New York City’s plan to address surge of anti-Semitic hate crimes
The NYPD will immediately beef up its presence in Brooklyn’s Jewish communities as the city rolls out other initiatives in classrooms, on the streets and on social media to combat a “crisis” of anti-Semitic attacks, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced on Sunday.
Anti-Semitic incidents in New York City are up 21 percent as of Sunday, according to NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea. Police were investigating at least three potentially anti-Semitic attacks in Brooklyn that occurred within a 30-hour span — two in Crown Heights and another in Williamsburg. By Saturday, they’d arrested and charged a woman in connection to another Crown Heights assault.
“This is systematic in the sense that we have seen attack after attack after attack,” the mayor said, stressing that, while the attacks have not been organized, they have been consistent. “Therefore we have to take extraordinary measures. People cannot live in fear.”