Yesterday’s brazen daylight shooting in Times Square of one of my constituents, U.S. Marine Samuel Poulin, who grew up in the 49th Senate District village of Northville in Fulton County, underscores the revolving door of danger and disaster caused by the Governor and Majority’s deform of New York State’s criminal justice system.

 

Mr. Poulin, who still has family in Fulton County, was visiting the city as a tourist with his loved ones, when he was hit outside the Marriott Hotel in Times Square at 5:15 p.m. by a stray bullet, just a block from where a 4-year-old girl and two others were struck by gunfire last month, the New York Post reported.

 

According to the NYPD, there has been a 30.4 percent increase in overall crime in New York City driven by a 66 percent increase in grand larceny, a 28.6 percent increase in robbery, and a 35.6 percent increase in felony assault.

 

The most basic function of government at any level is to protect the public and keep them safe from harm.

 

While alleged criminals are walking free back on the streets with appearance tickets, innocent, law-abiding citizens who live and visit our neighborhoods across the state are being discriminated against by increased levels of the criminal element who are committing violent crimes.

 

It’s time to ‘reform the deform’ of our criminal justice system and put an end to the “Purge-like” violence.