New York City Mayor Eric Adams warned that the Big Apple will face a serious crisis in public safety like other large municipalities are experiencing if something is not done to stem the tide after police officer Jonathan Diller was shot and killed during a traffic stop earlier this week, Politico reported.
Although the mayor pronounced at a press conference on Tuesday that the city is not out of control, he said it could end up like other municipalities that are in chaos if police officers and other people in public safety roles keep leaving their jobs, declaring that "the foundation of the public safety apparatus is dissolving right in front of our eyes."
Adams emphasized that "if we don't get in front of it, we are going to be dealing with a severe public safety crisis that other cities are experiencing. That is the concern, that's the clarion call that we must put out."
The mayor lamented the decline in corrections and police officers as they retire or age out of the force.
However, Politico pointed out that Adams himself has cut four upcoming NYPD recruit classes.
Instead of trying to boost his public safety credentials by seriously pushing for more cops, Adams has instead focused on doing more with less, efficiently allocating police officers so that they are not bunched up at peaceful parades or staring at their phones while deployed to subway stations.
It was unclear if Adams' remarks are the beginning of a new hiring push, but it at least leaves the option open to reinstate the canceled NYPD classes.
This comes as the uniformed head count among police officers has fallen below 34,000 — one thousand less than what is budgeted.
NYPD leadership and police unions have both declared that they would back a move for an increase in police officers.