By Steve Pomper
Pretending she is tough on crime, NY Gov. Kathy Hochul has announced the state will be installing 6,400 security cameras in NYC’s subway cars. According to the AP, this is happening “as officials work to rebuild riders’ faith in the system’s safety.”
Does anyone else see the glaring disconnect here? I’m sure the NYPD cops do. It makes me wonder if the unelected gov is just a violent crime voyeur. What good does it do to install cameras in the subways if New York’s criminal justice system won’t prosecute criminals. And when the courts release suspects without bail whether the crime is video recorded or not? Okay, this is rhetorical, but the answer is it does no good at all.
Hochul is in a pitched election battle with Republican U.S. Rep. Lee Zeldin, who is legitimately pro-cop and pro-law-and-order. So, Gov. Hochul has to pretend she also supports the rule-of-law even as she’d touted every far-left, anti-cop, anti-equal justice fad to come down the pike.
The plan is to install two cameras in each subway car and is “expected to take three years to complete.”
The governor said, “You think Big Brother’s watching you on the subways? You’re absolutely right,” said Hochul, a Democrat. “That is our intent — to get the message out that we’re going to be having surveillance of activities on the subway trains and that is going to give people great peace of mind.”
There we go! There she is. That’s the Kathy Hochul we all know and…, well, we all know. She sincerely likes the surveillance aspect of the cameras. That way, she can watch you. Were you the one not wearing a mask during some future mandate she might issue if New Yorkers vote to keep her in Albany?
Again, without fixing New York’s gawdawful no-bail laws, the Soros-infected prosecutors, and an in-love-with-himself mayor, Gov. Pretender could have a Steven Spielberg production crew filming crimes in every car, and it wouldn’t matter.
The other day, a bystander filmed a suspect pulling out an ax and assaulting and menacing people in a New York City McDonald’s. There was the violence for everyone to see—video recorded. What cops call evidence. Scary as hell, right? Yet, after the NYPD arrested him, the court released him back into the community.
Maybe he’ll show up at Burger King or Wendy’s next, and it won’t be just a table he chops.
A thug attacked a bodega worker, José Alba, which was also caught on camera. Mr. Good Guy defended himself with a knife and killed Mr. Bad Guy. For his reward, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg charged him with murder. All while the Soros-funded DA continues to set real criminals free to prey on New Yorkers.
It was only due to intense pressure from people, including Lee Zeldin, that Bragg finally dropped the murder charge.
Where was Mayor Adams and Governor Hochul on the ridiculous charge? No doubt, silently supporting the criminal.
Would it have been different if the thug had committed a crime on a subway car, and one of Hochul’s cameras captured it? Are they magic cameras somehow inducing an intentionally broken criminal justice system to work like it’s supposed to?
As long as New York State and City leaders refuse to support their police and enforce the laws equally, as the Constitution demands, putting cameras in subway cars will have zero effect. Well, except perhaps to provide Hochul morbid entertainment watching conservative New Yorkers become victims of crime.
Recently, after saying she doesn’t “need to have numbers” to infringe on New Yorkers’ gun rights, she said she needs “more data” before deciding whether to repeal New York’s no-bail laws. This leaves criminals free to prey on those she’s trying to convince to vote for her.
After all, Gov. Hochul recently said people who disagree with her politically aren’t real New Yorkers and should “head down to Florida where you belong.”
With that kind of lack of respect for millions of people she supposedly serves, it’s hard to attribute any altruistic intentions to her sudden supposed desire to make New York City residents “safer” by installing cameras in subways to video record crimes she doesn’t support prosecuting.
If she wants to make New York safer, she should work to repeal no-cash-bail laws and support the state’s law enforcement officers by allowing them to do their jobs. That will make New Yorkers safer.