Transcript: Mayor Eric Adams Makes A Subway Safety-Related Announcement With Governor Kathy Hochul

January 27, 2023

Governor Kathy Hochul: … City address yesterday, so it's great to be back with you again. I'd like to acknowledge Janno Lieber, the chair and CEO of the Metropolitan Transit Authority, better known to all of us as the MTA. We've been together often as well. So one was just this week as we had the soft opening of Grand Central Madison and what an extraordinary experience that was. So Janno, thank you and your team for all you do. Keeping us safe here, but also keeping us moving also. Chief Michael Kemper, the chief of transit, has joined us as well. I want to thank him. And also from our team, our commissioner of New York State Office of Mental Health, Dr. Ann Marie Sullivan, who has been laser focused on helping us deal with — statewide, but in particular here in our subways — the crisis of mental health that has been unfolding for a number of years but it's really hit a situation that has to be addressed.

So we're back here. I'm here just to give a status report. We stood here back in January. We talked about our partnership. We stood here in February talking about how we are launching our Safe Options Support teams, sending trained professionals to go into our subways to develop relationships with people, not just a one-off, but develop relationships that can result ultimately people getting the care and the service they need, basically the people who have been homeless or dealing with severe mental illness. So we have been working very hard on that. And also connecting those New Yorkers with supportive services, whether it's mental health or substance abuse. And making sure that even ultimately they get connected to not just housing, but job training and skills and education. Treating these individuals as people who deserve to know what is available to them. And already since we launched this, we've helped over 650 individuals, formally unhoused, high-need New Yorkers connect with critical intervention services. So that was what we talked about last February.

In October, the mayor and I stood in Grand Central talking about our strategy to increase people's sense of security, but also the actual security of individuals who take advantage of this incredible lifeline to New York, the MTA. And we knew how important this was, at a time, especially, when we're stressed about whether or not we're going to ever have the same number of riders and people coming back to our business districts because of the pandemic. So there's been a lot of shifts in society and how we work and where we work. And we wanted to make sure as we're trying to attract people to come back, we had to be able to answer the question, "Will I be safe? Is my child safe going to school on the subway?" We had to answer that with a resounding yes. And that is why we came together to announce our Cops, Cameras and Care initiative just in October.

And what that was all about was first of all, boosting the police presence. People feel better, just like I did as I came down on the number four train. I can't tell you how many times I heard someone say, "If you need assistance, there's a police officer on the platform in the mezzanine." And I'm looking around me, of course I was surrounded by a few more police than usual. But I wanted people to have that sense. If you need help, it's there. But also if you're someone looking to do harm to somebody, that's a powerful deterrent when you know there's a police officer either in the train, the platform, and the mezzanine. So that was an important part of it. Beefing up our police forces, bringing in our resources from MTA transit, but also assisting the mayor to be able to add more people to his team as well.

We talked about the need to have cameras. We've aggressively installing more and more cameras on an expedited timetable. I wanted to go faster and make sure that you know that we have information available if we do need to solve a crime. And again, another deterrent, if you know that what you're doing to hurt someone else or cause a problem is going to be captured on camera.

Also, as I mentioned, we launched what we called a Transition to Home initiative where we had a new treatment program for in-patient care for those experiencing serious mental illness as part of our care program, and also making sure we have training. Now, this is important, training for our clinicians, law enforcement professionals, also the MTA workers who come in contact, so they know what the rights of individuals are and help the people who are unhoused, deal with mental illness. And again, I want to thank the Office of Mental Health for leading the trainings. Again, you would assume they know but don't assume that. You have to have a training program so everyone who comes in contact with our passengers knows how to respond in a situation where it's required.

So we've been making progress, we've been making real progress. Now we'll stand here, we'll say we're never finished. As long as there is any crime being committed, we'll never say mission accomplished. Those words will never come from our lips.

Mayor Eric Adams: That's right.

Governor Hochul: But today's an opportunity to give a progress report, and we're going to continue doing this. We're going to keep being honest with you, letting you know. When we see data that says things are heading in a wrong direction, we'll talk about that, what our next strategy is. But when things are improving, that's something we also want to make sure gets out to the general public.

So, we have seen a 16 percent drop in subway crime, we have some charts that you can look at, that's just since the beginning of October from the previous year. Major crimes on the subway, since we started our initiative to bring more police officers and resources to the subway, major crimes on the subway are down 28 percent since October. That's not over year, that's just in a very short time. Showing the success of when you work together, pool our resources, city and state, approach this in a collaborative way where we bring all of our resources and start making a difference. So regardless of our seasonal trends, that's very encouraging. Major crimes are down 16 percent, as I said.

But also, the crimes per million riders — this is what's interesting. I'm going to go out on a limb here, if you did a survey of how people feel about their security on the subway, say, in February of 2020, before the pandemic, I'm not sure it would be on their top list, security and concern about crime. So people had this kind of, yes, it's New York. It's not always perfect, we're an imperfect place sometimes. But I don't think it was that same level of anxiety that has occurred during the pandemic. When you think about there were fewer riders, fewer people with jobs, more people that may have been doing harm to those who were on the subways during that time. So that was kind of an unusual timeframe. It's almost hard to compare ourselves to that timeframe because there were extraordinary circumstances. But what we want to talk about is before the pandemic, there were 1.5 million crimes per 1 million riders.

Mayor Adams: (Inaudible.)

Governor Hochul: There were 1.5 crimes... All right, let me restart that. I would never have come on if it was 1.5 million crimes per 1 million riders. The governor stands corrected. 1.5 crimes, 1.5 crimes per million riders. At the height of the pandemic it went up exponentially, 2.8 crimes per million. Now, that's when people are getting anxious. You read about it, you saw it in the news, you may have experienced it personally. In 2021, things getting a little bit better, not great, 2.3 crimes per million riders. And that was roughly the same what it was through 2022.

So when we judge ourselves, let's look at the pre-pandemic numbers again before the pandemic, 1.5 crimes per million riders. Today, year-to-date, it is 1.7 crimes per million riders. Now we're not exactly where we were, but that is an amazing trend. That is a trend that we can feel good about as long as that continues to hold.

We're also seeing some of those lowest strong start in the subway safety in history. As we started collecting the data back in 1993, we're starting to share this information. So thus far we're just wrapping up January now, but even the January data we see it's the lowest level of transit crime during a month of January since we started collecting data many, many decades ago.

So, despite all these facts, I can't tell New Yorkers they should feel safe. I'm not going to even do that. But the data is showing that New Yorkers are telling us they feel safer, and that's what I'm going to pay attention to. According to our December MTA customer satisfaction survey... And again, thank you Janno. And I spoke to the member of your team who conduct these surveys asking people how they feel and what their thoughts are and how we can improve — is how we get better. So let's talk about how they felt during this survey, just basically the month of November.

The number of New Yorkers who overall feel safe or very safe went up 18 percent in a very short time. We just started this initiatives back in October. By November, people's attitudes were up almost 20 percent compared to the previous month. That's the highest jump we've seen since we started taking the surveys. And it builds on the fact that we have more riders. We reached another milestone December 27th, 1 billion riders. 1 billion riders. And my train was crowded and that's a Friday, right? All the story, everybody's staying home on Fridays. They seem to be coming back. I had to stand, but that's okay.

So we've had a robust year of ridership. Riders are coming back. We're making a difference helping New Yorkers be safer and feel safer. And again, we're going to continue applying the lessons we learned. You heard about what I spoke about, about mental health, $1 billion investment. First time ever, the most aggressive approach the State of New York has taken to dealing with the issue of mental health since the deinstitutionalization of the 1970s. We are leaning hard on this. And again, I thank Commissioner Sullivan. We're going to have more services, more places for take people when they need a hospital bed because we have a shortage there. But when they leave there, don't just say, "Go back out to the streets. Good luck to you. God bless you." That doesn't work. It has to be staying in contact with people. "Are you able to get the therapy? Are you going to get services? Do you have a place to live?" That's how we start making a real difference in this challenge. So it's all about adding 3,200 new homes, new beds — 1,000 beds, and that's going to be more beds than we had before.

So mayor, I'll let you take it away, but this is a good day.

Mayor Adams: Yes, it is.

Governor Hochul: It's a good day. And I don't know that we'll ever stand here and say crime is gone, but this is New York. It's vibrant. It feels much better than it did a year ago. Even the month of October, there's this greater sense of security. Again, not my words, but the words —

Governor Hochul: There's this greater sense of security. Again, not my words, but the words of our valued riders. So thank you very much for reporting this. And Mayor Adams, again, incredible partnership together. We're going to keep making a difference, not just for our riders, but for the people of New York City. Thank you.

Mayor Adams: Thank you. Thank you so much, governor.

Governor Hochul: Thank you.

Mayor Adams: Thank you.

Governor Hochul: Thank you.

Mayor Adams: I just want to thank all of our partners, the governor, the commissioner, the MTA, Janno, and really our team down here in the subway system. And the governor's right. We stood here with a real plan. And I remember the first three days in office, people were saying, "Why hasn't crime turned around on the subway system? What is taking you so long?"

January 3rd, these were the questions we were getting. A system, people were coming through the traumatization of Covid, the crime was real. Right here, we talked about a person living under the stairs that was just allowed to live in the system. We saw encampments, we saw people living in the tunnel area. We saw a large volume of individuals who were dealing with severe mental health illnesses. That was really being ignored, and we came in with a real plan, a real combination, and we rolled it out in layers.

Every step of the way, we did an examination. Are we successful? What do we need to do? How do we pivot? How do we shift? We had over a million inspections of our subway system last year. I think that is the highest in recorded history, where we told our officers who were assigned to the patrol bureau that you are not going to ignore the transit system that's within your precinct location. We no longer was a disjointed silo Police Department.

We utilized all of our assets to go in and deal with the issue of crime. And I say it over and over again and we take criticism for it, but it is actual. Crime is actually the number and it's how people feel. We did not ignore what people were feeling. People felt unsafe in our system, and it does me no good to say we have 3.9 million riders.

We had a billion people that rode our system last year, but we have 3.9 million daily riders, an average of six crimes a day. It didn't matter if those numbers were there. The reality was that people said they felt unsafe. So we had to have a dual approach. We had to deal with how people felt and we had to deal with the actual six crimes, felony crimes we were having on average a day, and that was our dual approach.

And how did we do it? We said to our police officers, "We're going to give you the equipment, the leadership and our officers were going to have a real visible presence," because nothing makes you feel better when you are in the system or up top than seeing that uniformed officer. That uniformed officer brings you a level of calmness. You feel as though there's someone there to give you the service that you need.

But we went beyond that. Partnering with Janno and the MTA, we started doing announcements, telling passengers that you have an officer at the station, you have an officer on the train. We went on to say we are going to remove all the encampments. I think it was two to three weeks into my administration that I stated, "We're taking the encampments off our system." That's not going to happen. They're not there now. You don't see those encampments anymore on our system.

And when I ride the trains, which I do often, we listened to the public on what they wanted and we incorporated into our strategy. And they're telling me, "Eric, we're seeing less homeless on the system. We are seeing the police officers." So I knew prior to the survey coming out, because I did my own survey of being on this system speaking to passengers, and they were sharing how they felt, and if anyone knows New Yorkers, they are not shy about sharing their opinions.

8.5 million New Yorkers, 36 million opinions, and they will let you know it every day, but we started seeing a different energy and then were new leadership. I am so happy to have Chief Kemper here, who brings that Eric Adams energy to this job and is cascading out to the officers who are performing this job every day.

Do we have a long way to go? You're darn right, because the governor's right. We don't want six felonies a day. We want zero felonies a day, but are we trending in the right direction? You're darn right we are, because we did it by not just having a knee-jerk response. We did strategic, smart, layer-on precision policing. I know what precision policing is like. I was a transit cop when the system was filled with graffiti and crime and disorder. Just as we turned it around then, we are going to turn it around now, and that is what we're doing.

Ridership is up. People are feeling confidence about their system. As Chief Kemper will go through where our crime numbers are, record numbers, and we're going to continue to move in that trend and we're going to continue to pivot and shift. And I’m here all the time, "Well, how much it costs?" I want to be clear. There is no price tag on public safety. The subway system is the lifeblood of our city.

If people don't utilize this system, it will impact business, it will impact tourism, it will impact the ability to function and it will cripple our economy. That is the price tag that's important to me. This system will be safe, it will be functional, and it will be free from the disorder that we inherited in 2022. And so I cannot thank the governor enough. She has been in this system probably more than any governor in history, talking about turning around the disorder that people felt, the crime that was real, and the perception that we could not have a functioning, safe, clean, productive subway system.

This is the partnership that we needed to do to deal with the mental health, to deal with the crime, to deal with the resources in the MTA and to deal with the governor that understood the importance of New York City's subway system. We're the economic engine of this entire state and New York State is the economic engine of this country, and it starts one swipe at a time and one train at a time, one passenger at a time.

And we're going to continue to move in the right direction and I cannot, again, I say it over and over again. There are many conversations we have in public and in private. The governor has been a partner for the City of New York, and that is going to allow us to do the things that we have to do. Thank you so much, governor.

Governor Hochul: Thank you.

Michael Kemper, Chief of Transit, Police Department: Mayor, governor, Chairman Lieber, commissioner. To all, good morning. From the first day in their office, this administration, the mayor, the police commissioner have been very vocal and repeatedly stated that public safety is their number one priority. And this certainly includes public safety in the New York City subway system.

With Mayor Adams' Subway Safety Plan released in February of last year, and the Cops, Cameras and Care program launched last October by the mayor and the governor, unprecedented investments and public safety commitments have been made in our city's transit system. And although we recognize that we still have a lot of work to do and that there are going to be many challenges ahead of us, we are extremely encouraged by the results we've seen from these investments so far, and we are working to continue with this trend.

Regarding crime in the subway system, 2022 was challenging, particularly when compared to 2021, a year when the transit system faced pandemic related complexities, such as reduced use and lower ridership. During the first 10 months of our calendar year in 2022, overall major crime in the transit system was up a very concerning 41.6 percent. Then on October 25th, the mayor and the governor launched the Cops, Cameras and Care program.

This plan put upwards of 1,200 additional officers in the subway system every day, assigned to patrol trains, platforms, mezzanines and turnstiles, and the results? The results were swift and significant. Through the hard work of the men and women in the NYPD, the turnaround began immediately, and it continues till today. When we compare the period from the end of October to the present day with the same three month period a year ago, overall major crime and transit is down double digits, and that includes a 28 percent decline in robberies.

And when comparing the time period… Listen to this. When comparing the time period of this recent safety program to prior years, the same three-month period, we are currently at the second lowest overall crime level in recorded history, and I'm going back all the way to 1995 when the CompStat era started — second lowest. Second to only 2020, the height of the Covid pandemic.

Make no mistake about it, none of this happened by accident. NYPD officers have worked long and hard over the past three months to accomplish these results and enforcement in the subway system is up in all areas. Arrests are up 63 percent, including a 26 percent increase in felony arrest and a 78 percent increase in misdemeanor arrest. Fare evasion enforcement during this three-month period is up 170 percent. TAB summonses and criminal court summonses — those are the summonses that include quality of life violations — they have increased dramatically, 90 percent and 100 percent increases respectively.

Also encouraging is our current year, 2023 crime numbers. As of this morning and although we're only a little over three weeks into the new year, but for these little over three weeks into the new year, overall major crime in the subway system is down 31 percent versus last year. With arrest, this year alone, for the first three weeks, arrests are up 97 percent. TAB summonses up 91 percent, criminal court summonses up 150 percent. I'd say that's a very good start to the new year. In addition to fighting crime in the subway system, NYPD cops have done so much more, from jumping on the tracks to save people, to saving overdose victims, to rendering aid to people in need, or to offering someone a level of comfort and safety through just their visible presence, your cops stepped up to every challenge that came their way and they're going to continue to do so. It's what they do.

Again, we know we still have a lot to do to be where we want to get to, but at the same time, we are encouraged by the initial results and we are very proud of the hard work of our cops. I want to thank the MTA chairman, Janno Lieber and his team at the MTA for their continued partnership in these efforts. Most of all, I want to thank our department's greatest assets, our cops, for doing what they do each and every day, the greatest cops in the world. Thank you.

Janno Lieber, Chair and CEO, Metropolitan Transportation Authority: Good morning, everybody. Governor Hochul, Mayor Adams, thank you for being here as you have been so many times in the past, but thank you for stepping up again and again and again for the MTA and more important for New York's riders that has been a hallmark of your leadership. Chief Kemper, you've already made a difference and we're thrilled to be working with you.

You've heard a lot of stats today, but there are two that I follow: ridership up this month 35 percent, crime down 31 percent. That's the month of January. These are the metrics that we track most closely. As the governor said, New Yorkers are as a result of all of this movement that we've talked about this morning are feeling much more secure in one month. The number of riders in a survey telling us that they feel safe or very safe — that's our goal — has gone from 40 percent to almost 60 percent in one month. That is the impact of the program that the governor and the mayor set in motion.

The percentage of our riders who are saying they feel like there's the right number of police in the system is the highest it's ever been. The one thing that riders say again and again and again, up and down the demographic and economic spectrum, is they want to see cops and they are happier about the number of cops that they're seeing than ever before. We're not taking our foot off the gas on the Cops, Cameras, and Care program. I know that the governor and the mayor aren't; they're in it for the long haul. That's what we're all in it to do, for the riders.

I've got to thank the transit workforce who is essential not just to running the subways, but to creating this environment of safety and orderliness and service that we're all shooting for. Got to thank the conductors who are making those announcements and letting people know there's a cop on the platform if you have an issue. In the few crimes that continue to take place, because we see the reports every day, every day we're seeing more and more immediate apprehensions, immediate apprehensions, because there are cops on the platform. Someone's stupid enough to try to snitch a phone from a sleeping passenger. Cops on platforms, arrest made. It's really, really a change.

I also have to acknowledge my brother, Rich Davey, who runs New York City Transit. Rich has arranged with our labor partners to get the station agents out of the booth, which is going to enable them to be much more interactive with passengers, to give directions, all kinds of customer assistance. But it's also a safety improvement because now they're going to be able to be eyes and ears across an entire station, not just for what they can see from behind the glass booth. A very human presence is being added to the equation in our system.

And then there's the robust cameras program. As the governor said, we are adding cameras throughout the trains as well as the subway system. Chief Kemper and I were talking about the fact that the Police Department is apprehending everybody almost immediately because of the access to the video that comes from the subway system. It's a huge partnership between MTA and NYPD that's really part of the success that we're achieving.

That's because we want everybody to know, with all due respect, commit a crime against our riders in the transit system, you're going to be photographed, and you're going to be arrested. That message is getting across. Lots more to accomplish, we have to keep up the good work, but we're never going to stop fighting for New York riders. Under the leadership of this governor and this mayor, we're achieving unbelievable results. Thank you.

Question: Question about how you came to this current plan. Mayor, you've talked about how the state is helping out, but is it still essentially funding daily overtime for all these officers? Is that sustainable? How much does it cost?

Mayor Adams: Budget will give you the exact numbers. But again, as I stated, I'm not going to put a price tag on public safety. What we had to do, we had to stabilize the system, and that is why when you stabilize the system, you send in a large volume of officers, using overtime hours, a very visible presence. Stabilizing, this is what I said in the beginning. We were going to stabilize this feeling of disorder that was matching some high-profile crimes. Michelle Go, within a short period of time being in office, the slashing, when you have an attack on the news reporter from Channel Five.

Those high-profile cases really impact riders. And so we had to stabilize the system. Even with… Riders did something that was very important based on the customer satisfaction survey. Even with those high-profile crimes, riders started to say, "I'm now equating them as that is not my experience on my system because I'm seeing my offices there." Riders have finally saw to differentiate between those high-profile cases to what their personal experiences are, and as we see the need, we are going to make sure that we adjust, pivot, and shift based on where the crimes are, where Kemper believes we need additional support, we're going to continue to do that.

Question: Is it now stabilized so you can handle it with regular shifts and not overtime?

Mayor Adams: I'm not going to say that because bad guys watch your station all the time. I want them to always believe we are everywhere.

Question: Mayor, I wanted to ask, how much of this do you think is visibility? In other words, mayor, there's obviously getting the crime statistics going in the right direction, but it's also making people feel safe within this system, meaning that if you see someone sleeping on the train, for example, they're going to be nervous to ride.

Mayor Adams: Right. Right. I was just brutally criticized when I talked about how people feel. When I'm on the subway system and I talk to passengers and they said, "This place is unsafe." I said, "Have you ever been a victim of a crime?" "No. I have not." So what we understand, it doesn't matter if you personally were a victim of a crime. If you enter the system and you see a person that's dealing with mental health illness yelling and screaming, unkempt, undressed, kicking things over, you see trash, you're sitting down on the train and you're reading about someone that was attacked, that begins to play on your psyche.

And so we knew the best way to de-escalate that anxiety was this. That uniform is a symbol of order and not disorder, so a lot of this had to do with we needed a visible presence of our police officers. We needed them. We needed them walking through the train cars. We needed them on the platform. We needed them inside the station. We needed them doing station inspection. That is what we knew. We knew we had to bring down those six felonies a day, but we had to make those 3.9 million riders feel that, "There's my police officer. I feel safe," and that was the balance. That's why you see.

It was something that Chief Kemper said that many people ignore. We constantly hear about the morale in the Police Department. The morale is low; there is no morale. That just doesn't add up: 27-year high in gun arrests, 7,000 guns off the street, increase in subway enforcement, increase in arrests here. We hear constantly, "Guy committed a crime. We caught him." These cops are working. I don't know where everybody thinks this bad morale is. Cops are working every day for the people of this city because we have the right leadership in Commissioner Sewell.

Question: Mayor, some of your critics have said, and you know this, that you can't police your way out of certain problems like crime and homelessness. Are you saying that these numbers suggest otherwise?

Mayor Adams: No. I'm glad you said that, N.J., you asked that question. I use this analogy all the time. If my house is burning, don't come to me and talk about fire prevention strategies. Put out the fire, and then let's engage in a conversation about how do you prevent future fires. What we had, we had a blazing fire in our subway system. We had to deal with that fire, and that's what the governor and I said. Those who say, "Well, you know what? We need a 10-year or 20-year or five-year long-term plan," but New Yorkers don't want that. New Yorkers are saying, "What are we doing right now?" People are afraid to talk about right now. We are not. Right now, I had to make riders be safe and feel safe, and we have this long-term plan. It took a few months to rid our system of the encampments. It took a few months to get 3,000 people to go into Safe Havens and supportive housing. We know there are long-term things we have to do, but as the mayor and the governor, we have to deal with the immediate fire right now while we deal with the long-term plan. And that's what we did. That's the real partnership we're doing in so many areas. We're not only doing it here. Every area, that's how we function. Let's deal with the immediate and then let's build out the long term.

Question: Yes, Mr. Mayor, and for the governor, you have both talked about setting aside beds for the mentally ill. Where are they? And I know there was supposed to be a tour of Creedmoor, of the state facility. Who's going to be housed there, and will they be coming from the subway system?

Governor Hochul: Many will, but the problem we've had is when our SOS teams identify someone in need of help, escort them to a hospital, anticipating that they'll get an evaluation and possibly admitted, and there's not enough beds, it doesn't work. It breaks down right then and there. So we said last year — and I'll tell you, I was not thrilled with the results — we told the hospitals, "During the pandemic you took a lot of mental health beds, psychiatric beds, offline because of Covid. Understood that. But we don't have that demand for beds. We've not had it for a long time. So where are the psychiatric beds?"

Psychiatrics beds cost more. Trained psychiatric nurses, doctors. So there's less of a return on that bed financially if it's a psychiatric bed. So I was aware of this last year, so I said, "All right, what I can do is help give you a greater reimbursement from Medicaid and state assistance for you to do that. So, now hospitals, you no longer have a disincentive financially. So open up the beds." Our analysis shows that we've not had the success. We're still down beds. So this year in my state of the state I talk about we'll continue that increase of reimbursement, but there's going to be consequences. There's consequences. And I'll let the commissioner talk about our overall strategy.

But again, when someone does get that care in a hospital, we're going to hold their hand through the system and that's how we've lost too many. They cycle back in, cycle back in. We have to build 3,200, 3,500 supportive residential homes. That takes a little bit of time. 1,000 more beds to come online, and I want them like this and we're on top of this, but also stay engaged. Does this person need, are they getting their medication? Are they having remote conversations with a therapist or a mental health professional? Are they showing up for the job training program that we led them to?

That's how you keep the whole person from ending up back here again. We've not been successful at that in the past. That is what we've leaned into with a $1 billion state investment, the largest in our state's history. Finally, acknowledging there is a role, a serious role, for all of us, as a city, a state, and a community to make sure that we address this concern because it has many ripple effects, not just for that individual, but also that sense of anxiety that they could harm another individual, whether it's here or on the streets. Commissioner, did I miss anything on that? Okay.

Question: Just on the topic of public safety today, what are the city's plans for the Memphis video release? Are you gearing up for any protests? And Mr. Mayor, do you have any message for the people?

Mayor Adams: The anticipated Memphis release of the tape impacted me professionally and personally. I advocated for years, during my time in 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement Who Care and as a civil rights activist as well. To see what is reported that five African American officers are involved in this? Just really hurt me personally, because it was always my belief that diversifying our departments with different ethnic groups would allow us to have the level of policing that we all deserve.

I have not seen the video. I am going to watch the video. But my heart goes out to the family that's involved. I think the Memphis police chief responded swiftly. And I believe that New Yorkers should have the right to peacefully voice their concern over if the video is what we anticipate it to be. But it's a personal and professional painful moment for me. As a victim of police abuse as a child, I know the impact of it, and I know that the years I've spent recruiting, encouraging different groups to be part of the noble profession of policing, and what it appears is that these officers tarnish much of the work that many of us attempted to accomplish.

Question: But a little bit more on that, I apologize. Is the city planning to potentially ramp up police presence in anticipation of possibly any protests?

Mayor Adams: This Police Department is the best at responding to any forms of protests, holding major events. The police commissioner has been sitting down with the team and putting the proper strategies in place to make sure that people can peacefully voice their concerns. This Police Department knows how to respond to these incidents better than any police department on the globe. And my briefing this morning with the police commissioner, and I'm going to do a briefing this afternoon, with our team, they are fully prepared to allow New Yorkers to peacefully voice their concerns based on what's the outcome. I have not seen the video. I'm not sure of what is on it. But from the reports we're receiving that these officers appear to have violated the law.

Governor Hochul: Just on the state level as well. The New York State Police have prepared to respond to any incidents, but again, I will ask everyone to heed the words of Tyre Nichol's mother, on behalf of her family and his 4-year-old child. If you're going to protest, please do so peacefully, in her son's memory. And so that's something we all need to take to heart.

Question: Governor, how much has the state spent so far helping the city with overtime costs on the subway?

Governor Hochul: $62 million. $62 million and a quarter.

Question: Governor, is there a revenue source for that spending?

Governor Hochul: Again, we're assessing the data. Trends are much improved, but we want to make sure that we continue to be a good partner to the mayor so much more will be reviewed in our budget in the next couple of days.

Question: Governor, you spoke about consequences for hospitals for not bringing the beds back. What are those?

(Crosstalk.)

Governor Hochul: We'll get that answer for you. She'll tell you what they're doing with the hospitals. Thanks everyone.