect the city there too, said Zeldin.
"We want law-abiding New Yorkers to be comfortable about leaving their homes, not worried about becoming a victim of violence and law enforcement willing to protect you," said Zeldin.
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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