Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark is dropping the ball, the city’s top cop said Tuesday.
NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said the northernmost borough is lagging way behind on cracking down on crime, calling Clark’s turf “the absolute best place” In the Big Apple to steal a car.
“And speaking of no consequences,” Tisch said, “if you’re interested in stealing a car, the absolute best place to do it is in the Bronx. Why? Because chances are good that you’ll only be charged with misdemeanor criminal possession of stolen property and sent on your way.
“Auto theft is a felony – so it needs to be charged as a felony,” she said at the Citizens Crime Commission of New York City breakfast forum in Midtown on Tuesday morning. “And when you don’t charge appropriately … you end up leading the city in stolen cars by a wide margin.”
Car thefts were down 12% in the city in the first quarter of the years — but the Bronx is bucking the trend with a 3.6% bump in stolen vehicles, according to Tisch.
The NYPD crime stats referenced by the commissioner were not immediately available for review.
The comments came in the wake of Tisch’s new attack on quality of life crimes, part of a plan to dedicate 2,000 cops citywide to crack down on the most frequent 311 complaints from New Yorkers.
The initiative launched at six city precincts last week and is due to expand in the coming months.
“I am channeling the voice of virtually every NYPD cop and everyday New Yorker when I say: Enough is enough,” Tisch said. “New York State laws, New York City laws, and internal prosecutorial policies have handcuffed the police, exposed them to untenable risk, and allowed criminals to prey on victims again and again and again.
“But the good news is, much of this is supremely solvable. It’s just a matter of getting it done.”
Clark has been a frequent target of critics who contend the prosecutor is lax on crime.
Data from the state Division of Criminal Justice Services in 2023 showed that Clark’s office had the worst conviction and dismissal rates in nearly every major crime category in New York City over the past half-decade, The Post reported at the time.
In a statement Tuesday, the Bronx DA’s office responded to Tisch’s comments by saying that “there is a difference between what the police charge at arrest and what we can prove in court.
“Charging decisions are made with the utmost integrity and we do not charge unless we have the evidence,” the statement said. “Given that the Bronx is a hub for the sale of cars stolen from other jurisdictions, we will continue our stepped-up efforts to address auto crimes and hold people accountable for them.”
The statement also said that the DA’s office has a “productive partnership” with the NYPD Auto Crime unit to address auto thefts that is focused on “long-term investigations and auto theft crews.
“This approach allows us to interrupt the patterns of these crimes and prosecute vigorously.”
