By Michael V. Cusenza
Mayor Eric Adams recently lauded the latest citywide crime statistics, noting that over the past six months overall crime has decreased in the Big Apple.
“This administration inherited a 40-percent increase in crime when we took office; we saw everything from shootings to illegal mopeds, dirt bikes, ghost cars,” Adams said last week. “We have had a full frontal assault on disorder. When you have six straight months of a decrease in crime, it says that the initiatives that we have put in place, they’re working. We know that if it bleeds, it leads, that some of the cases that take place would be on our front pages, but in reality, New York City is the safest big city in America.”
After an increase in transit crime in January, Hizzoner said the City Police Department responded—especially to the trains.
“We put 1,000 officers in the system after the January bump. You saw February, March, April, May, and June, a decrease in our subway crimes,” Adams said. “A real operation, 1,000 new cops in the system; a partnership to deal with those with severe mental health illnesses and going after those habitual repeaters and focusing on something that was ignored for eight years—those who refused to pay their fare—and it became just so routine that we said, We’re not going to allow it to happen in our system because taxpayers should not have to pick up the cost of those who have money and refuse to pay. That led to the six straight months that we are seeing.”
The mayor also addressed the issues of protests and migrants committing crimes in NYC.
“Over thousands of protests that we’re witnessing in the city, particularly after Oct. 7, you’re seeing the presence of dangerous people who have arrived in our city,” Adams said. “A small proportion of those who are part of the migrants and asylum seekers that have arrived here are participating in gang behavior. It is not a representation of the large number of migrants and asylum seekers who are here to pursue the next step on their dream to be in America. I want to really thank First Deputy Commissioner [Tania] Kinsella and Deputy Commissioner [Rebecca Ulam] Weiner, who traveled to Colombia to do an investigation on the presence of a group, a dangerous small element of gang behavior that we were not allowing to take foothold in our city. They’ll continue to investigate and look into this.”
Adams, a retired NYPD captain, made a point to show gratitude to Commissioner Edward Caban, his team, and the members of the NYPD.
“They have one mission and that is to go after the bad guys so they don’t do bad things to good people in this city. They have been really addressing the issue of violence and disorder in our city, and we cannot thank them enough,” the mayor said. “I say it over and over again, heroes don’t wear capes. They wear blue uniforms, and they are continuously providing the service that we expect with the level of professionalism that we want.”
