Mayoral Candidate Eric Adams Lays Out His Vision to Make NYC Safe

By Yehudit Garmaise

    Mayoral candidate Eric Adams wants to be proactive in reducing crime in New York City, and as a 22-year NYPD veteran, he has many specific ideas for doing so.

   “All of the crime numbers and indicators are up, and that is not acceptable,” said Adams, who served as a police officer from 1984 to 2006, when he retired as a captain.

   Adams first wants to go after those who are carrying and using guns, by re-instituting the NYPD’s Anti-Crime Unit and turning it into an Anti-Gun Unit.

     Brooklyn’s Borough President also wants the NYPD focus on gang violence, which “is driving shootings and innocent people being struck by bullets,” he said.

  Although Adams wants to provide better and more regular bias and response training for police officers, he also sees “a flow of non-police entities that are creating the crime in the city.”

    “It is unfair to say, ‘[Crime] is just a police problem’ because it is not,” Adams told BoroPark24. “If we don’t have a holistic approach, we are going to constantly find ourselves trying to chase this elusive thing called public safety.”

   Bail reform, for instance, has had a negative impact of public safety in New York.

   “Judges must be able to have the power to be able to attach bail to criminals who are going to be repeat offenders,” Adams said.

   Like Mayor Bill de Blasio, Adams also blames a recent increase in crime on the state’s parole system, which does not provide any emotional, educational, or employment support for long-incarcerated criminals before releasing them to the streets.  

   In addition, the city must do a better job of treating the mental health crisis, which Adams said, “is feeding some of the crime that we are seeing.”

   Judges are reluctant to use the power they have to require psychiatric evaluation, treatment, and medication for criminals who exhibit mental illness,” explained Adams, who also pointed out that prioritizing education also prevents crime.

   “We are producing criminal behavior every time we don’t educate children,” said Adams, who pointed out a study that showed that 30% of the jail population at Rikers are dyslexic. “By not properly educating New Yorkers, we are just feeding the future crime problem in our city, and we can do a better job in doing so.

   “The prerequisite to prosperity is public safety.”