...which still proudly displays Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize...
reported that he has multiple arrests dating to the mid-1990s, including a robbery charge when he was just 14.
After his sentencing in 1995, he was paroled twice. He subsequently returned to prison for violating his parole ‐ twice. The Times also reported that Williams shot someone in 2002 and then carjacked a woman while fleeing. The shooting resulted in a conviction for attempted murder. Despite that conviction and the suspect’s criminal history, Williams was released early from prison in 2017.
The incidents in the Bronx illustrate what seems to be a trend of violence directed at police by habitual criminals. Last summer, in Staten Island, a female NYPD officer was shot by an armed suspect when she attempted to take him into custody. Gregory Edwards had a long criminal history that included convictions arising from two separate shootings.
In Houston, Sgt. Christopher Brewster was allegedly shot and killed by Arturo Solis, who, according to local news reports, has faced multiple charges in the past, including for burglary and assault.
Earlier this month, Nick O’Rear, a police officer in Alabama, was killed in the line of duty allegedly by a suspect with a criminal history that includes 20 arrests and six felony convictions for charges ranging from illegal gun possession to drug distribution.
A few months before allegedly killing O’Rear, the suspect had been released pending a hearing on charges such as weapons possession.
Why were these suspects free?
Yet the trend continues. Last month, a man seen slugging an NYPD officer on a bodycam video was back on the street hours later, thanks to the state’s new bail "reform." Late last year, a teen convicted of second-degree murder for his role in the death of a retired police sergeant in Missouri was sentenced to juvenile detention. He’ll be eligible for release when he’s 21.
All these cases illustrate the disconnect that exists between progressives’ perception of the criminal justice system as unfairly punitive and how that system works in practice. Yet with political momentum currently in favor of leniency and decarceration, more repeat offenders will likely walk free on the streets of American cities.
The risks associated with that problem aren’t evenly distributed. They tend to fall on those living in communities where high crime rates are a fact of life. But by the nature of the work they do, those risks are also disproportionately borne by our cops.
Coupled with the growing antagonism toward police, these exacerbations of the risks inherent in policing at least partly explain why law enforcement departments are struggling to fill vacancies. Anti-police activists may cheer, but a policing shortage won’t bode well for those living in America’s most vulnerable communities, or those left to police them ‐ the primary victims of the system’s failure to incapacitate dangerous offenders.
Related:
Robert Williams: 2020-02-11 A major New York police union declares open war on Mayor de Blasio
Robert Williams: 2020-02-10 Top NYPD cop warns officers not to wear their uniforms in public for their own safety following assassination attempts on police as suspect is pictured handcuffed to hospital bed
Robert Williams: 2020-02-10 Gunman ambushes NYC police twice in 12 hours, spawns outrage
Robert Williams: 2020-02-11 A major New York police union declares open war on Mayor de Blasio
Robert Williams: 2020-02-10 Top NYPD cop warns officers not to wear their uniforms in public for their own safety following assassination attempts on police as suspect is pictured handcuffed to hospital bed
Robert Williams: 2020-02-10 Gunman ambushes NYC police twice in 12 hours, spawns outrage