Williams asks about Bronx Project Restore and arrests-safety link

Okay.

Because I just get worried.

I heard everything blamed on bail, and now I'm hearing everything blamed on raise the age.

You never hear me in that discussion.

I'm good with that.

Also, I know that the Brooklyn DA is not here, but his project Restore has been phenomenal.

It's been, like, really phenomenal.

I'm not sure.

In Brooklyn.

It started in Brooklyn.

So now, and I raised hell until I got it.

So now I got it.

So, yeah, it's historic.

I'm not sure, like, everyone should be trying to figure out how to expand this and see if it's expandable.

Like, Brooklyn's had...

Phenomenal.

I mean, if you're a victim of crime, that doesn't matter.

But the numbers show it's been great.

So I just wanted to see how that program was going.

Well, we just now got it.

We got $3 million from the governor.

So that's how we're funding that.

And, you know, we have to build it up.

So we identified the community-based organizations that's going to administer it.

So it's going to be BRAG and Bronx Connect.

We have an academic component that's going to evaluate it.

So we're building it up now.

We look to start it in the beginning of the year.

We should be ready to roll it out for the Bronx.

And lastly, have you seen in your time here a link between how many people we arrest and the safety of Bronx?

Residents.

I don't know what you mean by that.

Have you seen a link between how many people you can arrest, how many young people you can arrest and house, and people being safer in the Bronx?

So you're saying if there are more young people arrested, whether or not the Bronx is safer?

Yes.

I don't know if we can necessarily say that because an arrest doesn't mean that somebody's going to be detained.

Somebody having charges doesn't mean that they are going to recidivate or not.

We simply don't know.

So I don't know if that's apples to apples comparison.

I deal with what I have.

The arrests that are happening have increased.

Unfortunately, they have increased, and I have to accept that.

But what we do with each case is different.

So just because somebody is arrested doesn't mean that, you know, one, that they're guilty, first of all.

I've got to prove that beyond a reasonable doubt.

We don't get this.

So an arrest is one thing.

Getting a case through the process.

I guess the question is, is there also a connection between how many people are, how many young people are locked up and how many people are safe?

I was a resident in the Bronx.

I mean, I would have to get back to you.

I don't know if they, I don't have that correlation of because so many people are arrested, the community is safer.

I mean, we, look, we deal with mass, we've dealt with mass incarceration for as long, I mean, I've been in this business 40 years now.

I started out when it was nail them in jail and everybody was in jail for the littlest thing.

Was our community safer then?

I don't know necessarily.

But if you look at the numbers now, when I start in 1990, right, we had 2,300 murders in New York City.

We got less than 200 right now.

So what does that mean?

People are in jail for murder, but it's not the same.

You know, it's not the same.

So I can't say that by having somebody in jail makes the community safer.

The communities that have the most resources are the ones that are going to be the safest, not necessarily whether or not somebody's locked up or not.

So I don't necessarily see that correlation.

I just want to do all that I can to make sure the community is safe.

And if that means prevention measures, intervention, prosecution, and reentry, all of those things make our community safer.

Thank you.

Not just the rest.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you.

Deputy Speaker.