“The View” co-hosts Alyssa Farah Griffin and Sunny Hostin sparred over the rising crime rates in New York City during Tuesday’s panel.
The panel responded to the debate between Democratic New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and Republican New York Rep. and gubernatorial candidate Lee Zeldin, in which they clashed over their outlines to combat crime. Hostin accused Republicans of dismissing the majority of crimes to narrow in on violent crime.
Griffin defended Zeldin by pointing to the attack in August where a man attempted to stab him in the neck on stage during a campaign event addressing bail reform. A shooting also erupted in front of his home while his twin daughters were inside doing homework earlier this month.
“Lee Zeldin was nearly stabbed on stage while campaigning in New York—”
“He’s hated,” Hostin said.
“That’s not okay though, that’s crime,” Griffin continued. “That’s horrifying. That’s crime and political violence and then there was a shooting outside his house that came within thirty feet of his home while his daughters were in the house. He is very familiar with the crime that is going on.”
Co-host Whoopi Goldberg and Hostin interjected by arguing that Republican states have the highest crime rates. Griffin pushed back arguing that Republicans intend to decrease crime by increasing funding for police and detectives.
“Crime is a very complicated issue because that’s absolutely correct that the top ten Republican states have the highest violent crime rates, but every one of the biggest cities in those states are run by Democratic mayors,” Griffin said. “So, we could kind of pick and choose why this is the case that they have the highest crime rates, but what Republicans are running on is more grants to police funding, more grants for detectives and that we need to look into why rape kits go unprocessed for so long so we’re putting more funding toward that … this is the Republican plan.” (RELATED: ‘Make Our Streets Safe Again’: Zeldin, Hochul Tackle Crime Policy In New York Governor Debate)
“I think the Republican plan is fear mongering, I really do,” Hostin said.
“No, this is a response to Democrats saying ‘defund the police,'” Griffin hit back.
“New York is one of the safest cities in the country, it has a $5 billion budget,” Hostin said.
“Do you feel that, though? I don’t feel safe in New York,” Griffin said.
Hostin argued that New York City’s $5 billion budget toward police is keeping the city safe. Co-host Joy Behar argued that the city’s crime rate was worse in the 1980’s and ’90’s, and accused Griffin of exaggerating.
Co-host Sara Haines argued that the country’s crime statistics are flawed because of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) changed the process for booking crime into the system and in New York, only 17% of the population has been recorded. Hostin said New York City is not likely reporting the entirety of its crime statistics in order to keep the $5 billion budget, and argued that the funding should instead go toward mental health services.
Goldberg concluded by accusing Zeldin of having no plan to tackle the high crime rates in the city. Zeldin said he plans to hire more police and correction officers and remove Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg from his position after he signed a now-removed plan to only send defendants convicted of murder, white collar crimes or sex offenses to prison, according to Spectrum News.
In New York City, crime rose by 15% overall in Sept. 2022 from the previous year, the New York Police Department (NYPD) reported. Even staunch Democrat allies of NYC Mayor Eric Adams such as Al Sharpton have voiced their concerns that the city is heading in the wrong direction.