Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark is dropping the ball, a city top officer said Tuesday.
NYPD commissioner Jessica Tish said the northernmost borough has been behind in cracking down on crime and calling Clark’s lawn the “absolute best place” for the Big Apple to steal cars.
“And speaking of the outcome,” Tish said. “If you’re interested in stealing a car, the best place to do that is in the Bronx. Why?
“Theft of a car is a felony, so you need to be charged as a felony,” she said Tuesday morning at the New York City Breakfast Forum Civil Crime Commission. “And when you don’t charge properly… you’re leading the city with a stolen car with a wide margin.”
According to Tisch, car thefts fell 12% in the city, but the Bronx hit the trend with a 3.6% collision of stolen vehicles.
The NYPD crime statistics referenced by the Commissioner could not be reviewed immediately.
The comments came in the wake of a new attack on Tish’s quality of life crimes. This is part of a plan to devote 2,000 citywide police officers to crack down on the most frequent 311 complaints from New Yorkers.
The initiative launched in six urban districts last week and is expected to expand in the coming months.
“I channel the voices of almost every NYPD cop and New York state law, New York City law, and internal prosecutors’ policies have handcuffed police, put them at risk of unacceptable risk, allowing criminals to prey on the victims again and again.
“But the good news is, a lot of this is very solveable. It’s a matter of getting it done.”
Clark was a frequent target of critics who claimed that prosecutors were lax about crime.
Data from the state’s Criminal Justice Services Division in 2023 showed that Clark’s office had the worst convictions and dismissal rates in almost all major crime categories in New York City over the past six months.
In a statement Tuesday, the Bronx DA’s office responded to Tish’s comments, saying, “There is a difference between what police charges at the time of arrest and what they can prove in court.”
“The charging decision is made with maximum consistency and we will not charge unless there is evidence,” the statement said. “Given that the Bronx is a hub for selling cars stolen from other jurisdictions, we will continue to work to deal with car crime and hold people accountable.”
The statement also said the DA’s office has a “productive partnership” with the NYPD Automotive Crime Unit, which will “deal with auto theft focusing on long-term investigations and auto theft crew.”
“This approach allows us to disrupt these crime patterns and prosecute them vigorously.”
