NYC mayor-elect made a dig at outgoing Bill de Blasio by vowing to 'get stuff done' while in office - including bringing back a plain-clothes police unit.
Eric Adams, 61, a former NYPD officer, said his first 100 days in office would focus on crime, from revamping the controversial plainclothes anti-crime unit to addressing the crisis at the Rikers jail complex.
'I am not going to be a philosophical mayor,' Adams told MSNBC, taking a jab at outgoing Mayor Bill de Blasio.
'I'm going to be a mayor that's going to be a G.S.D. mayor, 'get stuff done.''
Eric Adams, New York City's mayor-elect, vowed to stomp out crime in his first 100 days
Adams said he would bring back the city's controversial plainclothes unit, which was disbanded in 2020 amid the Black Lives Matter movement
The NYPD's plainclothes unit, which at its peak had 600 officers, was disbanded in June 2020 by de Blasio and NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea, as calls to defund the police swept the nation in the wake of the George Floyd shooting.
De Blasio ultimately slashed $1 billion of the department's $6 billion budget.
The plainclothes unit was heavily criticized for targeting minority groups in the city and its connection to some of the city's most notorious shootings. Photos and videos also started to surface showing the officers engaging in excessive force.
Adams said the unit would return, but this time around, the officers would wear body cameras and focus on gang violence and shooting prevention.
'It's not anti-crime, but an anti-gun unit,' he told The New York Times. 'It's having well-trained officers who are going to use their body cameras so that we can see their interactions. They're going to specifically zero in on gang and gun violence.'
Adams, a centrist, ran on the promise to curb the city's steadily rising crime rate.
So far this year, the city has seen 18,898 felony assaults, about 8 per cent more than last year.
Rape is also up from 1,216 last year, to 1,241 this year, and robbery has also gone up from 10,822 to 10,996.
While murders dropped from 407 to 399 and shootings fell from 1,564 to 1,559, overall crime is still up 1.3 per cent from last year.
Adams, a former police officer, ran on the promise to tackle the city's rising crime rates
He said the plainclothes unit would now focus on gang and gun violence. The unit had been previously criticized for its excessive use of force, like in the incident pictured where an officer tased a man for failing to comply with social distancing rules in the East Village
Overall crime in New York City continues to steadily grow
Adams also plans to focus on reforming the notorious Rikers Island prison complex, which has seen overcrowding, alleged mistreatment of inmates and waves of strikes in recent years.
Adams said he would immediately change the format of the prison to keep gang members separated to help restore peace, the NY Times reports.
He added that the true path to fixes the issues at Rikers lied in changes to how the city grapples with education in order to cut off the pipeline to crime.
'If you're talking about closing only the building of Rikers Island, that's not progressive,' Adams said, referring to calls from civic leaders to shut down the ailing prison.
'Close the pipeline that feeds Rikers Island. Fifty-five per cent of the men and women there have learning disabilities, so if you're not talking about stopping that pipeline...how can you be progressive?'
Adams has previously promised to maintain the city's Gifted and Talented program and tweak it to be more inclusive to all communities after de Blasio said he would end the program, which disproportionately serves white and Asian students.
Adams said he would also focus on the Riker Island prison complex in his first 100 days
The sanitation workers are responsible for keeping the city's streets clean and removing trash. 1,500 are now out of work as a result of the vaccine mandate
Thousands of city workers, mostly firefighters, gathered outside Gracie Mansion as New York Mayor Bill de Blasio's vaccine mandate looms just one day ahead of the deadline
Adams' victory also comes as de Blasio's vaccine mandate for all city employees, ranging from police officers to parks employees, goes into effect.
On Monday, about 9,000 of New York City's 378,000 municipal employees were put on leave without pay as the vaccine mandate went into effect, de Blasio announced on Tuesday.
Under the mandate, all city employees had until 5pm Friday to show that they had received at least one dose of the COVID vaccine or request an exemption.
About 92 per cent have now received at least one dose, including a large number of first responders, CNN reports, while about 12,000 other employees have applied for a religious or medical exemption.
City officials are expected to rule on those cases in the coming days, and those who requested exemptions can continue working at least until their case is decided.
The mandate has not resulted in any service interruptions for the city police, fire and sanitation departments, de Blasio said on Monday, but angry essential workers protested in Manhattan against the rule.
Adams has said he would work and speak to all departments about the mandate and how to best serve the city.
'I'm going to build those bridges and not blow those bridges up,' he told MSNBC, saying he'd next discuss possible changes to the mandate after taking office in January.
Post a Comment