The ‘clearances paradox’: could less policing actually reduce gun violence in New York?

Eric Adams has set up controversial new units and is arresting more people for low-level offenses - but solving the most violent crimes instead could rebuild trust

Read Part 1: The bad old days: how policing in New York City turned back the clock

James Essig, the chief of detectives for the New York police department, stepped up to the podium to explain how the department had solved a crime.

Less than a week before, on 9 January 2022, just after midnight, 19-year-old Kristal Bayron Nieves had been shot to death in a botched robbery at an East Harlem Burger King where she had just gotten a job.