Police in Cities Across U.S. Brace for a Violent Summer
Lifting of Covid-19 restrictions, rise in gun purchases have officials on edge heading into warmer months

Crime experts fear summer 2021 violence could be worse than last year as shooting,
murder uptick starts early

369 people were shot in the past 72 hours as of Friday afternoon, the Gun Violence Archive says

Police departments in New York City and other large metro areas across the U.S. are bulking up patrols and implementing new tactics to prepare for what they say could be a violent summer.

Police should brace for a potentially more violent summer than last year as crime trends show the bloodshed in some parts of the country, such as New York City, picked up earlier than is typically expected, analysts and experts say.

States lifting Covid-19 restrictions and more people out in public spaces in warmer weather increase the likelihood of more shootings, as well as less-serious crimes, officials say. Many crimes, including violent ones, normally rise in summer. Gun purchases also rose during the pandemic and cities have seen an increase in guns being used in crimes.

Shootings and homicides in big U.S. cities are up this year again after rising last year. In the last three months of 2020, homicides rose 32.2% in cities with a population of at least one million.

"It's not getting any better," Joseph Giacalone, an adjunct professor with the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, told Fox News. "Let's put it this way: New York City is already ahead of last year's pace, but last year, the homicides and shootings really started spiking at the end of May and into June. So that will be the real tale of the tape, so to speak, to see what's happening over there."

"So, if you look at New York, Chicago, St. Louis, Baltimore, you name the big cities and they're having huge problems," Giacalone added. The fast-approaching summer months generally bring out "more crime because there are more people out there."

In Chicago, the most recently available crime statistics show that murder was up 56% from April 26 to May 2 compared to the same time last year, the Chicago Police Department said. The number of shooting incidents was also up 40% during the same time frame year-over-year, police said.

As of Sunday, the NYPD reported a 350% increase in murders for the week prior compared to the same time year-over-year, statistics show. Shootings were up 166% in April compared to April 2020, police previously said.

In Dallas, the city’s Violent Crime Reduction Plan includes provisions for the deployment of officers this summer to the city’s hot spots, where much of the violent crime is committed, Police Chief Eddie Garcia said.

And in Los Angeles, murders year-to-date as of May 8 were up 30.9% from the same time last year, while reports of shots fired incidents increased by 58% and the number of shooting victims was up 67.2%, Los Angeles Police Department statistics show.

The Jersey City Police Department is increasing the deployment of officers to foot posts in high-crime areas, expanding the department’s closed-circuit video system and holding public meetings to improve relations with the community, he said.

New York Police Department officials are dispatching 200 officers and adding patrols to 100 blocks in the city with the highest levels of gun violence. The city saw one of its most violent summers in 2020, recording the most shootings since 1996.

NYC has been flooded with illegal guns from the "Iron Pipeline" trafficking route that starts in the South and has been active during the pandemic.

"The numbers are already through the roof," he continued. Speaking on the Big Apple, he said: "We’re having numbers coming up to the warm weather where the city is up 200% in shootings and shooting victims every week."

"You have a situation where you have many people who probably still should be in jail that aren't. You have the mental health crisis, which has always been it has only been exacerbated by the pandemic and the release of prisoners early. So, you know, to say that everything is fine is basically whistling past the graveyard."

John Roman, a senior fellow at the University of Chicago’s National Opinion Research Center (NORC) studying crime control and justice programs, wrote in a Jan. 31 substack post that he believed summer 2021 would be "abnormally violent."

Roman argued that he thinks "the effects from 2020 – whether they caused the 2020 violence or not" will lead to more violence this year. He provided "headlines" or factors as including the "increased perception of police illegitimacy," and the lack of available resources and programs for people, including "young people in the most disadvantaged communities." foxnews.com wsj.com