The revolving door of the criminal justice system during the coronavirus pandemic and “anti-police rhetoric” has emboldened gun-toting criminals and led to an uptick in crime after a 30-year low, U.S. Attorney Andrew E. Lelling said Wednesday.
“The rhetoric has gotten completely out of control,” Lelling said at a round table with police chiefs and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. “The idea of defunding the police is absurd. If anything … we should be reinvesting in police” since the killing of George Floyd earlier this year by Minneapolis police.
So far this year, police in the city have confiscated 661 guns, 435 of which have been used in crimes, Boston Police Commissioner William G. Gross said. He added several of those arrested had court-ordered GPS bracelets on.
Because courts were not fully operational for months during the pandemic, “what they’re seeing on the street is, ‘We can do whatever we want,’” Gross said.
But he said when suspects face federal criminal charges, they no longer say that because federal sentences are longer than state ones.
This is a developing story … look for more here and in tomorrow’s Herald.
