The New York Police Department (NYPD) does not support diversion programs for violent and gun crimes. The NYPD believes they create a threat to public safety. 119 Specifically, they cite the fatal...

The New York Police Department (NYPD) does not support diversion programs for violent and gun crimes. The NYPD believes they create a threat to public safety.¹¹⁹
Specifically, they cite the fatal shooting of NYPD Officer Randol Holder on October 20, 2015, by Tyrone Howard. Earlier that year Howard, who had previous convictions, was granted diversion into a drug-treatment program. NYPD officials called diversion for gun offenses “a failure of the criminal justice system and an impediment to crime-fighting efforts.”¹²⁰
When diversion programs were initiated, prosecutors met with police detectives to weigh whether a candidate was too risky for diversion. However, by 2014, NYPD’s opposition to diversion programs reached the point that they opposed all diversions for gun crimes and the two ceased meeting. In opposition to the District Attorney’s diversion programs, NYPD officers have taken to filing firearms cases with the federal court whenever possible to obtain tougher sentences. Also, NYPD officers track persons released on diversion.¹²¹
Brooklyn district attorney Ken Thompson defended diversion programs saying, “If folks think that putting every young person we catch in a gang in prison is going to result in them coming out living law-abiding lives, that’s not realistic. It is not.”¹²²
What is an acceptable level of risk for leniency for offenders?