Ret. NYPD Detective: NYC Installing ‘Panic Buttons’ at Bodegas Is Taking the Eye Off the Real Problem of Criminals Running the Streets

EXCERPT:

MAHER: "Yeah, exactly. Any positive counter measures to law enforcement and policing to help protect the citizens of New York is good. Anything that’s going to be a proactive approach. However, I have my reservations about this whole thing that maybe it’s a pacifier to the public to take the eye off the real problem, is what’s going on."
SHIMKUS: "And what would that real problem be? It would be the criminals on the streets that keep on terrorizing these bodega workers."
MAHER: "Correct. The city, crime is up through the roof. There’s people out there running the streets who have no reservations of doing bad things to good people. They’re not worried about consequences. They’re not worried about repercussions. We have district attorney’s office, like Alvin Braggs, who refuse to prosecute people and filing charges. So what’s to really stop these people from going out there and committing crimes? 500 bodegas being placed with these panic buttons, it's also a drop in the hat to the number of business, small and large, commercial businesses that are run, that serve the communities. I mean, it’s really go to be a shot in the dark to actually catch somebody."