NEW YORK – Earlier this year NYC Mayor Eric Adams reinstated the undercover anti-crime unit after the 600-person detail was disbanded in 2020. Now the number of gun-toting criminals arrested in the Big Apple have spiked this year and gun-related crimes are tapering off. It is proof that the return of plainclothes police personnel is working, experts told the New York Post.
The number of suspects taken into custody for gun-related offenses soared 74% from 6,205 to 10,827. The number of firearms seized during those arrests climbed 3% from 4,432 to 4,558, NYPD data shows.
Hence, the number of murders and shooting victims this year has dived 13% and 16% respectively, the data revealed, according to the news outlet.
“For all of the naysayers out there that say cops don’t prevent crime, once again, here’s your proof … Proactive policing matters and it acts as a deterrent,” said Joseph Giacalone, a retired NYPD sergeant and adjunct professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. “Fewer people will carry guns as the word spreads” that resurrected NYPD anti-gun units are back on the streets.
“Now, if we can get Albany onboard to remove their bail stance on the possession of an illegal firearm and get a few DAs back to charging the crime, that would be great,” he noted.
In June, Commissioner Keechant Sewell credited the Neighborhood Safety Teams for doing outstanding work, along with other units, while making a record number of firearm arrests, The Post reported.
Police Benevolent Association President Patrick Lynch also attributed the decline in violent crime to the direct actions taken by the re-deployed undercover team.
“The decline in shootings is proof of what the NYPD can accomplish when we direct sufficient attention and resources toward a problem,” Lynch said. “The bigger problem is that we don’t have the staffing to do this for every crime category.”
