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Rudy's Memory Loss on Crime Reduction

As Big Tent Democrat and many other bloggers noted yesterday, Rudy Giuliani continues to support Bernie Kerik.

It's one thing to stick up for your friends, it's another to reinvent their record.

Rudy Giuliani said Monday that if his achievements as president are as good as the crime-reduction results of his New York police commissioner, a man now under criminal investigation himself, "this country will be in great shape."

...."Bernie Kerik worked for me while I was mayor of New York City. There were mistakes made with Bernie Kerik. But what's the ultimate result for the people of New York City? The ultimate result for the people of New York City was a 74 percent reduction in shootings, a 60 percent reduction in crime, a correction program that went from being one of the worst in the country to one that was on '60 Minutes' as the best in the country, 90 percent reduction of violence in the jails."

It wasn't Bernie Kerik who brought the crime down in New York, it was Giuliani's prior police commissioner, Bill Bratton, who is now LA's police commissioner. While the reduction may have continued under Kerik, he just benefited from policies implemented years earlier by Bratton.

More...

I am not a fan of the "broken windows" or "quality of life" crime policing strategy, but if you're going to explain New York's crime reduction, you can't do it by crediting Kerik instead of Bratton.

And there are many who believe it wasn't either Rudy or Bratton (and certainly not Kerik) as crime was falling nationally anyway and a large part of New York's reduction was in how they wrote up the crimes to avoid the violent designation.

Typical Rudy.

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  • Display: Sort:
    Memory Loss (1.00 / 0) (#4)
    by squeaky on Tue Nov 06, 2007 at 02:21:45 PM EST
    On healthcare as well:

    At a packed and emotional news conference in May 2000, in which he announced he was dropping out of the race for the U.S. Senate as a result of his illness, Giuliani admitted to suddenly seeing the world very differently. He said his illness had changed him and that he wanted to reach out to minority groups and the poor. Most important, he said, he had newfound respect, understanding, and empathy for the city's uninsured. It seems Giuliani couldn't feel people's pain until he, well--literally--felt people's pain. But once he had, he stated that extending health insurance coverage to more of the city's uninsured was his top goal for his remaining 18 months in office. ''One of the things that I felt from the beginning of [my illness] and continue to feel is a tremendous sense of compassion for the people that have to make decisions like this alone," he explained. "One of the things maybe that I can do is figure out how we accelerate making sure that people are covered."  

    Slate via digby

    When fiction becomes fact.... (none / 0) (#1)
    by kdog on Tue Nov 06, 2007 at 11:31:16 AM EST
    The crime reduction began under Mayor Dinkins...and the downward trend started without having to resort to locking up record numbers of ganja smokers.

    But don't let the truth get in the way of your ambitions Rudy.

    Yes (1.00 / 0) (#3)
    by squeaky on Tue Nov 06, 2007 at 01:24:06 PM EST
    It started with Dinkins and continued throught the country. Like many businesses, crime is cyclical, mostly dependent on demographics.

    Giuliani would take credit for the second coming if it happened. He is a fake.

    Parent

    now kdog, remember, (none / 0) (#2)
    by cpinva on Tue Nov 06, 2007 at 01:15:50 PM EST
    reality is what they say it is. silly boy!

    Silly me.... (none / 0) (#5)
    by kdog on Tue Nov 06, 2007 at 03:38:04 PM EST
    it wasn't that long ago, I should remember seeing Rudy and Bernie leaping tall buildings in a single bound catching muggers:)

    Parent
    Well, well (none / 0) (#6)
    by jimakaPPJ on Tue Nov 06, 2007 at 07:38:01 PM EST
    So Dinkins did it??

    heh

    Before Rudy when I went to NYC on business it was like being in a compound...all that was missing was sandbags around the hotel's doors and guards on each floor.... (I actually experienced the guards on each floor at a H Inn in Newark... or was it Orange? in '76... the manager said it had more or less stopped the muggings... and yes, I know that was pre Dinkins ...) The most interesting thing about Dinkins is this:

    Dinkins' term was marked by polarizing events including the 1991 Crown Heights riots and the boycott of a Korean grocery in Flatbush. He withheld police protection during the Crown Heights Riots, publicly endorsed the accused shoplifters at the Korean grocery, and he used city funds to pay for the funeral of the drug dealer whose being shot by police sparked the Washington Heights Riots [1].

    Now. Tell me how good he was for the city...

    After Rudy it was like being in an interesting place. Zoo like perhaps, but still interesting.

    To the occasional visitor.... (5.00 / 0) (#7)
    by kdog on Wed Nov 07, 2007 at 05:59:15 AM EST
    I'm sure NY looked great under Rudy...most of the homeless disappeared, a Disney store in Times Square.  As I'm sure Moscow looked great to the occasional visitor under Stalin.

    Try living under the iron fist.

     

    Parent

    Don't look now (1.00 / 0) (#8)
    by jimakaPPJ on Wed Nov 07, 2007 at 07:59:22 AM EST
    but the natives are restless.

    NEW YORK (CBS) ― In New York City, there are more than 300,000 reported asthmatic children, and there are certain everyday factors that are triggering flare-ups. Protestors hit the streets Tuesday, demanding the city help families rid their apartments of these triggers.

    Actually Moscow and Lennigrad was clean, and safe  as compared to NYC. The people were friendly and curious about America. One of the usual questions was, do Supermarkets really exists all over the country?

    But when you went to the department store and discovered that it had bunches and bunches of suits, all in one size.. and visited the hard currency store and realized that they wouldn't take their own currency and that it was illegal for the USSR citizens to have hard currency.. well, after that I always thought it would be worth while if we sent all freshmen college students on a 7 day free trip to tour Moscow.

    So yes. You can have too much law and order. It is a balancing act. Pre Rudy it had swung too far one way, he brought it back to the middle. I note that
    the usual argument for Dinkins is that the trend started under him, and that it was a national trend. Which, of course, points out that Dinkins didn't lead, and his other actions were clearly counterproductive. That's a damning comment.

    At least Rudy embraced the trend and expanded it.

    Parent

    I wasn't trying to equate.... (5.00 / 0) (#9)
    by kdog on Wed Nov 07, 2007 at 08:04:12 AM EST
    Moscow to NY or say Rudy is as bad as Stalin.

    Just that appearances can be deceiving.

    Parent

    I never thought you were. (1.00 / 0) (#10)
    by jimakaPPJ on Wed Nov 07, 2007 at 08:16:36 AM EST
    Isn't Hitler reserved for Rudy comparisons???

    ;-)

    (Sorry, couldn't resist.)

    Parent

    Bush is Hitler.... (5.00 / 1) (#11)
    by kdog on Wed Nov 07, 2007 at 08:50:08 AM EST
    Rudy is Moussolini.

    Get your left wing-nut exaggerations straight will ya pal:)

    Parent

    heh (1.00 / 0) (#12)
    by jimakaPPJ on Wed Nov 07, 2007 at 02:51:15 PM EST
    I'm lol...

    Who is Gore? God?

    Hillary? The Virgin Mary??

    Parent

    Actually.... (5.00 / 0) (#13)
    by kdog on Wed Nov 07, 2007 at 03:22:20 PM EST
    Left-wing nuts see Gore as a Moses like figure, parting the rising sea levels to return us to Zion.

    Let's call Hillary Big Sister in honor of my man George Orwell's dystopian vision of the future:)

    Parent