Critics to respond to NYC Mayor Eric Adams' 'Blueprint to End Gun Violence'
The plan aims to target the city's worst neighborhoods with a non-uniformed anti-crime unit
NEW YORK CITY (WABC) -- New York politicians are weighing in on, Mayor Eric Adams's 16-page blueprint to combat gun violence.
The intricate plan was rolled out on Monday, and comes amid a rising tide of crime, including the shooting of two police officers Friday in Harlem.
It aims to target the city's worst neighborhoods with a non-uniformed anti-crime unit, rebranded as "Neighborhood Safety Teams."
"Gun violence is a public health crisis," said Adams. "There is no time to wait. We must admit the sea of violence comes from many rivers, we must dam every river that feeds this greater crisis."
The plan also calls for gun checkpoints at Port Authority locations, more officers on patrol, improved outreach for the homeless and mentally ill, and more jobs for young people.
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"New Yorkers will see and feel these changes quickly," said Adams. "We will ramp up enforcement, deploy more officers on the streets and in the subways, and get our courts at full capacity. And we will invest in longer-term prevention as well."
The new safety teams will get more training and oversight than the anti-crime unit had in the past, while being deployed to the 30 highest crime precincts, Adams said.
Those 30 precincts are where the mayor says 80% of the city's crime is happening.
The plainclothes officers will still wear identifiers while working to get guns off the streets.
At a press conference in Harlem Tuesday Public Advocate Jumaane Williams said he does see a lot of good in the plan, but he also has some concerns.
"I haven't seen anything right now data wise that says why we need to be addressing raise the age, why we need to be addressing bail reform," said Williams.
Adams said his office is working on getting the numbers to show the correlation between raise the age and the uptick in criminal gun charges among minors.
Meanwhile at a separate press conference Democratic gubernatorial candidate and Congressmember Tom Suozzi from Nassau County said there's no daylight between him and mayor Adams.
"I support his agenda to address crime here in New York City one hundred percent," said Suozzi.
Willams also took a shot at Congressmember Suozzi for his positions.
Both are running for governor, and both took swings at Governor Hochul saying she could do more to address the violence.
Meanwhile the governor and mayor are presented a more united front than previous city and state administrations saying they are committed to working together against gun violence.
The mayor unveiled his plan Monday after meeting with several crisis management groups that help fight gun violence on the community level.
That meeting was scheduled after an 11-month-old baby girl was struck by a stray bullet in the Bronx. It was held days after a shooting in Harlem that left two young police officers and the suspect dead.
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