Close your eyes and you could be back in the crime-plagued New York of the late 1980s. Last week’s mayoral debate was dominated by how candidates would tackle the city’s rising crime rates. Murders in New York rose last year by 43 per cent — and are on track to be higher this year than last.

The situation is even uglier in Chicago, which is close to its 1974 peak when almost 1,000 people were murdered. Ditto across urban America. There is even speculation about a repeat of the suburban exodus of the late 1960s and 1970s.

It would be unfair to blame Joe Biden for any of this. Yet as president — and leader of the party that controls most big US cities — he will pay a price if it goes on. The question is what he and local leaders can do about it.