Transcript: Mayor Adams Appears Live on ABC 7's "Eyewitness News at 5PM"

January 16, 2025

Sandra Bookman: The governor's push to increase the number of police officers in the subway [is] a very big deal for New Yorkers, including for Mayor Eric Adams, who is joining us this evening. Mr. Mayor, thank you so much for your time. 

Mayor Eric Adams: Thank you. Great to speak with both of you. 

Bill Ritter: And great to see you, Mr. Mayor. Just how important is this move? Two cops on every train at night and it's sort of echoed as well in your proposed budget. That's going to mean nearly a billion dollars for police in overtime. 

Mayor Adams: So important. And, you know, I cut my teeth doing what was called TPF, Tactical Patrol Force. I used to ride from eight at night to six in the morning as a transit police officer. And nothing gives riders more comfort than seeing the omnipresence of that blue uniform. I want to thank the governor. She has been a real partner on this issue and our subway safety. 

Bookman: Mayor, let me ask you, some other things are in that budget going to your point about safety on the trains. You're calling for more than five hundred and fifty million dollars for homeless shelters this next fiscal year. We want to know, is that going to include helping homeless people with mental health issues or is that separate? How much would that item cost? 

Mayor Adams: Well, first, great question. First, we are seeing an increasing number of out-of-towners, not migrants and asylum seekers, but people who live in other municipalities are coming to New York. We don't know if it's because of disasters in their home cities or if it's because of so much talk about a sanctuary city that people are starting to come to the city. And so we have to address that issue. We have a separate pot of money that we're dealing with those with severe mental health issues to give them the care they need to add on what we have been doing already. 

Ritter: I have a quick question about these numbers of police officers. The governor said 150 and that night, within an hour, the commissioner for the Police Department, your commissioner, said, hey, well, we want to have two cops on every one. How did that happen? What was your reaction when that happened? 

Mayor Adams: Great conversation. I know Commissioner Tisch has been communicating with the governor. Commissioner Tisch and I met last night around 11, 12 o'clock to go over some of the subway safety initiatives and what she's doing inside the department.  

Two officers on the train, patrolling the train. That is what we need. We're winning the battle on crime. We have 4.6 million daily riders, six average felonies a day. What we have not won is how people are feeling– and that deals with the mental health presence that's in our subway system. And now we're going to do that with the omnipresence of blue uniforms in the system. 

Bookman: And one quick question along those lines. Is there a timeline when you want to see results from the actions you're taking, you and the governor are taking? And what does it look like if you see the difference that you expect? 

Mayor Adams: Yes. You know, I'm in the subways a lot and I speak to riders and ask, how do you feel? What are you thinking? What would you like to see different? In January, we saw a spike in crime in our subway system in January of 2024.  

Immediately we deployed a thousand officers in and you started to see that decrease right away, February, March, you continued to see that decrease and the success of the numbers that we're seeing. So we want instant results. Those passengers feel safer when those officers walk through the subway system.  

Ritter: A quick, quick, quick question and answer. What are you going to be doing this Monday? You're going to be in Washington? 

Mayor Adams: We're still mapping that out. You know, it's Dr. King's birthday. I have a series of things I do on Dr. King's birthday of going to different events and even a lot of reflections. I do a lot of Dr. King's readings of his writings and his sermons. And I like to do that around that time. And so we're still sorting that out. 

Ritter: Does that mean you're going to go to the inauguration? 

Mayor Adams: No, it means we're still sorting it out. You know, I wake up in the morning. My staff give me what I'm doing today and I just turn on an automatic pilot and just move throughout the day. So we're still trying to figure out how we're moving that weekend. 

Bookman: Alright. Mr. Mayor Eric Adams, Mayor Adams, let us know if you're going to be there in Washington. We will be there covering the inauguration. We thank you for your time tonight and good luck with this initiative. 

Ritter: Thanks, Mr. Mayor.  

Mayor Adams: Thank you. Take care. 

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