NYPD Serves Even Through Turmoil
Floor Speech
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Ms. MALLIOTAKIS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today during National Police Week to thank and show support for our police officers, particularly the New York Police Department, and also warn my colleagues of what happens when politicians think that they know how to do the job in the street better than our cops do because I have seen it happen in New York City. I have seen the quality of life deteriorate, I have seen crime skyrocket, and we must learn from what has happened here to not make this mistake and adopt those very policies on the Federal level.
This past weekend, we saw three innocent bystanders, one of whom was a 4-year-old child, shot in broad daylight in the middle of Times Square. Fortunately, NYPD Officer Alyssa Vogel was there. She sprinted into action to save these individuals' lives. That is what this mother was doing Mother's Day weekend, and we thank her for her heroic efforts.
Sadly, we also lost a police officer, Anastasios Tsakos, who was in Queens directing traffic in the middle of the night after there was a car accident, and he was struck and killed by a hit-and-run driver who was under the influence and operating an unlicensed vehicle.
Sadly, this is what our police officers do each and every day, put their lives at risk, sometimes giving up their life to protect the rest of us.
All through the pandemic, we praised them as heroes for working the front line. COVID was the leading cause of death for our police officers in 2020. We lost eight NYPD officers, sadly. Also, as we approach the 20th anniversary of 9/11, let's not forget the sacrifices of our police officers, not only on that day, but in the days since. We continue to lose people to 9/11-related illnesses. In the NYPD's case, they lost seven since January 2020.
Mr. Speaker, in New York City, we have seen policies that have hurt our law enforcement officers. How did we get here? Well, decriminalizing quality-of-life crimes, which was something I warned in 2017 that would lead to crimes skyrocketing. The broken windows theory is real.
Then you add the State legislature's attempts to reform bail, the rush to close Rikers Island, emptying the jails, putting dangerous criminals with lengthy rap sheets back onto our streets.
The Governor's Parole Board has released over 16 cop killers and other murderers and rapists, once again putting people who are dangerous back on our streets; eliminated the NYPD plainclothes unit, tying the hands of our police; and then lastly, cutting $1 billion, one-sixth of the NYPD budget.
As I mentioned, the 4-year-old girl who was shot this weekend, she was just one of 43 individuals shot in the last week, 169 percent increase over the same period last year. There were nine murders last week in New York City, up 350 percent over the same period last year.
But the trend is not just starting now. It is not just the result of defunding the police. It is the other policies, as I have mentioned. Homicides in 2020 soared 45 percent, shootings doubled, with 1,868 people shot in 2020, up from 923 in 2019. This is a result of an abdication of responsibility from my colleagues on the city and State level.
Now they want to take away the qualified immunity from our police officers, something that many of you voted to do here for our Federal law enforcement officers, despite when they already give up their immunity if they are not operating within the NYPD guidelines, or if they violate someone's constitutional rights.
There is no question that the demoralization of law enforcement over the past year has contributed to a sharp rise in departures from the NYPD, which are up 75 percent compared to 2019, with the lowest number of NYPD officers in uniform in over a decade, when we have all this rising crime taking place across our city. It is absolutely disgraceful, Mr. Speaker, and it must end now.
City and State have a responsibility to keep the public safe. Quite frankly, if they are not going to do it, if my mayor and my Governor continue to tie the hands of our police officers and not allow them to do their job, then we need the Federal Government to step in. Send DOJ, ATF, FBI, DEA, and the U.S. Marshals, because we have a responsibility to the citizens of our city and Nation to keep them safe.
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