NYC’s Crime Spike Puts Policing in the Spotlight of Mayor’s Race
- Candidates pushing police action may turn off some voters
- NYC shootings jumped more than 160% in year ending April 2021
Police officers respond to a shooting in Times Square in New York on May 8.
Photographer: David Dee Delgado/Getty ImagesThis article is for subscribers only.
New York City is gearing up for the last month of a mayoral race that is coinciding with a spike of gun violence the city hasn’t seen in decades, including a 166% increase in shootings in April from a year before and a shooting in Times Square that’s rocked the city.
It’s also hitting as the broader U.S. grapples with a spate of shootings that President Biden has called a “national embarrassment.” The impact is upending the race for the mayor of the most populous U.S. city and elevating Brooklyn Borough President and mayoral hopeful Eric Adams, an ex-cop.