Former New York City Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik dismissed Democratic New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez as an “immature child” Wednesday for linking violent crime and shoplifting.
During a virtual town hall meeting Sunday, Ocasio-Cortez suggested New York City’s escalating violent crime rate had something “to do with people not being able to pay their rent” and shoplifting.
“She’s an immature child,” Kerik told Fox Business Network’s “The Evening Edit.” “You know what? It’s stupid. It’s ignorant. She has no conception what she is talking about.” He also blasted New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio as a “Marxist Trojan horse” for defunding the police. (RELATED: ‘Defunding … Means Defunding’: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Not Satisfied With Cutting NYPD By $1B)
Kerik suggested the congresswoman had “no conception” of how high the crime and murder rates in New York City were some 20 years ago and how law enforcement “dropped crime by 65% and homicide by 70 [%].”
“I don’t put any credibility into anything she says,” the former police commissioner said.
Kerik laid the blame for rising violent crime at the feet of de Blasio, who recently agreed with the city council to cut $1 billion in funding from the police department.
“I blame the mayor for emboldening the criminals. I honestly believe at this point, especially today in the aftermath of Mayor de Blasio signing this law enforcement accountability package, this guy is a Marxist Trojan horse that has come into New York City in his last year in office and he is going to completely annihilate the city.”
Kerik noted that while defunding the police “he is allowing the criminals to get out of prison … He is not putting anybody in jail for things they have done,” and has effectively “handcuffed the cops … from doing the job they have to do. As a result, we’re seeing systemic slaughter of black men and women in the communities of color. And he is not doing a damn thing about it.” (RELATED: You Took My Son: Go To Hell: Father And Grandmother Of Slain 1-Year-Old Baby Speak Out Against Killers)
A group of protesters affiliated with Black Lives Matter (BLM) and other groups congregate in a park outside of City Hall in Lower Manhattan as they continue to demand that the New York City Police Department (NYPD) be defunded on June 30, 2020 in New York City. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
New York City police union president Patrick Lynch also blamed the mayor, the city council and state government for having “given the streets back to the criminal” on Tuesday.
The city is still reeling from the shooting death of a one-year-old boy who was the victim of gang violence.
Davell Gardner Jr. died after being shot in the stomach Sunday in a drive-by shooting while the Gardner family was having a cookout at the Raymond Bush Playground.