Transcript: Mayor Adams Appears Live on FOX5’s “The 6 O’clock News”

August 14, 2024

Natasha Verma: The extra police are expected to be in place until the NYPD deploys drones at the end of the month in Central Park.

Bianca Peters: And Mayor Adams joins us now with the very latest. Thank you so much for being here.

Mayor Eric Adams: Thank you. Great to be here with you as well.

Peters: Starting off with the story that we just read, we're talking about that surge of police presence in Central Park, wondering how long they're going to be there. I know we might have a little error there, cover your face, but talk to us nonetheless. The police presence there, how long will they be there? Because it may not be feasible. You're going to leave yourself vulnerable in other parts of the city. This happened when there was crime in the subway, you surged the subway. So what's the plan with that?

Mayor Adams: And I'm so happy you stated that because part of the problems we're seeing is a real decline in the number of people who are enrolling in the Police Department. And you have a limited number of manpower. What we have been good at doing as social events, special events, parades, we have been really minimizing the personnel to make sure we can maximize coverage when we need to deploy like the subway in Central Park.

And so the team is going to be there. Chief Chell has an excellent ability of knowing how do you go in, identify the problem, bring that large number of personnel there to identify and send the right message to stabilize the park. We know what Central Park means to us. It's a symbol as well as a safe haven for many New Yorkers.

Verma: I mean, you see this very large police presence, but how long can you actually maintain that kind of manpower? I mean, what happens a week from now, two week, a month? I mean, are we going to be having so many cops flooding Central Park? How long does this last?

Mayor Adams: No, not at all. It's called a surge. You identify when you're seeing a bump in crime, similar to what we saw in the subway system. Remember, we had that bump in January. We surged the police there and we now have robberies at the lowest in the recorded history of our subway system. That's similar here. It's a surge. It's a serious presence to let those bad guys that may want to frequent the park send a real message that that's not going to happen. And then we're going to infuse new forms of technology. That's a lot of acreage and some of it is off the beaten path. And we're going to see and experiment on how well drones can complement police presence as well.

Peters: Interesting. Well, I know that your message is that New York City is the safest big city. But this week alone, we've seen robberies in Central Park, a rape near Gracie Mansion, another rape on Coney Island. That indicates that crime is down. The stats indicate that. But your message to New Yorkers who are seeing this is what? Because this is giving them fear.

Mayor Adams: Something I've always said. You remember when I first came into office, when we were dealing with a 40 percent increase in crime and our homicides and shootings were up. I told the team and I said to the media, it's more than bringing down crime. People must be safe and feel safe. A lot of people criticize me for saying that. But that's the reality.

And we know these random acts of violence, like the person who illegally entered our country, committed a rape in Coney Island. These random acts of violence, they play on our psyche. But when you look at the stats, it's very clear. We're the safest big city in America. And we're going to continue to drive down crime, double digit decrease in homicides and shootings, the major crime categories. We know we have to continue to make sure that we stay the safest big city in America, even with these random acts of violence that we're seeing.

Verma: Well, Mr. Mayor, can you just kind of explain something to us? Because you were on this show with Bianca and I a few months ago when women were randomly getting attacked in Central Park. Yet we saw a massive show of force today. I mean, why does crime have to get so bad before there's a major response? Why not a couple of months ago. Why is it always feeling like it's damage control?

Mayor Adams: No, to the contrary. As I shared with you, we had a 40 percent increase in crime when we took office. And I gave you the stats on how well this city is doing. Always want to do more when it comes down to these random acts of violence. But I also want to be clear with New Yorkers. We don't have the police personnel that we had years ago. We're struggling to fill academy classes. We're struggling with our correction officers. We have code red there. We're struggling even with district attorneys.

We have a real problem in the city and country and our criminal justice apparatus. And so we would love to have a police officer on every block. But the reality is when you're dealing with terrorist threats, you're dealing with thousands of protests and marches, particularly after October 7th, and you're dealing with a host of other events. You have a minimal amount of manpower. You have to be smart how you deploy.

Peters: Let me ask you something about that, because you're saying we may not have the staff, but we do have the law when it's enforced. Obviously, it would make us feel safe because we're talking about someone like Daniel Martinez, an illegal Venezuelan who has gang ties, arrested 22 times, 22 crimes in six months, has never been deported. What happens then? Because you're arresting these people, but obviously it's not preventing them from committing more crimes.

Mayor Adams: I'm so glad you're saying that because you've joined the choir. I've been singing this song for some time, and I actually wrote the song. When you look at who assassinated and killed one of our officers out in Rockaway, Jonathan was shot by someone that was arrested over 20 times. You have a person that illegally came into our country, committed a sexual act, assault act, was released, and came back and did it again. I am clear that we need to look at our laws that allow a person not to be turned over to ICE after they served their time for a violent felony. I don't believe we should be allowing them to be a safe haven and continue to prey on innocent New Yorkers.

Verma: Speaking of the migrant crisis, we've seen a rise in violence at many of the shelters across the city, most recently Randall's Island. Now, you said that this will not be tolerated, but what's being done to address that crime?

Mayor Adams: Well, we have several shelters like the HERRC. We have Creedmoor. We have Floyd Bennett Field. We have what you're looking at on Randall's Island. Look at these locations. You're having 3,000 to 4,000 people located in a small area that they cannot do anything but sit around all day. That's a recipe for disaster. I've been saying that for over two years now, that we need to give people the ability to work. We need to allow them to take the next step on their journey. We have been successful in what we're doing. Our population in our care is now down to about 64,000 to 65,000 out of the 212,000 that have arrived at our city. And so we have to continue the law enforcement presence, send the right message to those small numbers who are violent. Overwhelming number want to go on with their next steps.

Peters: Let me ask you a question though, because the migrant crisis is now costing the city almost $5 billion. This is according to city stats. When you look at what we're spending on New Yorkers who need affordable housing, that's $2 billion. So right now we are not prioritizing New Yorkers who live here and need homes. We're prioritizing illegal migrants. What are you saying to people that are like, this doesn't work for our budget? And I know you've said this before, that you do not believe that migrants should be added under that umbrella clause of the right to shelter, that's been held up in courts. Where are we at with that?

Mayor Adams: Okay, first let's go, let's go back. I'm not prioritizing migrants over New Yorkers. And I think that's a myth that needs to be dispelled. Migrants are living in tents with outside facilities. We have broke records on the amount of affordable housing we built for New Yorkers and invested $26 billion. No other administration has done that before.

I can't stop buses coming in. Federal law doesn't allow me to do that. City law tells me I have to feed them three meals a day, house them, educate 40,000 children. City law also states that I cannot have them removed when they commit a crime. I can't break the law to fulfill the law. We need to look at these laws that have…

Peters: Which is being held up in court, right? So where are we at with the right to shelter? That law's being held up in court right now. So where are we at with that?

Mayor Adams: Well, we have been able to, based on what the judge is ruling, we've been able to put in place a 30-day rule, which has never been put in place before. We treat migrants different from long-standing New Yorkers. After 30 days, single adults have to move on to the next step of their journey. That was never in place before we were able to get that settlement in court.

Verma: Really quickly before we go, Mr. Mayor, you're heading to the DNC next week to talk about immigration. This is an issue that VP Harris is not so hot on. What's your message going to be?

Mayor Adams: Well, the message to the DNC is more than just immigration. The things that are facing Americans in New York is affordability and public safety. Those are two huge issues. I think that we have to secure our border and come up with a real plan of allowing people to be disseminated throughout the entire country. We have population problems, but at the heart of it is allowing people to work. That's the precursor to the American dream, your ability to work.

Peters: All right, New York City mayor, thank you so much for joining us. Come back again. We have an hour to talk to you now.

Verma: Yes, please. In studio, come join us.

Mayor Adams: I would love that. Thank you.

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