Mayor Adams Defends Approach to Fighting Crime

By Yehudit Garmaise

After more than 50 people were shot over the fourth of July in NYC, a reporter pointed out that almost one person was shot every hour yesterday amidst citywide celebrations.

“Is your crime-fighting strategy working in your opinion?” a reporter asked Mayor Eric Adams, echoing the thoughts of every New Yorker. “Does more need to be done?”

Mayor Adams responded by saying that he also wants “fast results overnight, but the tide is turning slowly.”

“Since we instituted our plan that we are constantly modifying and shifting, we have seen a 30-year high in gun arrests, so we are moving in the right direction.

“We are going to continue to take these dangerous weapons and people off the street. 

We are making the right adjustments, and we are going to win this battle, but we need help.”

In particular, the mayor said, “The pressure must come from the public” on state officials and every arm of the criminal justice system to make changes to the bail reform that has made the job of New York’s officers much more difficult, dangerous, and demoralizing.

Among those turning the tide in NYC in the fight against crime is Chief Jeffrey Maddrey, NYPD’s chief of patrol.

“If Chief Maddrey and his officers arrest someone on Monday for a violent act, and then that same person is out again on Tuesday, it is an endless flow [of seeing the same criminals over and over again].”

In addition to getting guns and dangerous people off the streets for good, Mayor Adams announced a crackdown on “ghost cars” that do not have license plates or have fraudulent plates: a trend that is often correlated with criminal activity and traffic deaths.

“The same person who is driving this car with this illegal plate is the same person who is participating in some of our shootings and doing hit and runs,” the mayor said. “Bad guys have embraced this belief that no one is checking on them, and they can do whatever they want.

“They believe that you can do anything in this city, and we are changing that narrative. You can’t do anything in this city. This is a city of law and order, not lawlessness and disorder.”

By enlisting every police officer in the NYPD to boot, tow, and ticket cars without valid license plates and arresting the owners with misdemeanors, the mayor said he is getting, “Everyone in this city is in the same game of fighting crime.”