Rikers crime spree

To the editor:

A nurse’s face was slashed by a Rikers detainee earlier this month. Subsequently, DOC spokesperson Patrick Rocchio stated, “Our jails must be, above all else, safe and secure… Assaults on any staff will not be tolerated.” 

But they are tolerated and the jails aren’t safe.

Rocchio’s statement is the usual worn-out response given by top DOC management pursuant to media inquiries.

According to the Mayor’s Management Report, from Fiscal Year 20 through FY 24 there were 47,968 detainee infractions for fighting/assaults, 4,856 assaults on correction officers, 1,618 slashings and stabbings and nine escapes, totaling 54,451 likely crimes.

Yet, only 1,362 detainees were arrested, indicating that just 4 percent of assaults ostensibly committed and likely caught on video surveillance cameras resulted in arrests. Of those, even less were prosecuted.

Actually, all detainee crime is largely tolerated.

Hundreds, if not thousands, of other crimes are committed daily by many of the roughly 6,000 Rikers detainees including, but not limited to, drug trafficking, weapon possession, introduction of contraband, theft, robbery, extortion, arson, harassment, obstructing governmental administration and property damage. These crimes are not included in the MMR report and the vast majority of them also result in no arrest.

I submit the total number of crimes committed in NYC jails during the aforementioned five-year period was not 54,451 but rather in the hundreds of thousands which reduces the percentage of arrests from 4 percent to less than 1 percent of crimes committed.

DOC must implement proactive crime-fighting strategies to stop this endless crime spree.

Because of the City Council’s laissez-faire approach to law enforcement and lack of support and respect for DOC’s uniformed force, correction officers are not safe.

And when correction officers are not safe in jail, nobody is safe.

Marc Bullaro

The writer is a retired NYC DOC assistant deputy warden.