The new mayor of New York, United States, Eric Adams, promised Monday, January 24, to rid the megalopolis of firearms, in particular by deploying plainclothes police in the streets. His decision is part of the violence that has occurred in recent days, which cost the life of a young agent.
“Gun violence is a public health crisis that continues to threaten every corner of the city”, launched this former African-American police officer during the announcement of a series of measures.
“Public safety is my administration’s top priority, and that’s why we’re going to get guns off our streets, protect our people, and create a safe, prosperous, and just city for all New Yorkers.”, said this elected representative of the right wing of the Democratic Party.
Arrived at the town hall on the 1is January on a program to fight against insecurity and socio-economic inequalities, Mr. Adams is confronted with an upsurge in violent miscellaneous events.
On Friday, a 22-year-old New York City Police (NYPD) officer was killed and another seriously injured in an exchange of gunfire in an apartment in Harlem, a neighborhood located in northern Manhattan.
A week earlier in the same neighborhood, a 19-year-old Puerto Rican was shot dead by a robber in a fast food restaurant. On January 15, a 40-year-old woman was killed by a mentally ill homeless man who pushed her onto a subway track as the train entered the Times Square station.
anti-gun patrols
This murder, without a weapon, made an impression, as did the injuries inflicted on an 11-month-old girl who was hit by a stray bullet in the Bronx, a neighborhood located in northern New York, while she was driving with his mother. “We are not going to abandon our city to the violence of a few”, thundered Mr. Adams.
One of the main measures of his plan is the reinstatement of plainclothes police patrols, “anti-crime units” renamed “anti-gun units”, which were abolished in 2020 after the death of African American George Floyd, killed by a police officer in Minneapolis.
These cops were feared when Michael Bloomberg was mayor (2002-2013) for their controversial searches of young blacks and Hispanics suspected of carrying firearms.
Gun violence in New York, disproportionate to what it was in the 1990s, increased slightly in 2021 (+ 4.3% compared to 2020, itself up compared to 2019) , in particular due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
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