New York Police And Mayor Bill de Blasio Blame Hate Crime Surge On Donald Trump
The New York Police have noticed a surge in hate crimes and have placed the blame for this on President Donald Trump, with Mayor Bill de Blasio saying that the increase in hate crimes is because of Trump’s rhetoric. There have been skyrocketing hate crimes over the past few months in New York, with much of it on Jewish people.
Stephen Davis, the NYPD spokesman, has said that he can only conclude that the recent increase in hate crimes is because of President Trump’s campaign, as Huffington Post reported.
“Based on the timing and the extraordinary increase we’ve been seeing, not only in New York but around the nation, you have to conclude that the presidential campaign was the major factor.”
The surge in hate crimes in New York has increased 42 percent from this same time last year, with 143 reported incidents. Out of these hate crimes, which come from police department statistics, 72 percent of the hate crimes directly targeted Jews, and this number has risen dramatically from the 39 percent which was reported last year.
Some of these hate crimes in New York which have been blamed on Donald Trump include criminal mischief, harassment, and what are called “terroristic threats.” At the start of February, for instance, Jews were targeted in Borough Park, Brooklyn when swastikas were traced over snow on the cars of residents parked in the New York neighborhood.
Metro News reported that the City Councilman David Greenfield was horrified by this anti-Semitic hate crime and found himself “truly disgusted that on snow day some would try and strike fear in the heart of Jewish NYC.”
While hate crimes in the state of New York were previously on the decline and averaged roughly 15 per month, Governor Andrew Cuomo has said that since the election of President Trump those numbers have doubled.
Mayor Bill de Blasio blames Donald Trump for increase in reported New York City hate crime incidents https://t.co/zshXRmGwXu pic.twitter.com/igpvszAOWY
— CTV News (@CTVNews) December 6, 2016
Jews, however, aren’t the only ones who have been a recent target for hate crimes in New York. Members of the LGBT and Muslim communities have also been on the receiving end of threats. Because of this, Cuomo has said that the state would be allotting $25 million for additional security which will include surveillance technology and training everywhere from daycare centers to schools that he feels may be at risk, particularly those that are affiliated with religion. There will also be a Hate Crimes Text Line so that hate crimes can be reported with greater ease in the future.
Governor Andrew Cuomo has made it very clear that perpetrators of hate crimes will not be accepted or tolerated in the state of New York.
“Any acts of bias or discrimination will be met with the full force of the law.”
James O’Neill, the NYPD Commissioner, noticed that after President Trump’s election that there was a major increase in the report of hate crimes and suggested that perhaps it was due to the rhetoric of Trump’s campaign.
“I have no scientific evidence as to why, but you’ve been paying attention to what’s been going on in the country over the last year or so, and the rhetoric has increased, and I think that might have something to do with it.”
New York’s Mayor, Bill de Blasio, has been firm in his personal belief that hate crimes are on the rise because of Donald Trump
“The horrible, hateful rhetoric that was used in this election by candidate Trump and by a lot of his supporters directly connects to an increase since the election in anti-Semitic incidents, anti-Muslim incidents and anti-LGBT incidents.”
Do you agree with the New York Police Department and Mayor Bill de Blasio that the recent increase in hate crimes is because of President Donald Trump’s campaign and rhetoric?
[Featured Image by Andrew Angerer/Getty Images]
