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To the editor:
As usual with Howard Elterman, his "Duplicity At City Hall" letter (The Chief, Aug. 25) is superb. I just have a few comments on the last paragraph in which he refers to the Adams’ administration push of "a false narrative about a law and order crisis."
I have a mixed reaction to Mayor Adams' take on this. The bail reform laws did not cause an increase in crime, but they did not alleviate the previous problems that contributed to the bump. It was the usual case of politicians pretending that they did something significant when they did not.
Bail should be eliminated. Judges should be allowed to hold prisoners when there's good reason to believe they are dangerous, or if they repeatedly are arrested upon release or if there's good reason to believe they won't show up in court. Everyone else should be released while they await trial. No thugs should get out just because they are rich, and people should not be in jail only because they can't afford $100 bail.
So-called progressive district attorneys can be a problem. People protecting themselves from criminals should not be prosecuted. Shoplifters should not have blanket immunity from prosecution. If exceptions are made for one-time shoplifters with otherwise clean records, fine.
As for crime statistics, they don't tell the whole story. What scares people today is that crime is more random than ever. You don't know where or when it will happen or how severe it will be.
When have there been so many people being pushed onto subway tracks?
Richard Warren
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