MARIA: WELCOME BACK.
WELL, MAJOR CITIES GEARING UP
FOR THE HOLIDAY WEEKEND THIS
UPCOMING WEEKEND, AHEAD OF
JULY 4th, AND IN A NATIONWIDE
SPIKE IN CRIME.
NEW YORK CITY INCREASING POLICE
PRESENCE IN TIMES SQUARE
FOLLOWING THE WEEKEND’S DAYLIGHT
SHOOTING OF A 21-YEAR-OLD
MARINE.
THIS AS CHICAGO RECORDS ITS
300th HOMICIDE THIS YEAR.
300.
JOINING ME RIGHT NOW IS THE
NATIONAL FRATERNAL ORDER OF
POLICE VICE PRESIDENT AND
HOUSTON POLICE OFFICER, JOSEPH
GAMALDI.
GREAT TO SEE YOU THIS MORNING.
THANKS VERY MUCH FOR BEING HERE.
FIRST, GIVE US YOUR TAKE ON WHY
THE SPIKE IN CRIME ACROSS THE
COUNTRY.
IN THE LAST YEAR.
>> YEAH, I THINK WHAT YOU’RE
REALLY SEEING IS THE SIGNS OF
URBAN DECAY THAT ARE OCCURRING
IN OUR COMMUNITIES AND IT’S A
RESULT OF PROSECUTORS AND
ACTIVEIST JUDGES WHO CREATED A
REVOLVING DOOR CRIMINAL JUSTICE
POLICY IN ALL OF THESE MAJOR
CITIES.
WE HAVE GANG BANGERS, TRIGGER
PULLER WHOSE ARE GETTING OUT ON
PROBATION AFTER SHOOTING PEOPLE
OR THEY’RE OUT ON EIGHT FELONY
BONDS AND AFTER THEY SHOOT
SOMEONE THEY GET ANOTHER BOND.
COMBINE THAT WITH THE
ANTI-POLICE RHETORIC THAT SEEMS
TO PERMEATE EVERY SINGLE MAJOR
CITY THAT WE HAVE IN THIS
COUNTRY AND IT’S A RECIPE FOR
DISASTER.
BUT THIS IS JUST THE BEGINNING.
WE SAW HISTORIC CRIME NUMBERS IN
2020.
WE SAW OVER 20,000 HOMICIDES
WHICH WE HADN’T SEEN SINCE THE
MID-90S.
2021 IS OUTPACING IT AND IT’S
WORSE IN THE CITIES THAT DECIDED
TO DEFUND THEIR POLICE
DEPARTMENTS.
THEY SAW INCREASES IN MURDER IN
CHICAGO BY 34%, MINNEAPOLIS YOU,
236%, NEW YORK CITY, 50%,
PHILLY, 66%, AND THE LIST GOES
ON AND ON.
MARIA: YEAH.
A LOT OF THOSE CITIES ARE
DEMOCRAT CITIES AND
UNFORTUNATELY POLICY HAS
SOMETHING TO DO WITH THIS.
I MEAN, LOOK, THE DEFUND THE
POLICE MOVEMENT OBVIOUSLY TOOK
-- HAD A MAJOR IMPACT.
YOU’RE ALSO TALKING ABOUT THE
ENDING OF CASH BAIL, THE NEW
YORK PLANS TO SHUT DOWN RIKERS
ISLAND AND LOWER PRISON CAPACITY
AND THEN OF COURSE YOU’VE GOT
WIDE OPEN BORDERS.
SO ALL OF THESE POLICIES FROM
THE DEMOCRATS HAVE RESULTED IN A
MASSIVE SPIKE IN CRIME AND YET
WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY JEN
PSAKI ACTUALLY ASTOUNDINGLY
BLAMED REPUBLICANS FOR DEFUNDING
THE POLICE.
SHE SAID BY VOTING AGAINST
BIDEN’S MASSIVE SPENDING PLAN.
THIS, AS DEMOCRAT CONGRESSWOMAN
ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ
DISMISSES THE RISE IN CRIME.
SHE SAID THAT THEY’D HAD LINES
ARE CAUSING HYSTERIA.
YOUR THOUGHTS ON WHAT YOU’RE
HEARING FROM JEN SACK HEY AND
AOC -- JEN PSAKI AND AOC.
>> IT’S A COMPLETE JOKE.
IT’S LIKE THEY’RE TRYING TO TELL
THE AMERICAN PEOPLE DON’T
BELIEVE THEIR LYING EYES.
IN THE SAME DAY THAT THE PRESS
SECRETARY WAS SAYING THAT IT’S
REPUBLICANS THAT ARE DEFUNDING
THE POLICE, THE OAKLAND CITY
COUNCIL WHICH IS DEMOCRAT
CONTROL DECIDED TO DEFUND THE
POLICE BY $18 MILLION WHILE
HOMICIDE RATE IS UP.
THIS IS WASHINGTON TALK.
CONGRESSWOMAN CORTES, I FIND IT
FUNNY THAT SHE SAYS THIS IS
HYSTERIA AND THESE ARE JUST
STATISTICS.
EXCUSE ME, THESE ARE ACTUAL
PEOPLE WHO ARE BEING MURDERED,
FATHERS, SONS, DAUGHTERS,
MOTHERS, BEING MURDERED
WHOLESALE IN OUR STREET AND
YOU’VE GOT THE NERVE TO SAY THIS
IS ALL HYSTERIA?
BUT I THINK WHAT YOU SAW WITH
THE CONGRESSWOMAN, THE NARRATIVE
MATTERS MORE TO THEM THAN
PEOPLE’S LIVES.
WE HAVE A MAJOR PROBLEM IN OUR
CITIES RIGHT NOW.
BUT THE FACT OF THE MATTER IS,
THE AMERICAN POLICE OFFICERS
DELIVERED HISTORIC CRIME
REDUCTIONS IN THE LAST 20 YEARS
AND IT LED TO AN URBAN
RENAISSANCE AND WE CAN DO IT
AGAIN, IF WE RESTORE THE RULE OF
LAW, PROSECUTE VIOLENT CRIMES
AND EMBRACE BROKEN WINDOWS
THEORY AND GET THE FUNDING AND
SUPPORT FROM COMMUNITY MEMBERS
AND ELECTED OFFICIALS, WE CAN
TURN THIS AROUND.
MARIA: DAGEN McDOWELL JUMP IN
HERE.
YOU AND I REALLY WATCH THIS AND
EXPECTED THIS TO HAPPEN AS WE
REPORTED ON THE POLICY CHANGE AS
THEY WERE HAPPENING OVER THE
LAST COUPLE OF YEARS, DAGEN.
DAGEN: JOSEPH, I WANT TO POINT
THIS OUT.
THIS HAS BEEN GOING ON FOR YEARS
HERE IN NEW YORK CITY AND PART
OF THE PROBLEM IS, IT’S NOT JUST
THE GOVERNOR, THE LEFT WING
ASSEMBLY, THE MAYOR, IT’S ALSO
THE CITY COUNCIL WHICH VOTED TO
STOP ENFORCEMENT OF QUALITY OF
LIFE CRIMES.
WELL, THAT’S ONE OF THE WAYS
THAT-AND PEOPLE -- AND THE LEFT
WING LIBERALS IN NEW YORK
DISMISSED IT LIKE WHAT’S WRONG
WITH PUBLIC URINATION.
THAT’S ONE OF THE WAYS THAT
POLICE OFFICERS GET GUNS OFF THE
STREETS.
THEN YOU DISBAND THE PLAIN
CLOTHES ANTI-GUN, ANTI-CRIME
UNIT LAST YEAR.
THAT’S PART OF THE PROBLEM.
I JUST WANT TO ASK SOMEBODY LIKE
ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ BEFORE
SHE STANDS UP FOR LAW ABIDING
CITIZENS AND RESIDENTS, HOW MANY
PEOPLE NEED TO DIE EVERY YEAR?
WHAT’S YOUR BAR FOR GIVING A
DAMN ABOUT CRIME IN THIS CITY,
BECAUSE LAST YEAR ONLY 468
PEOPLE WERE MURDERED IN NEW YORK
AT THE 1990 HIGH IT WAS OVER
2200.
SO IS THAT WHERE WE’RE GOING
BEFORE YOU START CARING ABOUT
THE SAFETY OF NEW YORKERS?
MARIA: JOSEPH, WHAT DO YOU SAY?
>> I MEAN, IT’S JUST COMPLETELY
TERRIBLE.
AND YOU KNOW WHAT THE WORST PART
ABOUT ALL OF THIS IS?
IT’S MEMBERS OF OUR BLACK AND
COMMUNITY THAT ARE IMPACTED
MOST.
STATISTICALLY THEY ARE THE
VICTIMS OF THESE VIOLENT CRIMES.
WHILE SHE TALKS ABOUT HOW ALL
THESE LIVES MATTER, APPARENTLY
THEY DON’T MATTER TO HER TOO
MUCH BECAUSE SHE’S NOT
SUPPORTING POLICIES THAT WILL
I’LLULTIMATELY IMPACT THE CRIME
IS OCCURRING.
I THINK THAT REALIZE THIS IS A
COMPLETE LOSER, THE DEFUND THE
POLICE FOR THE DEMOCRAT PARTY.
IF YOU LOOK AT A RECENT GALLUP
POLL, 81% OF BLACK AMERICANS
SAID THEY DON’T WANT LESS POLICE
OFFICERS IN THEIR NEIGHBORHOODS,
THEY WANT MORE.
IN A RECENT POLL IN NEW YORK
CITY, LESS THAN 15% OF THE BLACK
AND LATINO COMMUNITY WANT TO HE
DEFUND THE POLICE.
IT’S A COMPLETE JOKE.
DAGEN: THOSE ARE THE PEOPLE WHO
VOTED FOR ERIC ADAMS, BLACK AND
LATINO VOTERS IN THE OUTER
BOROUGHS, NOT THE ELITISTS IN
MANHATTAN, IT WAS PEOPLE WHO SEE
CRIME AT THEIR DOORSTEP AND THEY
CARE AND WANT IT CHANGED AND
THEY VOTED FOR ERIC ADAMS FOR
MAYOR.
MARIA: YOU KNOW WHAT, DAGEN?
I WANT THE TO POINT OUT WHAT
FORMER POLICE COMMISSIONER RAY
KELLY TOLD US LAST WEEK WHEN HE
JOINED US ON THIS PROGRAM ABOUT
ERIC ADAMS.
WE’RE GOING TO PLAY THAT SOUND
BITE COMING UP.
HE SAID TALK IS CHEAP.
ELSE NOT BUYING ERIC ADAMS, THAT
HE’S GOING TO FOCUS ON CRIME.
JOSEPH, GOOD TO SEE YOU, SIR.