Civil rights activist Rev Al Sharpton says defunding the New York Police Department is something a 'latte Liberal' in the Hamptons might support but that proper policing on the ground is necessary.
Sharpton made the comments during an appearance on MSNBC's Morning Joe on Tuesday amid a wave of rising crime in New York City and a gun violence filled Labor Day weekend.
He pushed back at recent calls to defund the NYPD and other police departments across the country, saying that policing needed to be re-imagined instead.
'To take all policing off is something I think a latte liberal may go for as they sit around the Hamptons discussing this as some academic problem,' he said.
Al Sharpton made the comments during an appearance on MSNBC's Morning Joe on Tuesday amid a wave of rising crime in New York City and a gun violence filled Labor Day weekend
'People living on the ground need proper policing.
'Yes, we need more resources in different areas like mental health but we do not need our grandmothers (to be) prey to those that are being the users of products of the big gun manufacturers in this country.'
Sharpton also addressed the rising crime rates in his native NYC.
The NYPD has reported that shootings were up 166 percent in August compared to the same time last year.
'We've always heard about the tale of two cities. On the side of the city that I come from, which is blacker and poorer, we've seen more in terms of gun usage,' Sharpton said.
'I got a lot of attention when I did the eulogy for George Floyd's funeral, but I also, a month later, preached (at) a one-year-old kid's funeral in Brooklyn who was killed by a stray bullet,' Sharpton said.
'Six people were shot over Labor Day weekend at a festival in Brooklyn, so I would say statistically we're not much higher than where we were, but on the ground it is certainly feeling more violent, feeling more unsafe in unsafe communities.'
He pushed back at recent calls to defund the NYPD and other police departments across the country, saying that policing needed to be re-imagined instead
The New York Police Department released surveillance footage of a gun fight the took place inside an apartment building lobby on August 25
One man (right) can be seen holding a firearm as people scramble out of the way when someone opens fire
New York City saw a concerning spike in shootings over Labor Day Weekend, with at least 10 people shot as the surge in gun violence continues.
In one instance, a 62-year-old Brooklyn resident was shot dead on Monday morning while walking his dogs near his home.
Just two hours before that, a six-year-old boy and his mother were among three others who were shot during a festival in the same borough.
Meanwhile, surveillance footage from the NYPD showed a shootout on August 25 inside the lobby of Marlboro Houses in the Gravesend neighborhood.
A group of unidentified men are seen standing inside an apartment building lobby and appear to be looking towards something outside. One man, who brandishes a gun in his right hand, walks further into the lobby before raising the firearm towards the door.
It isn't clear who opened fire first but the group of men suddenly scrambles out of the way. A different man runs into the lobby and appears to fire a round out of the open door.
The boy is seen lying on the pavement in a pool of his own blood as a woman, identified as his mother, rushes over and tries to pick him up
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