New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced a plan to tackle escalating gun violence on Monday, including the return of plainclothes anti-crime units, which were disbanded in 2020 after Black Lives Matter protests.
“We will not surrender our city to the violent few,” said Adams, a former New York City Police officer, during a speech on Monday just days after an NYPD officer was killed in Manhattan.
“I want to be clear. This is not just a plan for the future, it is a plan for right now,” he declared, calling gun violence “a public health crisis” with “no time to wait.”
Adams claimed the city had become a “dumping ground” for weapons and promised to put “boots on the ground on every block.”
This blueprint to end gun violence will not end this crisis overnight… but it will represent the biggest action in years to protect New York City
Plainclothes anti-gun crime units will be stationed in 30 city precincts where most incidents are reported – a sharp U-turn from his predecessor, Bill de Blasio, who scrapped the units in 2020 following Black Lives Matter protests against police brutality.
After the city took several anti-police measures in 2020, including the cutting of funding by $1 billion, New York experienced a surge in violence.
Four New York City police officers have already been wounded in 2022, less than a month into the year.
In 2021, 485 murders were recorded in the city – a 4% increase over the year prior – while at least 1,562 shootings also took place.