Chris Christie calls Bratton criticism on NYC safety ‘completely ridiculous’

For the second time in less than a week, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie criticized crime in New York City after NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton suggested the presidential candidate focus on his own state’s statistics.

Christie said he has respect for Bratton and his record under former Mayor Rudy Giuliani.

“Now Bill Bratton works for Bill de Blasio, and murders were up 9 percent this year and shootings are up 20 percent,” Christie said while on NBC’s “Meet the Press” Sunday morning.

“What’s the one variable in that? The Democrat, liberal policies of Bill de Blasio in New York City, which is making the city unsafe,” Christie added.

“It’s ironic that the only person who thinks it’s safer in New York City are guys who are walking around with armed guards all the time,” Christie said

De Blasio spokeswoman Karen Hinton tweeted the mayor’s response, and said that Christie should “attend to the deep needs of his own state, & heed advice from greatest crime fighter Bill Bratton.”

Last Thursday, Bratton told CNN that Christie “doesn’t know what the hell he’s talking about,” later suggesting that “when you have issues inside your own neighborhood that need fixing, fix those before you start criticizing things that are going on in another neighborhood.”

Christie began his attack on de Blasio’s crime record on MSNBC last Tuesday after the mayor repeated declarations that the city had the safest summer in more than 20 years.