NYC Mayor Eric Adams still burdened by crime one year in office, despite drop in murders and shootings
From Fox News:
Jillian Snider, a retired NYPD officer and current John Jay adjunct lecturer, said that Adams’ one year in office “is not that much time” when assessing how he’s handled crime, highlighting he took over “at a really bad time in history.
“He came in after COVID, crimes a mess, unemployment up. And we can’t place blame on him for that,” Snider told Fox News Digital. “But I think that he came in trying to come up with novel ideas, but really he wasn’t. He was recycling things of days past.”
Snider pointed to the public safety team working to get illegal guns off the street, saying it was an “old anti-crime model” that Adams brought back and “threw a uniform on them.” She said that bringing back the plainclothes unit that de Blasio did away with at the height of the “Defund the Police” movement, was “smart” but not anything “novel…”
Snider said that Adams is working on his campaign promises of making the subway system safer and came through on his promise to bring back the plainclothes anti-crime unit.
“I’m not saying he successfully executed that plan yet,” Snider said of Adams making the subway safer, but said a decline in crimes is already evident and ridership is increasing.
Snider, however, is taking issue with Adams’ relationship with the NYPD, characterizing it as oversized and him being too involved, which she says is ultimately hurting the NYPD.
“I just feel like police commissioners and mayors in the past, they’ve always had a very workable relationship. And that the police commissioner, obviously appointed by the mayor, is going to take some guidance and suggestions. But I don’t even feel like that’s where it’s at right now,” said Snider, who is also the policy director for R Street’s Criminal Justice and Civil Liberties team.
Snider said that despite Adams having a strong leader in NYPD Commissioner Keechant L. Sewell and bringing back the position of deputy mayor for public safety for the first time since the 1990s, Adams is “too much involved.”
“I feel like he’s just going in dictating how he wants stuff done and expecting her to execute and deploy as he says. And I don’t think that he’s affording her the opportunity to maybe come up with some ideas on her own. He takes credit for everything.”
Snider said that it looks as if Commissioner Sewell is “put off to the sidelines” during press conference, despite the community wanting to hear from her.
Snider argued that the mayor’s involvement with the NYPD is “hurting” the department, because officers are questioning how much power Sewell holds despite generally liking her as a leader.
“I also think that for cops, it’s one thing, but the community when they’re watching television, and they just see a police commissioner who’s standing on the side and a mayor who’s doing all the talking. I think that makes the community – who doesn’t really understand the nuances of mayor, deputy mayor, police commissioner – I don’t think most people understand all that. They most probably think he is the police commissioner and the mayor,” Snider said…
