Recent knockout game attacks in Brooklyn is “one incident too many,” outgoing Police Commissioner Ray Kelly told AMI Magazine, in a wide range interview ahead of his departure from the NYPD after a 12 year tenure under outgoing mayor Mike Bloomberg.

The motive behind the recent dozen of attacks in Crown Heights, Borough Park and Flatbush is yet to be identified by the Police Department’s Hate Crime unite, but according to Kelly, “there may be some ethnic aspects to it.”

“It’s difficult for us to get a clear sense of exactly how much is going on,” Mr. Kelly told AMI Magazine editor Rabbi Yitzchok Frankfurter. “Lots of times there’s more to these incidents than meets the eye. There’s a reason for it, previous bad blood or something like that. There have also been cases of random strikes. But they are sort of mixed together.”

“Is there an ethnic or religious element to this? Sometimes. One incident is one too many, But that’s not to say it’s a significant trend,” he added.

While the NYPD has increased the amount of police officers in Crown Heights, according to Kelly, he further urged potential victims to come forward right away and report any alleged attack as it occurs.

“People have to come forward right away. There was one woman who was assaulted the first week of November and didn’t report it until the last week in November,” Mr. Kelly said. “We want a sense of what’s happening out there, and the only way to get that is for people to report incidents.

The full interview in print is available at all local newsstands.

(Jacob Kornbluh – YWN)