NEW YORK — New York City Council’s public safety committee is holding an oversight hearing Wednesday on Mayor Eric Adams’ blueprint to end gun violence.
“The NYPD is doing its part to ensure that those who victimize our communities, particularly with the use of illegal firearms, are quickly identified and arrested,” NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell told the virtual committee. “Considerable focus and resources are dedicated to preemption and prevention, as an alternative to enforcement.”
The mayor’s plan includes putting more police on patrol and increasing efforts to stop the flow of illegal guns into the city. It’s already received praise and pushback.
“This is my number one priority: Keeping you safe. I campaigned on it, I will deliver on it,” Adams said back in January. “You have my word.”
That’s what the mayor had to say when he first announced the plan, which includes Neighborhood Safety Teams. These units put unmarked cars with police lights and 200 officers in less official looking uniforms on the streets of 30 precincts, where police say 80% of gun violence occurs. Each team gets a sergeant and five officers.
“It’s about a form of deterrence. So if the bad guys that are carrying guns believe that they could be stopped, they might stop carrying guns,” said Joseph Giacalone, a retired NYPD sergeant and adjunct professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice.
Giacalone told CBS2 the new teams are necessary to prevent crime from getting worse. But everyone should know beforehand that officers are obligated to explain why someone is being stopped.
“We’re not searching for drugs, or any other contraband. It’s really about a weapon that can harm the officer or anyone else around there,” he said.
Not everyone is a fan of the new agenda, like attorneys with the Legal Aid Society.
“When there are so many variables in police encounters with civilians, we shouldn’t be increasing unnecessary encounters between them, we should be decreasing them,” attorney Jennvine Wong said.
“The mayor’s blueprint should not result in something that appears like broken windows. That type of policing has not, does not and will not work,” said Public Advocate Jumaane Williams.
Public Advocate Jumaane Williams says the broken windows theory is a recipe for race-based enforcement. Broken windows offenses, including MTA fare evasion, public urination and driving without a valid license.
Arrest data from the Legal Aid Society shows 91% of the more than 1,500 broken windows arrests in 2021 were Black and brown New Yorkers.
Council members, formerly incarcerated people and other advocates held their own separate virtual press conference, detailing why criminal justice reforms, like ending cash bail, must be protected. They offered their own plan instead.
“We had fought tirelessly, and now we’re in jeopardy of all the policing reforms being rolled back,” one advocate said.
“The Black, Latino and Asian Caucus released a 10-point plan that would tackle the roots of crime-generated factors, like poverty, like homelessness, like substandard school and more,” another added.
The police commissioner said NYPD is focusing on crime prevention, through education employment and sports programs for youth and teens.
