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Komatireddy blasts NY AG on crime surge, arts spending
She highlighted the rise in crime, doubled hate crimes, and questioned US $3 million in taxpayer grants to art groups.
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Anushka Pathak - Thu, 26, Mar 2026
- 14:58 EDT
- 25
Saritha Komatireddy / X (Saritha Komatireddy)
Saritha Komatireddy, who is running for the post of New York Attorney General, on March 26 sharply criticized incumbent Letitia James, pointing to rising crime statistics and misplaced spending priorities.
Reacting to James’ decision to seek another term, Komatireddy on X pointed out that under James’ tenure as attorney general, crime has increased 26 percent across New York state.
“New York needs a prosecutor in charge who is focused on public safety. If New York isn’t safe, nothing else matters,” she wrote.
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Attributing the rise in crime rate to the incumbent’s refusal to enforce the law, Komatireddy claimed that streets were less safe and leading to a mass exodus of residents, resulting in fewer people but more crime.
In another post, Komatireddy addressed trends in violent crime. She credited the New York Police Department with reducing murders and shootings but noted that stabbings and slashings are rising.
She explained that police are successfully taking guns off the streets, yet without prosecutorial follow-through to hold dangerous people accountable and keep them incarcerated, offenders return to the community and shift to other crimes.
“We have phenomenal police officers, but when you don’t have follow-through from prosecutors holding criminals accountable, those people go back onto the streets and commit different crimes,” she wrote.
Reacting to the announcement of US $3 million in grants from James’ office to two organizations providing arts and cultural programs, Komatireddy questioned the spending amid broader fiscal pressures on New Yorkers. She noted that residents are already facing high taxes with new ones proposed regularly by mayors and the governor in Albany.
Amid the climbing crime rate, she asked why the funds were not instead used to hire additional criminal prosecutors. Komatireddy expressed hope that the attorney general would prioritize the safety of New Yorkers but described the grants as another example of misplaced priorities.
“US $3 million for arts grants. Meanwhile, New Yorkers are paying more, getting less, and watching crime go unpunished,” she wrote. “We need an AG focused on public safety, not press releases.”
Komatireddy framed the upcoming election as a clear choice, stating, “A choice between competence and politicization, between the broken status quo and a new direction on public safety, and between a career politician and a career prosecutor who has locked up the worst of the worst.”
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