New York crime wave solutions with Sean Hayes, 2021 candidate for NYC Council? “Programs and activities that help communities produce safety, from after-school programs, to gyms, to violence interruption programs, they were closed or severely limited,” she said. “All of these informal and formal systems and networks that typically mitigate violence, particularly for youth…were either shut down, or they were sick and dying. Or losing their jobs. Or had other stressors on them to prevent them from being the strong networks that existed before.”

New York is experiencing the worst gun violence it has seen in nearly a decade, all while it continues to fight a pandemic that has killed tens of thousands of New Yorkers and left many more jobless and hungry. In 2021 alone, 299 people have been shot, a 54% increase over the same time last year, and the most the city has seen since 2012. Ninety-two people have been murdered, a 19.5% jump, according to the most recent NYPD data. In 2020, the city recorded 462 murders, an increase of 45% from 2019, even as most other major felonies declined. Shooting incidents overall exploded 97% last year. New York is not unique. Murders across the United States rose an estimated 25% in 2020, according to preliminary data from the FBI, the largest increase since modern crime statistics have been compiled. Chicago, Houston, Philadelphia, and Los Angeles all had higher murder rates than New York City in 2020.

We are in a major crime wave. Is this a sign of a movement back towards the Dark Days of the 80s and early 90s? The stats are telling. The following post considers the crime statistics, cause of the crime wave, dispels the myth of the increase in crime is caused by the pandemic and proposes simple, balanced and common-sense solutions. In 2014, Mayor de Blasio refused to appeal a District Court holding that “stop & frisk” is unconstitutional even though it was noted that an appeal was likely to succeed with certain reforms being made. (Sean Hayes 4 NYC agrees that reforms were needed in regard to stop & frisk, but does not approve of the blanket prohibition. We shall be writing about this in the near future – check back). See even more information on New York crime wave solutions.

Additionally, the detractors note that many of the crimes were crime of desperation caused by economic stress on families. However, this argument does not pan out when we consider the statistics. The reality is that throughout New York’s history a link is not found between poverty and shootings. For example, the lowest homicide rate was, in New York, in 2016 and the poverty rate was higher in this year than in the year when we had the highest homicide rate – 1989. The stats do not add up to poverty being the cause of the increase in homicides and shootings.

Sean Hayes a 47-year old NY Attorney; Head of an International Law Firm; former lawyer working in China, Korea & Southeast Asia; former Professor, CEO, Dean of a UN University and Journalist fears that our City shall turn to the Dark Days of the 80s and early 90s, because of reactionary and radicalized politics in New York and the lack of experience, pragmatism, and problem-solving skills of our politicians. Sean is running in the Democratic Primary for City Council in District 1. Sean’s step into politics, unlike many other candidates, is not for his personal gain. Sean shall lose a great deal for his firm if elected, but shall gain the blessing of knowing that he is giving back to a community that he loves and believes needs the help of experienced professional leaders. Discover extra information at https://www.seanhayes4nyc.com/.