NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg did a surprising 180-degree activate public security Friday, vowing to go after individuals with weapons even when they’re inoperable, and instructing prosecutors to have zero tolerance for violence in opposition to cops.
CBS2’s political reporter Marcia Kramer says Bragg advised his employees that an earlier memo perceived as promulgating a soft-on-crime coverage was “a supply of confusion.”
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Was it attending the funeral of hero cop Jason Rivera the place his widow called him out?
“We aren’t secure anymore,” Dominique Luzuriaga mentioned. “I do know you had been bored with these legal guidelines, particularly those from the brand new DA. I hope he’s watching.”
Or was it being learn the riot act by Gov. Kathy Hochul?
“We have to do extra to guard public security,” Hochul mentioned.
Regardless of the purpose, Manhattan District Lawyer Alvin Bragg has backed off his earlier “Day One” memo that provoked calls for for his ouster. Appears as an alternative of being the softer, gentler prosecutor he campaigned on, he apparently now desires to be the brand new “sheriff of Manhattan.”
Internet Additional: Read Bragg’s New Memo (.pdf)
His robust on crime stance in a brand new memo tells his employees:
- Violence in opposition to cops is not going to be tolerated
- Gun possession circumstances are a key a part of our plan for public security
- Individuals strolling the streets with weapons will probably be prosecuted and held accountable
- A industrial theft with a gun will probably be charged as a felony, whether or not or not the gun is operable, loaded, or a sensible imitation
- We additionally will use gun possession circumstances as a chance to hint the supply of unlawful weapons and construct circumstances in opposition to gun traffickers
His earlier memo advised staffers to solely to hunt jail for probably the most critical offenses and to hunt alternate options to incarceration for first time offenses, and folks charged with sure robberies and assaults. Even gun possession and resisting arrest in circumstances the place no different crimes had been concerned.
“We will probably be secure on this metropolis,” mentioned Mayor Eric Adams.
Bragg’s actions coming as Adams made the rounds of TV and radio reveals to speak about President Joe Biden’s journey to the town and his personal blueprint for public security.
On WNYC, Adams supplied extra particulars on his plan for spot checks for weapons coming into the town at practice and bus stations and bridges.
“I do know once I journey overseas, and even within the subway system… individuals do spot checks, random spot checks to find out is carrying an explosive system. If we’re doing it for a bomb, then we ought to be doing it for bullets and weapons,” Adams mentioned.
The mayor says the spot checks are a message to individuals alongside the iron pipeline that New York Metropolis will not be an open door for unlawful weapons.
The mayor mentioned he was happy the president agreed to have federal companies just like the FBI and the ATF assist the NYPD cease unlawful gun trafficking.
