New York’s Election Year Anti-Crime Strategy Too Little, Too Late, Critics Say

NEW YORK—Facing a critical election year and constant evidence of the progressive rollback of tough-on-crime policies, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and other Democrat leaders are scrambling to counter the narrative that theirs is the party of lawlessness and disorder, some experts say. In doing so, whether they wanted to or not, these politicians and officials have taken steps toward a more traditional approach to law enforcement. Ms. Hochul’s abrupt deployment of 700 National Guard troops—along with additional New York State Police and Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) officers in the subways of the nation’s largest city—is one such example, in the view of Heather Mac Donald, a fellow at the Manhattan Institute think tank....