New York City’s largest police union on Tuesday slammed Mayor de Blasio’s no-bail plan for teens charged with violent crimes, saying it “flies in the face” of the work cops do and will “doom this city.”
“Pandering for votes during his quest for the presidency, Mayor de Blasio seems to be hellbent on the destruction of civilized society in NYC,” Police Benevolent Association president Patrick Lynch said in a statement.
“Releasing teens who have committed armed robberies or serious assaults flies in the face of every police officer working to fight crime. We risk our lives to protect the citizens of the city while pandering politicians do everything possible to fight our success. ”
The mayor’s new policy, which goes into effect Saturday, is aimed at tripling the number of teenagers who are released from city jails without bail — even when those charges include armed robbery and assault.
An expansion of the Supervised Release Program will allow defendants aged between 16 and 19 to qualify for the program’s Youth Engagement Track — which had been capped at age 17 — and broaden eligible charges to include first- and second-degree robbery, assault and burglary.
The mayor defended the move — which is part of his larger plan to shutter Rikers Island — earlier Tuesday, saying the city needs to make sure young people are “being redeemed — not just locked up.”
But Lynch said: “‘Progress’ like this will doom this city and crash its economy by making our streets dangerous once again.”