NYPD officers line up outside Columbia University, Monday, April 29, 2024. (Rashid Umar Abbasi for Fox News Digital)
"The events of the last few days, especially last night, have made it clear that Columbia University’s Public Safety and the NYPD cannot guarantee Jewish students’ safety in the face of extreme antisemitism and anarchy," Rabbi Elie Buechler wrote. "It deeply pains me to say that I would strongly recommend you return home as soon as possible and remain home until the reality in and around campus has dramatically improved."
The situation did not dramatically improve. Instead, an encampment on campus dubbed the "Gaza Solidarity Encampment" grew and radicals overtook a building on campus, Hamilton Hall. The encampment and occupation of Hamilton Hall only ended when the NYPD stormed the campus, clearing the encampment and removing throngs of agitators from the building.
Between Columbia's and The City College of New York's campuses last week, police arrested 282 people and worked to dismantle illegal encampments. The NYPD revealed half of those arrested were outside agitators not affiliated with the universities.
Anti-Israel students lock arms, sing and chant as they braced for New York Police Department officers to raid campus after Columbia University President Minouche Shafik called on the NYPD to dismantle encampments and remove individuals from Hamilton Hall on Tuesday, April 30, 2024 in New York. (Seyma Bayram via AP)
The protests come after the NYPD saw historical losses of staffers leaving the force or retiring in recent years. In 2022, roughly 3,700 officers retired or quit — the largest figure recorded in the last 20 years, Fox News Digital previously reported.
Police leaving the NYPD has been an issue stretching back decades, with Mangual explaining that staffing levels sat around 40,000 members in the early 2000s, before falling to under 34,000.
"I think there's no question that resources are getting strained. The NYPD is certainly a beneficiary of its very, very high levels of staffing. But it's also important to remember that that high level of staffing has been pretty steadily decreasing for two decades now. I mean, I think of the year 2000, the department had about 40,000 officers, close to 41,000 at one point in the early aughts, and they're down to about 33,500," he said.
The staffing issue woes are illustrated by how response times for calls of service have increased in recent years, along with the number of actual calls for service skyrocketing, Mangual reported in a New York Post opinion piece in March.
Mangual compared NYPD response times in January 2018 to December 2023, finding response times for critical calls increased by 22% in December, "serious" calls for service response times increased by 45.5% and non-critical calls by 28.7%, sitting around 27 minutes or more for officers to respond.
A student protester parades a Palestinian flag outside the entrance to Hamilton Hall on the campus of Columbia University on Tuesday, April 30, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer, Pool)
New York City was among cities across the nation following 2020 that saw crimes increase, including murders increasing by nearly 47% in 2020 compared to 2019, burglaries increased by 43% that year, and grand larceny of vehicles by 66%.
Violent crimes such as murder have since fallen in the city, which Mangual celebrated, but noted that crime overall only ticked down 0.3% last year compared to 2022.
"Lots of people are sort of hyper focused on the homicide decline, the shooting decline" he told Fox News Digital. "And they should be, you know, those are important developments for sure. You know, I don't want to deemphasize that at all because I do think that that's an important sign of improvement. But if you look in 2023, for example, the year-end crime data for New York City showed that overall major crime, which are the seven major offenses that the NYPD tracks, was only down 0.3%. Despite those really sharp declines in homicides and shootings, and that's because car thefts, larcenies, burglaries, robberies, and non-shooting assaults are still very, very elevated."
Recently arrived migrants are pictured in the processing area at Port Authority Bus Terminal in Midtown Manhattan. (Luiz C. Ribeiro for NY Daily News via Getty Images)
The city is also juggling security surrounding the high-profile and unprecedented trial of former President Trump in Manhattan, where he faces 34 felony charges of falsifying business records. Trump has pleaded not guilty to the charges and slammed the case as a "scam" promoted by the Biden administration ahead of the 2024 election.
"They're very spread thin. And so, I think the real vulnerability is ... we won't be able to be very nimble, should something big happen."
The trial has resulted in mass media attention, while supporters and protesters have also gathered outside the courthouse. During the first week of the trial last month, a man set himself on fire outside the trial. He succumbed to his injuries shortly after.
Anti-Israel protesters continue to rally outside of Columbia University in New York City on Tuesday, April 30, 2024. (Rashid Umar Abbasi for Fox News Digital)
Mangual warned that though the NYPD can handle the events currently unfolding in the city, the Big Apple would be left vulnerable if a mass tragedy strikes or if riots similar to those in 2020 broke out.
"They're very spread thin. And so, I think the real vulnerability is ... we won't be able to be very nimble, should something big happen. Should there be another series of riots like in 2020. Should there be, God forbid, a terrorist attack," he said.
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The mayor’s office told Fox News Digital on Sunday that the NYPD has made clear they can handle the situations on campus, while still attending to the entire city’s needs without issue, which the office noted makes the force "the greatest police department in the world."
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