NEW YORK — The year-end metropolis crime stats present shootings and homicides are down in comparison with final yr. However, crime, total, is up and a high concern for a lot of New Yorkers.
There was a non-public assembly Thursday night time on the subject.
The Rev. Al Sharpton hosted what he described as a historic gathering of the state’s high Black leaders at his National Action Network headquarters in Harlem.
Mayor Eric Adams, Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, Attorney General Letitia James have been only a few of the elected leaders who attended the 90-minute assembly with Sharpton.
Sharpton stated 2023, “is gonna be the year that we show how to govern and deal with public safety for people that have been the disproportionate victims of both those criminal justice reforms that are needed and those violent crimes.”
Cameras have been solely allowed into the personal assembly for a short interval earlier than a news convention, the place James wouldn’t go into specifics on the points mentioned.
“We will discuss them in private. We will come forth with a plan. We will map out where the issues are, and we will join together as one. It’s important that everyone understand this is not a Black or Latino issue. This is an issue that affects all New Yorkers,” the lawyer common stated.
Sharpton hosted the assembly simply hours after the NYPD launched its year-end crime statistics, which present an increase in total crime in comparison with final yr. Shootings and homicides are down from final yr, however they’re nonetheless up in comparison with pre-pandemic ranges.
“We have to get to the root causes of what’s causing the crime in the first place. We have to talk about those difficult things, like poverty, and housing, and education, and lack of jobs,” Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark stated.
The stats additionally revealed that 150 individuals youthful than 18 have been shot in 2022, a quantity that has greater than doubled since 2019. One of these victims was 17-year-old Raelynn Cameron, whose grandmother and aunt are nonetheless mourning her loss of life months later.
“It’s like the new norm, families grieve now. Instead of having weddings and baby showers, we’re having funerals,” Antandra Gorman stated. “It’s gotta stop.”
“We’re turning 18th birthday parties into memorials. Why?” Antasia Portis lamented.
After the assembly right here, the leaders who attended wouldn’t take any questions from reporters.
Sharpton described it as the first of a collection of conferences.
