NYPD (New York Police Department) veteran Wilbur Chapman has claimed that "no consequences" is causing an issue of "repeated behaviour" in the US.
He joined Patrick Christys on GBN America to discuss rising crime in New York, warning there is “a lot more violence” on the streets of the Big Apple.
Explaining the change Chapman said: "There was a change in state law in terms of bail reform, on one hand, and getting rid of immunity for police officers. So police officers took action and it wasn't deemed appropriate.
"They wouldn't be indemnified. So that caused some hesitancy. But on the other side, in order to overcompensate for what the local legislators thought was an unfair bail policy and incarceration policy, they erring on the side of being much too lenient.
Wilbur Chapman warned that "repeated behaviour" could come
GBN America
"Unless someone commits a heinous crime, a very vicious crime, violent crime, they can't be held without bail or high bail set.
"So all of these property crimes is the ones that I articulated before those breaking into stores and looting, doing other things, their property crimes.
"As a result, these people who commit these crimes are being released on their recognizance and they're coming back and becoming recidivists.
"So you have a small segment of the population that are repeat offenders, but nothing is being done to them. As anybody who knows in law enforcement, if there are no consequences, you will have repeated behavior.
This comes after a FBI director warned of a 'wide array of threats at US border'
GETTYHe added: "These recidivists are not only causing havoc on the merchants in the city of New York, they're creating a problem with people in general, feeling that if they are attacked or accosted in any way, there is there's no recourse through the legal system.
"The legislature has to go back and fairly revise this. So that someone who was arrested for stealing a bag of potato chips isn't put away for four years pending trial. But by the same token, someone who commits a crime seven, eight, nine times has a proclivity for lawless behavior.
"They certainly should be held on either high bail or remanded without the possibility of being released until trial."
Asked about some of the issues that has contributed to the crime wave, Chapman told GBN America that New York’s sanctuary city status has left the city “ill-prepared” to deal with a swathe of migrants.
He slammed the shelter system in New York as an "absolute disaster"
GBN America
“New York has always been a sanctuary city, but has never been called upon to activate it”, he said.
“As a result, when the migrant situation developed and people from the southern border came up, the city was ill prepared to process people and care for them. In addition, we’ve had an ongoing problem for the last 30 years.
“The shelter system in New York has been an absolute disaster. Homeless people and those with mental issues had no place to go after the state institutions were closed in the late 70s, early 80s.
“These people would prefer to be on the train and on the street than be in the homeless shelter system because it doesn’t support their needs and they don’t feel safe.
“The city has failed in that regard for years, and now it’s showing itself in the manifestation of crime."