Arresting illegal squatters.

0:00 Speaker 1 Well, today is a Staten Island Day and with us today is Mike McMahon, the District Attorney of Staten Island, who has worked very very hard bipartisan by with all the people Democrats Republicans on Staten Island to make Staten Island the safer place to be. D A. McMahon tell us what the heck is going on?

0:23 Speaker 2 Well, John, thanks so much for having us, and you’re right, Staten Island we want to keep it a safe place to be, in fact with by father, safe oft Borrow, as you know, in the safest community of five hundred thousand people in our country. But we have a lot of work to do. And first of all, today’s National

0:39 Fentanyl Awareness Day, and we want to remind everyone that fentanyl is a very dangerous drug and overdoses continue to plague us and please be mindful that one pill can kill and just don’t you can’t even experiment anymore because fentanyls out there. We’re also working very hard to clean up these terrible smoke shops, these vape stores that sprouted

1:03 up in our community, like you know, poisonous mushrooms in a forest after a rain, because all been ilegalized without setting up a regulatory framework. Now we just got in the budget new language that base that allows the police department deputize from the Sheriff’s department working with my men and women to put padlocks on these stores. So we’ve

1:24 already closed down five and we’re going to keep doing it until we rid our communities of these problems. And we’re also happy that in the budget they got rid of the terrible language John if you can believe this, that gave squatters the rights of tenants and under that law we couldn’t evict people if they squatted for thirty

1:44 days or more. That law was changed, and now we’ve started to clear our properties where tenants have moved in. These are predators who try to steal the American dream from people, and we’re working on that problem as well.

1:58 So we’ve got that going on. Our overall crime rates are down, but we still have a lot of work to do. And thank god for great men and women in the police department. Our cops are detectives. We have a great borough commander out here, Joe Glatta, and we’re working hard together to keep Staton on Older safe easy.

2:15 Speaker 1 Did the budget did the new rules go far enough? To allow to get some may repeat criminals off the streets.

2:25 Speaker 2 No, you know, listen, No it didn’t. They didn’t really do much for bail reform as we call it this time around. They didn’t do much for discovery reform, which is sounds a little bit mundane, but it’s actually a reason that a lot of the low level criminals are getting back out because the burdens of gathering and exchanging

2:47 material are so great that cases are either being dismissed or not prosecuted. Of course, not in Staten Island, but in other areas because their workloads are, you know, honestly greater than ours. Lot more has to be done there.

3:02 I recently became the president of the New York State District Attorneys Association, so I was just stopping Albany on Tuesday and Wednesday trying to bring that message to our state legislators and the Governor’s office. And we will continue to do.

3:18 Speaker 1 That, understand, because we don’t want the exodus to continue out of New York City. I mean, I want New York to thrive. I want stat Island to thrive. I want New York State to thrive. And I’m concerned, and it’s just the judges have to be given more power to do the right job.

3:41 Speaker 2 Well, listen, you know that’s true. I will also say, unfortunately, there are some judges who by misinterpreting the law or following the you know, the so called quote unquote progressive winds of change that they think are blowing out there or sometimes not making the right decision. We advocate strongly, but we’ve seen some cases be dismissed by judges because

4:10 one little piece of paper evidence that had no relevance or materiality on a case was not turned over because we didn’t know it existed, and they dismissed the case. The criminal walks free, the victim has no recourse in worst case scenario, doesn’t even have an order of protection.

4:25 So we need to you know, New Yorkers continue need to continue to make the message strong to our elected officials, to our judges that we want a fair town, but we also want a safetown. And if they don’t get it, you’re right that exodus will continue. How many of my friends you know have now as they retire or moving

4:50 out of this town as fast as they can. And that’s unfortunate, right because we lose financially. But we also lose from the quality of people. People who have grown up here, They know this town, they love this town, but they feel like they have to leave because they’re not safe. So here instead, all we continue to fight

5:07 for safety, and well, we’ll do it with our last breath.

5:11 Speaker 1 I agree one percent. We got thirty seconds left. What else you want to tell all New Yorkers?

5:17 Speaker 2 I want to tell all New Yorkers that they need to speak up and communicate with their elected officials. They need to vote. Unfortunately, these elected officials think that the ten or fifteen percent that they hear from are the majority.

5:33 And until they hear from the majority, they’re going to continue to not be responsive in Aubany and in city Hall and pass these crazy laws. Are not fixed the mess that they created. So please use your voice, use your emails, make sure you register, make sure you vote.

5:50 Because the majority, we are the sign of majority, and we’re not being heard. We need to raise our voices and that’s how we’ll keep our cities safe and prosperous.

5:58 Speaker 1 Thank you, John, and thank you for a common sense person. And UH Staten Island District Attorney Mike McMahon and UH look forward to seeing you soon.

6:07 Speaker 2 Thanks John. Happy Mother’s Day to missus Katsu Matides, Thank you so much.