Sharpton assails NYC’s crime spike: ‘They’re locking up my toothpaste’

Sharpton is a longtime civil rights and criminal justice reform activist and founder of the National Action Network, a not-for-profit advocacy organization. He has been critical to spearhead police reform in the city.

With recent, high-profile incidents of both nonviolent and violent crime in New York, Sharpton noted the “challenge” facing Adams between mitigating crime and supporting policing reforms.

“There is debate in the criminal justice system. There are those that are concerned, including me, about overloading the system and the jails with petty crime,” Sharpton said. “But at the same time, you cannot have a culture where people are just, at random, robbing and stealing.”

Crime has emerged as the chief issue of Adams’ nascent administration. A former NYPD captain, Adams made fighting crime a key aspect of his campaign. But highly publicized shootings and burglaries have stolen the spotlight, including the shooting of two police officers in Harlem last month.

“Doesn’t matter to me if it’s a police officer shot, or if it’s a baby shot. I’m going to stay in these streets until this city is safe,” the mayor said in January.

President Joe Biden visited the city last week and met with Adams and Gov. Kathy Hochul at NYPD headquarters. There, the president reiterated his support for police officers and pledged to be a “partner” with Adams in the effort to curb crime.

“Mayor Adams, you and I agree: The answer is not to abandon our streets,” Biden said. “The answer is not to defund the police. It’s to give you the tools, the training, the funding to be partners, to be protectors.”