Cecil Richards, 55, was arrested on Friday in connection with a series of Manhattan robberies, including two in Central Park.
In separate robberies in April and May, Richards allegedly stole a total of $38 — in one, he simulated having a gun. Richards has been arrested for robbery more than a dozen times, according to the Daily News.
Another mugging was reported late Friday.
“The latest victim was nearing the Conservatory Gardens off E. 105th St. at 10:30 p.m. when one of the robbers put him in a headlock, police sources said. The second man punched him in the face before they ran off with an undisclosed amount of cash.”
As of the end of May, nine robberies had been recorded in the park, versus five over the same period a year ago. In total 23 major crimes have been committed this year, versus 20 through the same period last year, according to police stats.
Photo by John Schrom.
30 arrests and still prowling the streets. Yay liberals! You guys rock.
Yep…..Certainly seems like crimes, (by a certain demographic against another demographic) is on the up-swing. Yet there will be craven deniers…..well, in denial.
And summer is only just beginning.
Can anyone telll me how someone who has been arrested for robbery 12 times is still walking our streets?
Left wing politicians claims that “Low level” crimes like drugs and theft only serve to overcrowd the prisons. I’d rather the prisons be overcrowded with criminals than our neighborhoods!
Do you not make a critical distinction between drugs and theft?
One who commits theft clearly victimizes others.
One who ingests substances that do not enjoy the blessings of the law often only victimizes themselves at most. (Relatively, that is, for no man is an island.)
Alcohol is a deadly drug that is not only accepted legally as well as socially but very much promoted and glamorized. Are you aware that at least as many lives are destroyed by alcohol (not only of those who consume it but of those who are affected by them) than by any illegal drug?
Does it really make sense to spend limited public funds and manpower on something as relatively innocuous as marijuana use and possession?
I do not condone the use of any recreational drug. But I do seriously question the priorities and overall effects of at least much of what has been the established policy in this area for many years.
Well put. I couldn’t agree with you more!!!
Can you say liberal PC BS
Or wastes of taxpayer $$$ like the Manhattan community court, that release these folks
or the city hall-city council pushed don’t charge people with the highest charge when they are repeat offenders.
or the move to make things like this only a violation in certain cases
or the idea that the family court jurisdiction age should be raised. I.E. you can commit a crime and only get a slap on the wrist by family court as a “misunderstood youth”, no matter how many people you mug, assault etc. And your records would also be sealed.
Pls bring back stop and frisk and aggressive policing asap. Its going to be a long hot summer of crime.
I agree with your first paragraph. There should be ever-increasing penalties for repeat offenders. Obviously this guy shouldn’t be free.
But why do you feel it’s okay to violate the constitutional civil rights of minorities? Have you ever been stopped by police because of the color of your skin? Why do you think that is okay?
Bingo Robert. You nailed it.
Maybe someone stole his Mercedes??
Great response!
I hadn’t thought of that. See? Even the criminals aren’t safe!
Any jerk that would rob a 16-year-old kid was sitting on a bench for $18 should be put away for a long time. What a despicable and sorry excuse for a man. Hopefully with his latest crime wave of his being a parole violation, he will be off the streets for a while (I am dreamer, I know).
Off Duty claims to be retired NYPD, with some connection to the UWS. If anyone else is concerned about the virulent racism, sexism and general lunacy that may be tolerated by our law enforcement agencies, It might be helpful to show up at the local precinct’s community affairs meeting to voice the concern.
@Demented. Misguided. Hater. (DMH)…..OK pal……….SHOW ME where I ever claimed to be “retired NYPD” on these boards.
You can’t. And do you know why? It’s because a nincompoop like you only sees what it wants to see. Teachable moment here for you. Go ahead. Trace back all the postings here, and see if I ever claimed to be NYPD, retired or whatever.
And as you twist in this revelation, consider that I also do not deny or admit that I was ever part of that honorable agency.
Like that equally lacking individual who posts as “dirk”, (perhaps your other personality?), you are quick to assume….and slow in so many other ways.
Off Duty, here are those links. I’m copy-pasting some of your comments. No need to worry about anyone reporting you! Plenty of journalists read the comments on this board.
Robert who is hankering for stop-and-frisk and ‘aggressive policing’ has also said he’s got close inside relationships with NYPD.
https://www.westsiderag.com/2015/05/10/two-weekend-attacks-reported-in-central-park#comment-267068
https://www.westsiderag.com/2015/05/10/two-weekend-attacks-reported-in-central-park#comment-267094
” Off Duty says:
May 11, 2015 at 8:06 am
Want it straight? In the last ten years, the quality of new recruits into the NYPD has been so significantly diminished through affirmative hiring programs, (along with the exiting of experienced and better vetted officers), that you will soon see a resurgence in crimes that no ComStat fudging can be able to hide. In other words, the inability of today’s officers to keep your butts safe in the near future is about to fall on your heads.
You wanted more physically incapable women on the force, along with lowered background standards, and agenda driven individuals, (homosexuals, foreign borns and “multiculturalism”), and you thought this was gonna turn out OK?
The only thing that was keeping the lid on the garbage can was the pressure from “broken windows” and “stop and frisk”. Today’s uniformed spend half their time in patrol cars and “making tickets”. “Street crime” details are demoralized by a mayor who sees them as the enemy. The “bosses” are more concerned with “political correctness” and fudging the numbers than they are with actual enforcement. Most officers are just trying to “get over”, get their twenty and get out.
And here comes summer. ”
” Off Duty says:
May 11, 2015 at 12:08 pm
News Flash for “DMH” and “brucie”.
…..
And you two want to report me? Too late. I’m on the pension, protected and out of your range. I’m giving you the unvarnished truth as many others still on the job wish they could say, but the two of you wouldn’t know a gift when handed to you.
Revel in your cognitive dissonance. “
@DMH….Blind as a bat…..and without the radar. That’s OK. You haven’t disappointed me. Your confusion is as muddled as your intent. I wish I could give you a clue, but then that wouldn’t be any fun.
You’ll NEVER see…..until it’s too late.
Why didn’t you respond to what DMH actually wrote? You said you were an ex-cop on pension, then you said you weren’t. Which is it?
He’s not retired NYPD. He’s a cowardly troll who lives in the deep south Bible-belt and gets his kicks from agitating people. He respects the NYPD and likes to feel like he deserves the admiration they get so he pretends to be one. He’s heard the UWS is a liberal haven so he comes to this site to spew venom and get off. His only weapons are name-calling and internet anonymity. He lives in a dark place and should be pitied more than anything.
And you know this about “Off Duty” how? Are you privy to some information the rest of us aren’t? Or perhaps you claim some powers of extra-sensory perception?
1.) I’ve also suspected “Off Duty” of being a troll but not, apparently, in the way that you and others here seem to. I suspected OD of being a persona created by someone with views, such as yours apparently are, on the opposite side of the ones expressed here by OD, in order to satirize and discredit such views.
2.) Let me get this straight: You are lambasting OD for expressing, among other things, what you consider to be pejorative, ugly stereotypes and generalizations of certain groups…At the very same time that you yourself make pejorative, ugly stereotypes and generalizations about other groups. In this case, an entire geographic area and the conservative, traditionalist Christians (G-d bless them) that predominately populate it.
Speaking of “spew[ing] venom”, did you have any problem when, for example, someone on this very site called a former mayor of the City of New York a “prick bastard” ( https://www.westsiderag.com/2015/02/19/13-year-old-ringleader-arrested-for-recent-uws-muggings#comment-262652 ) ?
That post and the lack of any response to it is but one of many examples that long ago lead me to conclude that most people who complain about “venom”, “vitriol” ,”hate”, etc. in the comments on this site are completely selective in such objections, reserving them only for those cases where the subjects of attack (or perceived attack) are ones they are sympathetic toward. Seems that it all boils down to whose ox is being gored.
(In addition to what I pointed-out just above,) What is calling someone, “a cowardly troll who lives in the deep south Bible-belt”, if not “name-calling”?
As for “internet anonymity”, perhaps you forgot that you were posting anonymously yourself? (Or are people somehow supposed to know who you actually are just from the name “dirk”?) (NOTE: It is true that until recently, I posted anonymously myself. But unlike our good friend dirk here, I never criticized anyone else here for “hiding behind internet anonymity”.)
When you get a chance, you might want to look-up the words “irony” and “hypocrisy”.
That is rather sporting of you. I’m not so sure, however, that I would be as generous toward you and your fellow OD-bashers.
Off Duty is a troll, but I don’t know if Off Duty is lying or not. It’s a felony to impersonate a police officer. I suspect NYPD knows perfectly well who this person is.
Some of the allegations indicate a hostile workplace on the basis of race and gender. That would be in violation of New York state law. Politicians from the governor on down would not stand for the homophobia in a public agency. I’m sure NYPD knows this too.
My concern is the level of trust we can have in the officers who are out on our streets and trusted to carry guns. Think about your reaction if Off Duty’s comments came from someone who claimed to speak for the teachers at your kid’s school.
@dork …..You are a very sick person, with a penchant for absurdity and hyperbole. But then again, like so many of your misguided ilk her on these boards, you live in your miserable little perverse universe unable to see that most people are laughing at you.
troll: noun:
One who posts a deliberately provocative message to a newsgroup or message board with the intention of causing maximum disruption and argument.
Sound like anyone you know? Let me refresh your memory with the following chestnut. Ask yourself, does this sound like a reasonable response to an article about a woman falling in the subway? Or does it sound like the ravings of a lunatic? Be honest now!
Off Duty says:
“We should be seeing more and more suicides and attempts as obola’s economy goes further and further into the pit of depression, and as people’s worlds fall apart economically and socially. All the great liberal experiments are about to dissolve.
You’ve aborted your babies, so who is gonna look after you in your old age?
You’ve “liberated” yourselves into divorce, homosexuality and “feminism”, so loneliness will now be your reward.
You’ve allowed corrupt politicians to export your economy, inflate the currency, destroy your Constitution and leave open the borders so illegal aliens can come pouring in and TAKE the fruits of your labors.
You’ve “dumbed-down” your school systems so much that companies have to look overseas for qualified employees.
So who could be better than mayor de buffoonio in charge right now?”
-classic. Off Duty just “shakin things up”!!! Keep up the good work, good ole boy!
I agree, these crimes are exaggerated because people see more graffiti/homeless and need something more of substance to have against the mayor because they feel quality of life crimes aren’t taken seriously enough for them. I don’t see more crime, I just see more alarmist reporting when the real issues, like the murder of Eric Garner, go on ignored.
“In total 23 major crimes have been committed this year, versus 20 through the same period last year, according to police stats.”
So we know we have one perp responsible for at least two and maybe more of the criminal acts that have been reported. This, in the minds of the nervous righteous constitutes a crime wave and an indictment of the utterly imaginary liberal position that holds exactly what?
That there are no bad actors?
That bad actors shouldn’t be arrested?
That if guilty they should be excused because they have had hard lives?
Really?
Nervous righteous is a nice way of saying it.
Really, it just confirms the prejudices of those nervous righteous loud few. An increase in crime must mean an increase in bad people. And bad people arent white. They arent real upper westsiders. They are minority. They are lower in income. They look and sound different and eat at different restaurants.
Stop and frisk, aggressive policing, those are OK because they dont affect the nervous righteous. Those are for the bad people. And bad people arent rich or white. And if it means more bad people get arrested and have their life ruined, even if they are innocent, it doesnt matter. Because it makes the nervous righteous feel “safer”.
very eloquent… both Debbie D (again!) and Robert Goodman.
I plan on using the term “Nervous Righteous.” thank you.
That this guy is a menace is not a liberal or conservative issue. We all want him off the streets. Unfortunately, the punishment for mugging someone is not a life sentence without the possibility of parole. I don’t know how you get rid of guys like this but the laws don’t banish them forever.
Also, stopping and frisking an unarmed potential criminal will yield nothing and would not have stopped someone like this guy.
Agree with what you said. Righties love to paint this as “bleeding-heart liberals want criminals set free.” Meanwhile, our prison system is filled to capacity with more than half in for non-violent crime due to mandatory sentencing from the conservative “war on drugs.”
My first thought when I read he had 12 priors is that what’s needed is ever-increasing penalties. 5 years for first offense, 10 years for second, 20 years for third, and so on. He wouldn’t be on the street today if that were the case. Some people show that they cannot be reformed.
Oh you liberal bashers. How you must miss the NY Post’s comment section. I almost feel honored to have you here in our little neighborhood blog, if it wasn’t for the idiocy and racism.
@ “Ura Dick” [sic]:
Next time, before you call others out on “idiocy” and (implicitly, at least, by mentioning the NY Post) lowbrow comments, you might want to take a look at what you entered in “Name:” field of your own post…
I really don’t know what all of you are talking about. Today, and for the past two weeks at least, City Hall has said that there is NO increase in crime…the numbers are inflated due to gang activity…nothing else.
Listen guys, If the government says it ain’t so…it ain’t so. Right???
Tsk. Tsk…..Madelleine……Why are you tasking the leftie-loons here with logic and awkward questions?
Can’t you just hear their heads exploding right now?
Hey Everyone,
Lets say I’m in Central Park and I get mad and punch my girlfriend in the face and take her wallet. Now is that the fault of the liberals? The conservatives? The mayor? Or MAYBE just MAYBE it’s my fault.
And even if I am arrested the truth of our “Justice System” is that almost everyone is given a plea deal as the courts are overwhelmed. Very few cases ever go before a jury and even then the DA knows it’s a coin toss. Only one juror needs to vote Not Guilty for you to walk.
So it’s not liberals or conservatives it’s just reality. Which is why it’s important that we don’t flood the criminal courts with minor infractions.
ok, fair enough, but I let’s not forget that the criminal justice system is not “even steven.” there are 1,000 or more people sitting in Rikers right now because they can’t make $1,000 bail. many are innocent (they’ve never been convicted… just charged) and many more are there for very minor offenses. and the vast majority of them are Black and Hispanic.
saying this does not make me a “bleeding heart”. it just means i’m aware of the disparities of the criminal justice system.
So the system is designed to screw over minorities, says Bruce. And yet here we have a black man with 30 arrests (12 for violent felonies) who’s walking free among us and committing more crimes. I guess that bit of irony went right over your head.
are you saying there are no racial disparities, especially towards Blacks and Hispanics, in the criminal justice system? seriously?
REQUISITE DISCLAIMER: Harboring ill-will toward– and certainly mistreating– /anyone/ just because of the complexion of their skin or where they happened to have been born is morally reprehensible and just plain foolish. This should go without saying but, unfortunately, is necessary to state expressly when daring to address racial matters honestly.
No, just a hypocrite. See below.
You selectively acknowledge such disparities, those that serve your political, cultural and economic agenda, while conveniently ignoring, denying, glossing-over or downplaying those that do not. (Oh, that’s right, I forgot, only those with views that are opposite yours can have any such agendas. You and your compatriots are motivated only by pure altruism. Sorry for that lapse on my part.)
Racial disparities that you can use to advance the narrative of your favored minorities as perpetual victims of oppressive white racism and privilege, colonialism, imperialism, etc., you are quick to cite. Other statistical racial disparities, however, such as the overwhelming ones in the area of violent crimes, you deny, dismiss, gloss-over, belittle or minimize.
(An example can be found at:
https://www.westsiderag.com/2014/11/26/ferguson-protesters-shut-down-west-side-highway#comment-256107
If what you claimed there were true, then you should have no problem naming a corresponding number of overwhelmingly White or Asian neighborhoods with violent crime rates that are comparable to those of Brownsville, East New York, Bedford Stuyvesant, Newark, East St. Louis and South Central Los Angeles, to name a few. If economics alone were the overwhelming factor in the notoriously high violent crimes in each of the neighborhoods I just named, then one would find similar rates of violent crime in the most economically depressed white areas, such as those in Appalachia.)
And, of course, you attack anyone who dares to cite such incontrovertible statistical discrepancies as “racist”.
Now, having said all that I have above, I will also note that I have long been inclined to think that there may be at least some merit in some of the arguments such as the one that Bruce Bernstein made in the very post I am responding to here.
To quote BB from the beginning of his post,
Let’s take the example of drug offenses, an area which has long troubled me. I may be missing part of the picture or have certain facts distorted but the following is the impression I have. White and Asian youths are many times less likely than their black and Latino/Hispanic counterparts to be apprehended on drug offenses. Is this because drug use and possession among the former is that much lesser than that among the latter? I tend to doubt that. Aren’t drugs pretty rampant within predominately white and Asian college campuses and high schools? Does not the overwhelming difference lie in some combination of the following two factors?
One, that in the latter, such presence and usage is simply more clandestine, and two, that there is a far greater police presence in predominately black and Latino/Hispanic areas than there is in areas where white and Asian youths generally congregate to indulge or trade in illicit substances.
Now, of course, with reason number two, above, we come full circle: right back to the far greater rates of violent crime that plague black and Latino/Hispanic neighborhoods. Surely, that (whether BB and his ilk will acknowledge it or not) accounts far more for the greater police presence and enforcement in such areas than any “institutionalized racism” (whether real or otherwise) might. But does it make sense to arrest and incarcerate people, especially youths, for nothing more than the use or possession of recreational drugs? Might this not, in many cases, actually end-up creating violent criminals? Does it not often happen that a conviction for a minor drug crime can give a teenager a perverse incentive to pursue further, and often worse crime?
As I understand it, a conviction of any sort can greatly hinder one’s ability to achieve any form of gainful employment. And I believe that being in a prison can certainly have a corrupting and hardening effect on any youth, one that can cause him to pursue a life of crime. (I am not, for a moment, suggesting that prison is not an absolute necessity in the case of violent crime. But does prison for routine drug offenses, at least those involving nothing more than possession or consumption, really make sense? Does anyone really benefit in such cases, other than the various industries and lobbies that have an obvious vested interest here? And if the claims of a correlation between increased rates of incarceration and the increased privatization of our prison system are true, might there be more at play here than mere coincidence?
I do not purport to even begin to have the answers to these questions. I just know enough to be skeptical of all those who have various vested interests in the matter– whether they be the ideologically motivated ones of Bruce Bernstein and his ilk, the self-promotion of various political entities, the financial gain of various commercial interests, or anyone with any other interests that may be in conflict with what is in the overwhelming interest of the general public.
@ Noah….I would love to buy you a beer. You are definitely one of the best commentators here.
I hope that this perpetrator is punished and goes away for a long time. In addition, he should lose whatever welfare benefits that he is receiving from the paychecks of those who he has victimized.
Turns out the perpetrator lives in the 30th Street Men’s Shelter in Kips Bay. Apparently that shelter has been a den of villainy for quite some time.
Careful, 9d8b – the next thing you know, you’ll be branded an Anti-Shelterite!
why don’t you guys meet up after school and settle it with a fistfight? this site used to be fun.
Agreed. We’re going to close off the comment thread as it’s gone well beyond the initial topic, and remind readers of our commenting guidelines: https://www.westsiderag.com/2014/01/02/a-few-words-about-comments
WSR