CM Cabán on recidivism and limits of policing for root causes

You mentioned the example of a person who gets arrested for felony assault one, two, three times.

Have you thought about maybe the fact that policing and the criminal legal system isn't equipped to and can't solve that problem then?

Has that occurred to you guys?

To the extent your question is, should we go out and arrest someone who committed a felony?

No, no, no.

That's not my question.

The answer is yes.

I 100% agree that we are doing our part, and there are other actors out there in the system, very broadly conceived.

Mr.

Gerber, that's not my question.

I'm just saying, do you agree that it's possible that the job that you were tasked to do as NYPD to make these arrests and pass off to the DA, that that alone...

Cannot solve the problem.

Do you agree with that?

What that does is hold someone accountable for a particular crime.

If your point is that we are doing our part and other parts of the system are failing, that I agree with.

But to the extent the question is, are we doing our part to hold someone accountable for a felony?

That wasn't my question.

My question is whether it solves the problem of the recidivist act.

And so I think the answer is no.

So now my next question is, what are the underlying factors of instability that could be causing multiple bouts of

assault, for example.

And Councilmember, to the extent your point, which I understand is, there are

underlying social issues that go far beyond anything the NYPD can deal with in terms of economic disparities, for example, or educational disparities.

Councilmember, I agree with you.

There are root causes.

Thank you.

There are root causes of these problems that the NYPD is not charged with addressing.

We're allowed to agree on things.

It didn't have to be that difficult.

Thank you.

So I want to move on to my next question.

Thank you for the additional time.

Yeah, you can take another minute.