NYC police chief deeply troubled by Manhattan DA’s new policies

[Valin]

Power Line

Paul Mirengoff

January 9, 2022

My friend who reads the New York Times has been waiting for it to provide frontpage coverage of Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg’s memo instructing prosecutors not to seek jail or prison time for all but the most serious crimes and to cease charging a number of “lower-level” crimes. Having previously relegated the matter to page 18, the Times finally elevates it to the front page in discussing pushback by New York City’s new chief of police.

The new chief, Keechant Sewell, expressed what the Times describes as “severe dissatisfaction” with the DA’s soft-on-crime approach in an email she sent to all city police officers. Sewell is Black, by the way, as is Bragg.

Sewell takes particular offense at Bragg’s decision not to charge individuals who resist arrest. Stating the obvious, she observes that this policy sends a message to police officers, not to mention law breakers, of “an unwillingness to protect those who are carrying out their duties.” She adds:

(Snip)

The Times is closer to the mark when it acknowledges that there’s a political argument between “centrist Democrats across the nation looking to soothe voters worried about crime” and “progressive prosecutors” who favor leniency for criminals. There can be no doubt about which side of the argument the Times in is on, and no doubt that the Times understands the politics of the argument well enough to prefer that it not break out in full cry in New York City.

My friend the Times reader makes the point succinctly:

Quote

Moderate Democrats were hoping to point to [Mayor] Adams as the future of the party. Now all they have to show may be more infighting and chaos.

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