Eric Adams’s victory in the Democratic Party primary for New York City mayor all but assures the former police officer will replace Bill de Blasio.
Adams’s win is a big loss for the “defund the police” movement. A police officer for 22 years, Adams is staunchly in favor of law enforcement. New York City needs someone of his caliber amid the alarming number of violent crimes that have been occurring in the Big Apple. Between January and June, and the same period last year, there have been drastic increases in the number of felony assaults. The need for new leadership is clear.
But aside from his support for the failed policy of gun control, Adams has made a nuanced case for supporting the New York Police Department. He also wants reasonable reforms such as publicizing a list of officers that the department is monitoring for bad behavior, creating better connections between precincts and communities, and making the department more diverse. The hope is that this might increase trust of the police in communities that have a majority of black or brown people.
“We’re not going to recover as a city if we turn back time and see an increase in violence, particularly gun violence,” said Adams in May after a three-year-old girl and two other people were shot and wounded in Times Square. On primary night, Adams observed, “If black lives really matter, it can’t only be against police abuse. It has to be against the violence that’s ripping apart our communities.”
Indeed.
How refreshing it will be after eight years of rising crime under de Blasio, who has had a tense relationship with law enforcement, that there will be someone in Gracie Mansion who will have the NYPD’s back.
Jackson Richman is a journalist in Washington, D.C. Follow him @jacksonrichman.
