I once witnessed a guy jump off his bike, beat the snot out of a tourist couple, get back on his bike and cycle off. I took a very clear photo of him as he rode away. Went back to the scene a little later and found a couple of cops questioning the couple. They were attempting to describe him. So I waited for a quiet moment and said, very respectfully, "excuse me sir? Can I have a quick word? I have a photo of the perp." He snapped at me "Not interested. Mind your business." The look on the faces of the tourists was incredible.
This morning, as it happens, I was downtown testifying in front of a grand jury. Last week, from my window, I witnessed a guy beat another guy half to death with a wooden chair. He's now in hospital, paralyzed on one half of his body. The perp is part of a group of scumbags who hang out under some scaffold that's around an empty building across the street. They have been terrorizing the block for over 3 years - constant fights and constant shouting. They urinate in the street, yell at and threaten passers by and generally menace all and sundry. I have complained to the cops dozens of times and they tell me that unless they witness something themselves, they can't make an arrest. So this morning in the DA's office they showed me a very clear video of the assault. Turns out there has always been a camera under this scaffold and it gets everything. And yet the cops have never done anything about it. The DA told me that over the last couple of years, the NYPD has been rendered a spent force by the plague of political correctness (De Blasio, naturally!) which deems it "wrong" to arrest people of disadvantaged or "marginalized" backgrounds. So basically the scum is running riot again. Gone are the days when the police actually understood their role in society.