NYC crime: Is the city under siege from criminals?
NEW YORK CITY - Wild crime videos range from a shooter firing a gun out of a car sunroof to a driver intentionally jumping onto a busy sidewalk to try to escape police. It seems as though it’s a free for all when it comes to crime in the city.
One New Yorker said, "We’re definitely living in critical times right now and everybody’s feeling it."
A New Yorker said, "We had COVID 3 1/2 years. People are not the same."
Another New Yorker added, "Crime is very crazy. That’s because nobody’s doing anything about it. No one is. All the politicians are thinking about is child care… but they’re not really thinking about the real problems."
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Mike Alcazar is an Adjunct Professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and a retired NYPD Detective. "The average New Yorker is definitely more aware," Alcazar said.
And the reason we are more aware is that so many of these eye-popping crimes are caught on video.
"I remember as a cop five years ago, let’s say, that I would tell people about crime and they just didn’t understand it. They had no idea what was going on because, again, they didn’t see it. Now, it’s pushed onto social media."
However, he says the alarm the average New Yorker feels after seeing these wild videos is short-lived because the crime is not happening to them.
"They have to still live and work in New York City. So, I know a lot of them will say it’s not as bad as portrayed in the news because it’s not their experience," Alcazar said.
One New Yorker said, "I don’t deal with it. It doesn’t seem like it affects me a lot day to day."
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