The Republican candidate for Suffolk County district attorney is calling for more aggressive prosecution of gun violence following a rise in shootings compared to last year during the pandemic.
Overall crime in Suffolk is down 5%. Violent crime is about the same and murders are about 20% higher compared to 2020, which was an unusually low crime year during the pandemic. Compared to 2019, shootings and murders are about the same. Still, Ray Tierney, the Republican running to unseat Democratic County District Attorney Tim Sini, said gun related charges should be prosecuted more aggressively.
“You marry the violence to the conspiracies and the substantive counts are what gives people substantial sentences, and that’s not happening now,” Tierney said.
Newsday reports that shootings rose by 22% this year, according to Suffolk Police data. However, according to statistics collected by the state Division of Criminal Justice, 2020 was an unusual year where gun-related crimes fell by 33%.