Transcript: Mayor Adams Announces Appointment of Muhammad Faridi as Civilian Appointee for Handschu Committee

February 21, 2023

Brendan McGuire, Chief Counsel to the Mayor and City Hall: Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us. Rather, good afternoon, everyone. It's already 1:00. Thank you for joining us for this important announcement today relating to the mayor's appointment of the civilian representative to the Handschu Committee. Before I turn it over to our mayor, I just wanted to note the presence of some very important people here who have done a lot in this area over the years and who are here in support of this appointment. First, I'd like to note several of the class counsel who were involved for the plaintiffs in the Handschu litigation: Jethro Eisenstein, Martin Stolar, Franklin Siegel, Arthur Eisenberg. Also want to note the attendance here today of Naz Ahmad, who is the attorney at the CLEAR Project at CUNY, as well as a counsel to the plaintiffs in Raza v. the City of New York. Also, Christopher Bae, membership director at the Asian American Bar Association of New York. And then some additional folks, Ahmed Mohammed, legal director at the Council on American-Islamic Relations of New York; Lejla Hadzic, the President of the Muslim Bar Association of New York, and Thamanna Hussain, the vice president of MuBANY. And so we appreciate everyone's presence here and support here today. And with that, I will turn it over to our mayor, Eric Adams.

Mayor Eric Adams: Thank you. Thank you, Brendan. And those names that you mentioned, can you join us? Because one day this photo's going to be in the Museum of the City of New York. And if there's anyone that you mentioned that's not here with us, please feel free to join us. We want you to be documented in this historical moment that we are participating in. This is a significant date for me. As we outline our policies and outline what we do, I continue to reflect on my life, not only as a child, but my professional life as a police officer, the co-founder of 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement That Care and just part of the journeys that I endured before I got here. Oftentimes people know the glory of being the mayor, but you need to know the story of what I went through to get here.

As a lieutenant in the Police Department, I was under surveillance by the Police Department for a substantial period of time. And it came out in federal court that I was being followed by the department that I was a part of. I advocated on behalf of making sure Handschu was doing its job correctly. And I heard from many of my Muslim brothers and sisters during the time that people were going into their mosques that they were following them. There were things that I thought was done that was improper. And I spoke out against that as the police officer because no one should be targeted or focused on merely because of their way of life, their religious belief or who they are. And the countless number of Muslims, over a million Muslims in this city, who every day go about providing their jobs, go about looking at their families and safety and their religious right, they were treated unfairly. They were basically stigmatized and demonized because of a numerical minority that exploited a religion. And it still impacts me today on Coney Island Avenue, going there after September 11th, 2001, and watching that community decimated. I stood on 30th Street and Third Avenue where young men were swept up in the middle of the night in federal penitentiary calling for their right for them to be treated in a fair way.

So this announcement today is not an announcement I'm doing because it's politically correct, but it is another area of my life that I am saying from what I've learned, what I saw, that this is the right thing to do. And so congratulations to you, and congratulations to all of you who have been an advocate. You are waiting for this moment for us to do the right thing in the Handschu area and making sure it was done right. And so Brendan McGuire, my counsel, he found you. He stated that, "Eric, I have the perfect person." And I looked over your resume, and I was just really pleased. And it may get lost in the complete story, but there's some significant things that I zeroed in right away: John J. College, my alma mater; CUNY Law School, your dad was a cab driver.

Muhammad Faridi: Still is.

Mayor Adams: Still is. Still is a cab driver. And when you look at the makeup of not your professional resume, it's the makeup of your life. That is the qualitative, emotionally-intelligent people we need to be in these important decisions. And I'm just proud for you to be there. You are going to be the only civilian member to be in a room with law enforcement. I have the utmost of faith in Chief Galati, but you have to go in there and stand on behalf of what's right. We have a myopic view sometimes when we are in law enforcement, we view things differently, and we need that civilian oversight and view at the table because this is not a police state. This is the United States, and that means our civilian runs our country. And so your presence is important. So it's my honor to appoint to this important Handschu Committee, Muhammad Faridi as the civilian representative of the Handschu Committee. He's the first Muslim American to fulfill this important role, something that if you are keeping count, you hear that often in our administration as we dismantle those historical barriers that prevent successful, qualitative people to come into an administration and make these decisions that impact the diversity of the city.

I know how important it is, and I am deeply committed to fairness and accountability in policing. Then as mayor, it is my responsibility to ensure that all New Yorkers, regardless of their background, enjoy equal protection under the law. The guidelines that regulate police in investigation to political or religious activity were created back in 1980s during the time of my start in law enforcement. And in 2017, the Handschu Committee was created in response to federal lawsuits that led to improper investigation by the NYPD into the Muslim community. So it's especially fitting that a respected member of the Muslim community is appointed to this oversight role. We did not hear one negative thing about your appointment, and that's impossible with a city with 8.5 million people and 35 million opinions. No one had a negative comment about your appointment. And so you are the person that's the right person for the right time. And you received overwhelming community support, not only in your community, but outside your community. Your experience as a litigator who has served as a chair of the executive committee of the New York City Bar Association, and I'm proud that you serve our advisory committee on the judiciary.

Muhammad, you have continued to serve all New Yorkers and will be the civilian representative of the Handschu Committee. Our city's prosperity depends on justice and safety, and civilian oversight makes justice for all possible. And now I want to invite Muhammad to speak and just say congratulations for you and thank you for taking this awesome responsibility. Thank you very much.

Faridi: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Thank you for the very kind remarks. I wish my mother was here to hear all of that. This is a very important role, and as the mayor noted, the work of this committee is of extraordinary importance, not just to the Muslim community, but to all communities in New York. The oversight structure that has been set up and approved by the federal court, it's unprecedented. It's extraordinary. And the role that the civilian representative has in that particular structure is also unprecedented. And the representative, as the mayor mentioned, is charged with ensuring equal protection of the law in police surveillance and police investigations and reporting any systematic and repeated violations of individuals' civil liberties and civil rights to the federal court.

I want to recognize the important work that my predecessor, Judge Stephen Robinson, did on the committee. I hope to emulate his work. If I do that by a fraction, I would be honored. And as the first Muslim representative on this committee, that particular note is not lost on me. The Muslim community and all communities, I understand that they're looking at me and they want to make sure that the NYPD does the right thing. It's some of the most important work that the NYPD does for our city and our country. I look forward to working with Chief Galati and the other members of the committee on this very important work that they do. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Thank you, Brendan.

McGuire: So I'd now like to introduce Chief Galati, who has been the backbone of the NYPD's Intelligence Division for many years now. Just as he and his team embraced the work and the partnership with Judge Stephen Robinson, Muhammed's predecessor, they were also instrumental in this selection process and are just as supportive as the rest of us are about his appointment. So I'll invite Chief Galati to come up to say a few words as well. Thank you, sir.

Thomas Galati, Chief of Intelligence and Counterterrorism, Police Department: Thank you. And good afternoon to everybody. Mr. Mayor. I just want to begin by thanking Judge Stephen Robinson, the first civilian representative to the Handschu Committee, for his wise and thoughtful counsel. He has been critically important to our department and our bureau for the past five years. He has unselfishly fulfilled his role, donating his own time to the people of the City of New York. And it's a tremendous service that he was the first person to assume the role of civilian representative. So thank you, Judge Robinson. The civilian representative plays a vital role in providing us with the objective perspective on issues of paramount importance. On behalf of the Intelligence Bureau and Counterintelligence Bureau, we would like to welcome Mr. Muhammad Faridi as he assumes the role of the civilian representative to the Handschu Committee. Mr. Faridi brings an extraordinary level of experience and knowledge. We look forward to working with you, Mr. Faridi, as the goal is of the Intelligence Division to keep the city safe by adhering to the Handschu Guidelines. Thank you, sir.

McGuire: As the mayor pointed out, Mr. Faridi is a true product of the city as an alum both John Jay and CUNY Law School. And we are happy to say we're joined here today by CUNY Law School's dean, Sudha Setty. And so I will invite her to come up and share a few words as well.

Sudha Setty, Dean, CUNY Law School: So thank you very much, and thank you, Mayor Adams, for having me and to the entire staff for your work with the Handschu Committee and for your appointment of Muhammad Faridi, a proud alum of CUNY Law School, as the civilian representative. I also want to acknowledge the work that Naz Ahmad and Ramzi Kassem from the Creating Law Enforcement Accountability and Responsibility clinic at CUNY Law School have been doing over the years, often with Muhammad and his firm, Patterson Belknap, to advocate for New Yorkers who are in need and New Yorkers who perhaps have not been treated as fairly as they should by the systems that help to protect all of us and to keep us safe.

I acknowledge, like many of us, that Muhammad is a wonderful, devoted lawyer and servant, and as the dean of CUNY Law School, I get to thank him not so much for his work with the City Bar and everything else, but for his work with the law school, for giving back to us and our community at the law school foundation, for being a thought partner and generosity of mind and spirit with what you do. And I am sure that those are the qualities that you'll bring to this important crucial work that the Handschu Committee is doing.

You exemplify what we do at CUNY Law School in terms of law and service of human needs and doing that in an important role that helps us live up to the ideals of protecting New York and protecting people's human and civil rights everywhere. So congratulations, Muhammad, and thank you for the work you're about to embark on.

Question: How are you doing?

Mayor Adams: Quite well, how are you?

Question: Good. Good. I had a question for you. You spoke a lot about technology and how you want to harness it, specifically with the NYPD to help solve crimes. I think some of the technologies that have been out there or maybe that will be in the future could provide more firepower for surveillance. And so I'm wondering if you think this committee has sort of an increased importance now with maybe some of the new tools we don't even know their impacts yet coming?

Mayor Adams: No, I don't think it is a greater importance because they have a mayor that's not going to allow us to violate what Handschu stands for. I think that we sort of underestimate having a mayor that fought on behalf of not having over abuse in protecting people. You cannot break the law to protect people within the law. And I stated that over and over again.

I don't know how all of a sudden my historical advocacy around that has been rewritten. I have been the leading voice in this city and country about protecting the rights of people. We can use technology, a camera's technology, and thank God we have cameras in our city because we catch bad and dangerous people, but we should not be abusing it. We're not going to abuse the law and hide behind we're protecting the law. And like I stated, I have utmost respect for the ability of Chief Galati. He's done an amazing job of keeping our city safe and going after those who want to destroy our way of life.

Question: Yeah, I wanted to ask Mr. Faridi and anyone else can kind of just explain what your time commitment is to this and if you want to talk a little bit about any previous cases you've worked on and other prior experience you've had that makes you such a great fit for this position. They were (inaudible).

Faridi: I understand this is going to require a significant time commitment and I've had many conversations with Brendan and others about it. And to make space for this in my time, I'm going to step away from, mayor, your committee, the advisory committee on the judiciary, which was another significant time commitment. I do some work at the Bar Association and I'm going to step away from that. And my firm is fully committed to giving me the opportunity and the time to work on this. I will have to deal with my clients. That's a different issue. But I'm sure my clients will also be happy to see me serve the city in this role.

Question: Will you still teach at Fordham Law School as well?

Faridi: I do teach at Fordham now and I teach one semester a year. And I think I'll have to reconsider that next year. My semester this year is going to come to an end in May. I've enjoyed teaching. I've done it for the past five years and I think I'll have to reconsider whether I want to do that next year.

Question: Just considering this committee has — it's mostly made up of NYPD — how much power does the civilian member have to influence decisions or investigations?

Mayor Adams: A lot. The way the Handschu Guidelines are laid out, if he or she believes something is done incorrectly, they have an opportunity to communicate with the police commissioner and then they can go to the judge. So there's some real protections here and the goal is to make sure it's effectively done.

Question: I was wondering if the mayor or maybe Brendan could give an update on the 2017 lawsuit by Black Lives Matter protesters involving surveillance tactics that the police used. I know in 2019 a judge ordered the NYPD to turn over what they had on that, but I don't know what has happened since. And I'd also be interested in hearing from Mr. Faridi on what he thinks of that case.

Mayor Adams: Brendan.

McGuire: I'll just say that there are elements of that case that are still ongoing with the city's Law Department. So I'm not going to comment on the ongoing litigation.

Question: There's been no documents turned over regarding the court, the original…

McGuire: I don't know enough to say that, that there's been no documents turned over. I just know that there are parts of it that are still pending. Yeah. I don't know if you want to comment on…

Faridi: I have nothing to comment, nothing to provide rather. I'm not the counsel in that case. I haven't followed the... I know as much as you do. I remember reading about it and the judge's order in 2019. But above and beyond that, I don't have any information.

Question: I just wanted to follow up on Joe's question about the new technology. Is that — for instance, facial recognition technology — is that something that you think the Handschu Committee is responsible for looking at? I was wondering if somebody could give us a sense of what specifically… My understanding is that it's to determine whether an investigation be brought forward on terrorism or political equity, but could somebody just give us a sense of what it encompasses in what it doesn't?

McGuire: What it really encompasses is the justification for an investigation in layperson's terms. And it's not looking at particular types of issues like surveillance or the use of search warrants or other types of law enforcement techniques. What it is doing is it is ensuring, consistent with the consent decree in the case, that the NYPD is following the guidelines as those are prescribed, as they justify a case when they open a case, when they characterize a case in a particular way.

And so there is an incredible, and Mr. Faridi commented on it earlier, this is an incredible mechanism. This is not common in the rest of the world. It allows for this committee, and in particular this representative, to get access, and Chief Galati can speak to this, to get access to incredibly sensitive information in real time to ensure that there is this civilian outsider perspective.

In the case of Mr. Faridi, a non-law enforcement perspective. He does not have a law enforcement background. And that is also, I think, important to point out. So it is about what they call the justification or the predication for investigations to ensure that the foundation for those is solid before they proceed.

Question: Mayor Adams, just a quick follow up. Do you feel that this sort of mechanism should be replicated in municipalities, other parts of the country? It sounds like it's pretty unique to New York City.

Mayor Adams: And it is. When I speak with my colleagues across the country, I think that people can learn from what the Handschu decision has brought about and I think it's something that could be duplicated. They must do the analysis to determine that doesn't fit what they see as proper practices in their municipalities. But I believe it's a real plus and hopefully others will look at what we are doing. Having that civilian aspect of it, I just believe it's crucial.

Question: There's a sense, at least among some folks, that the NYPD takes threats of left wing protests, for example, Black Lives Matter more seriously than right wing, for example, pro-life protestors, that sort of thing. Do you have this sense? Do you think that the NYPD could, I don't know, I guess have a… Is the NYPD biased in that way? Would you like to see any changes? And what do you personally think is the biggest threat, the biggest political threat to New York City?

Mayor Adams: When I became mayor, I was able to get briefings on some of those sensitive issues. And let's be clear, the NYPD does not sit behind the door and say a threat that came from a left wing or right wing or moderate, we're going to investigate differently. It's clear: safety to New York City is going to respond correctly. Doesn't matter if it's the Proud Boys or if it's the boys hanging out in the bar. They're going to do the same.

And I just rarely push back on anyone that believes based on the political philosophy of an individual, they're going to have a less of an investigation. That's just not going to happen. And it's darn sure not going to happen while I'm the mayor of this city.

Okay, we'll do a few off-topic. Should I have Galati hang out with me just in case some of these guys get rough? No, it's all good. Thank you. Congratulations to you.

Question: So yesterday, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis was in Staten Island, a place that's very popular with former President Donald Trump. You exchanged some words with his press secretary. She was poking fun at the out migration from New York to Florida. But then DeSantis also in his speech was talking to members of law enforcement saying, "Listen," and I'm paraphrasing, "Some of you cops, et cetera, come to Florida." And he also was poking fun at the state's bail laws and lack of judicial discretion on the state end. I'm just wondering what do you make of that? Again, on the out migration aspect and then also him specifically talking about crime, which has been your number one issue.

Mayor Adams: Well, listen, if someone states that it is wrong to rob someone, then we also say it doesn't matter what political place we belong to, doesn't matter what our beliefs are. Crime is in far too many states in our region. But there's a qualitative difference from what we believe here, our governor, what I believe, and then what he believes. We don't believe in treating people differently if they're part of the LGBTQ+ community. We just don't believe in the things that he believe in.

We don't believe in using asylum seekers as props, sending them around the country. So there's a philosophical disagreement. And as he came to the city, I wanted him to understand this is a city where we have a different philosophy and far too many of the things he believe in. But hey, all of us believe that people should have the right to safety. And I support that and I'm happy to know that he believes that as well. But you have to back that up and not support the over proliferation of guns in our country that is harming far too many New Yorkers.

Question: If he has a different philosophy than you said that New Yorkers do, then why was he so comfortable to come here and so far ahead — or not so far ahead — but to essentially start this campaign if he is going to be running for president. Why does he feel comfortable here and talking about the message?

Mayor Adams: Everybody's comfortable coming to New York. This is a diverse city and you are going to find those who will embrace your philosophy no matter who you are. They're the smaller number. But it's clear that this city and this diversity… Like I say, I say it all the time, 8.5 million people, 35 million different opinions. And so, he went to a location and spoke to individuals who he believed felt the same way that he did. Would you get that same belief in his philosophy throughout the entire city? No, I don't think so.

Question: Mr. Mayor, your comments just now regarding the LGBT community, regarding the Staten Island St. Patrick's Parade. Exclusion continues. The community board has called on you to cease city resources going toward the parade. Police, Sanitation, that sort of thing. What is your position on that and what steps would you like to take to see the parade become more inclusive?

Mayor Adams: I'm not marching, I'm hoping that they do become more inclusive. It's so important for us to continue to evolve. Some of the things, mindsets and thoughts, are just outdated. They're just outdated and we all have to evolve in the way we think. And I'm surprised that the community board will state, take resources away like police and fire. That just makes no sense. It makes no sense. We have an obligation to make sure that any event in our city is properly protected and we properly ensure that it's done in an orderly fashion.

And I'm not going to allow my belief in how the parade is not inclusive enough to get in the way. My role as the mayor is to make sure large gatherings are receiving the proper police protection, that after parades things are cleaned up, because there are residents that live in that community and it's the right thing to do. And I'm not going to mix the two. I'm not marching in the parade. I am hoping that they've reached the point of continuing understanding that it's about allowing people to participate based on their beliefs. And we should continue to move in that direction.

Question: Mr. Mayor, we wrote a little bit ago about Richard Whint who was appointed as a deputy commissioner at the Department of Buildings. And I believe at that level, that sign off goes all the way up to you as mayor. I was wondering if you could talk a little bit about, this was a big role and a big jump for him from where he was as an assistant chief inspector, just what some of his qualifications were. And then just a quick follow up, a lot of other employees at that level and I think in all city government kind of go through a lot of different steps of promotions and raises. So, I'm curious, he made a pretty big jump. Was there any sort of special circumstances that contributed to that?

Mayor Adams: The former commissioner that was there did an extensive search and came up with the best names. And when it was brought to us, my administration on all high-level… I raised the question. I said, "Why are we doing this? This is a substantial increase." We brought them back in, which I normally don't do. We brought them back in as a second round to justify. It was clear from the commissioner he was the best qualified. He brought a level of expertise and experience that was important. And after speaking to the commissioner and deputy mayor, we said, "Okay, you can move ahead." Now, we've had a number of people, if you do an analysis, that had substantial increases because there was a lot of experienced people who were being left behind who had great ideas.

They brought great expertise, great knowledge in government, but for whatever reason, they were not allowed to move up. And so, if you were to do an analysis of how many people who were in the fields for years that they were brought to us in our analysis, and we stated that this is a good decision and a good movement for them. And based on what was shared with me, he was the best qualified that put him for the position. The commissioner at the time felt that he's going to do a great job. And I have not heard any complaints over there. But we need to be clear, because I don't want to get a distorted view. This is not a friend, this is an employee that was brought to me by the commissioner.

Question: You were talking about some of the other folks who kind of were in that same position, were they'd kind of been overlooked? Do you mean just within DOB or have you found that in other agencies?

Mayor Adams: Other agencies. I found it in many agencies. And I have to take my hat off to the deputy mayors and the commissioners. They have gone into their agencies and started to look for talent that was overlooked for many years. And they brought that talent forward. And not only did it help in our diversity, it helped diversity and gender and ethnicity. It also allowed us to hear from people who were on the ground, not only in the Department of Buildings, but in several of our agencies. We've had a lot of talent that was sitting on the bench. And we've opened the bench to hear from those different groups.

And I'm very excited about the products. And one could critique this administration as much as possible. But I mean, our talent in this team is a great team. This team is a committed, dedicated team, and we continue to move the ball down the field. With all of the crises that we've been inundated with, this team is doing an amazing job. I'm going out tonight to ride the subway with some of our outreach workers. Many of them were doing this job, had great ideas, they should now move up. They shouldn't have to only spend their entire career doing the same job when they bring more expertise.

Question: Mr. Mayor, two of my colleagues last week had a story on Gothamist and WNYC about you appointing yourself to the MTAs Capital Review Board. That came through a foil, not from an announcement from your office. So one, why keep that a secret? And then, two, what's the message you're trying to send to the MTA and the governor by appointing yourself?

Mayor Adams: Well, did you get my smile? Well, first, former First Deputy Mayor Lorraine Grillo stated that it was through her office that we wanted an appointment. It didn't necessarily have to be me. We wanted an appointment from the mayor's office. I have stated it several times that I believe New York City should have an appointment from each borough that would sit on the board. I think New York City's treated unfairly. The largest ridership, with the economic engine. We are just not having our voices being heard. So, it wasn't that Eric needed to sit on the board. That was not it. It was that First Deputy Mayor Lorraine Grillo stated that from the mayor's office, someone should sit on the board.

Question: So it won’t be you?

Mayor Adams: Well, I have so much to do. It could be anyone. Brendan can do it.

Question: Mayor Adams?

Mayor Adams: Yes.

Question: I want to ask you, my colleague Greg Smith today wrote a story about DCAS and the city auctioning off, for really pennies on the dollar, some of the hundreds of millions of dollars of items that were purchased during peak Covid administrative emergency procurements. A followup question is some of the stuff that was auctioned off is stuff that you think the city might want, if there ever is another situation like we had with Covid. Does the city feel confident enough with its stockpile of hospital gowns… And remember, back in 2020, they didn't have hospital gowns. So was there confidence that the city already has enough stuff or could easily get this if there is, unfortunately not, but if there is another pandemic? And I guess if you have any thoughts on… I know you weren't the mayor at the time, but it was a lot of money spent under these emergency contracts and not as much coming out after.

Mayor Adams: This is a case where the rule does not fit the circumstance. The charter calls for a 90-day stockpile. After that 90-day, we have to make the determination, of my understanding, either to auction it off, give it away, or discard it. That's just a bad rule. And so, as you stated, hundreds of millions of dollars will auction off for $500,000. We need to reexamine that rule. Covid created an environment that none of us expected, and so we had to purchase far more than what we would have traditionally purchased. So, somewhere in the charter rule, we need to state that under certain circumstances, we are not forced with, "Hey, it's 90 days, let's get rid of this stuff, no matter what the cost is that's associated with it."

I think that that needs to be re-examined. And I'm going to communicate with the team and figure out what options do we have because taxpayers dollars should be spent better. But that is a charter rule, 90 days. And some of the stuff… Now let's be clear, some of the stuff was no longer any good. If it said it's expired and we can get pennies on the dollars for it, because what does not meet our criteria may meet another criteria in another municipality. So, we had to reply to that 90 day. It wasn't as though we said, "Let's just sell the stuff off and get whatever we want." There was a charter decision, a charter mandate, I was trying to find, that stated, "This is what we have to do in 90 days."

Question: Mr. Mayor, there's been one…

Mayor Adams: You didn't call on (inaudible.)

Question: I'm last today. I haven't been here in so long.

Mayor Adams: Where have you been?

Question: Exactly. There's been a lot of talk over the last couple of weeks about all of the casino applications that have come in.

Mayor Adams: Yes.

Question: It's my understanding that you or a representative will be appointed to many of these boards that have to oversee the applications or examine them and decide whether or not they're a good fit. I'm wondering if you have a favorite thus far? If you think there's a certain area of the city where a casino would be better, versus let's say Times Square or Citi Field, just if you have a favorite?

Mayor Adams: Not at all. And we are not engaged… In my understanding, I have not been following the casino dance, because of my understanding, it's the Gaming Commission that's going to make the ultimate decision. I just want… Down here, as part of our rebuild, recovery, reinvent our city, the casino would help. Does it matter where it is? I'm in favor of having one here. The jobs, bringing people into the city. We see how successful the casino is out in Aqueduct. I just think that we should have it somewhere here in the city. I have not been following this at all. And I believe we have one role to do on some of the local stuff, but other than that, I'm not familiar with it at all.

Question: Thank you. Mr. Mayor. Another teenager died in a subway surfing incident. And the amount of, the numbers of… The MTA doesn't specify subway surfing, but people who are traveling outside of the train has skyrocketed. Is there any plan, or NYPD, any kind of plan to look at this, review it or do something better?

Mayor Adams: Yeah. And I think the number was 500 percent increase and the number is… One is too many. And if you have two, the number is going to give the impression of an increase. And when I heard the story about this particular incident, on how it unfolded yesterday, it was just really traumatic on a number of occasions without going into the details of it. But I'm concerned about what happened. And this morning on our briefing, we are going to do a series of things to raise awareness of exactly how to just touch the consciousness of our young people. All of that… I mean, you're dumb, you're young, you do things that are foolish. I've done some foolish things as a young person. You feel invincible. You feel as though riding on top of the subway is just something that is just subway surfing. And this was really a terrible, tragic incident of this young man. And our team is going to do a host of things to bring awareness, to speak with other young people and really show how dangerous it is. We have some incidents where some young people survived from doing it, but I saw a video a few weeks ago when we had around about five or six young people on top of the train. And so an incident like this ends in tragedy, but when it doesn't, young people have a tendency to believe it's not a dangerous encounter. It's very dangerous.

Question: What about the role that social media is playing? There are these competitions on TikTok, et cetera, they want to outdo each other, dare each other.

Mayor Adams: I don't think that we have properly analyzed what social media is doing to us in general, specifically to our young people. And I am hoping that the president calls a National Blue Ribbon Commission to really analyze this thing that has really dropped into our lives, how it has impacted young girls and how they feel about themselves. There is this social media contest that you are doing a competition of going to steal, I think the cars are Kia cars, one of these cars that the young people are doing. Subway surfing… I don't know if we really understand that when you are in your most impressionable years and you are being fed this stuff all day, every day, all day, every day. Some of these sites, they're more addictive than drugs. People can't get off them. And you start duplicating this behavior… And we must look at drill music.

Some of these things we call our young people to do, how to define themselves, depression, teaches suicide. This stuff is just… How to make a gun. And then they act like they're not doing anything wrong. They know the algorithms. They know who they're going after. They know what they're seeking. And then when you look at what happened in Buffalo, with the Buffalo shooter, he was radicalized on social media. Social media is impacting our lives and they're robbing our children of their innocence. And I just believe on a national level that I think the national government must come in and say, what is the corporate responsibility of social media? And I'm just surprised this hasn't been done. And I've been talking about this for some time. There's a role social media is playing in what we're seeing carrying out in our society.

Question: Just to follow up on two questions. To follow up on Bernadette's question before on DeSantis and it came up about the attrition and the police migrating to down south, to Florida to take jobs there. Does the NYPD need to hire more officers to account for that? And in the ongoing budget process, how many more cops does the city need if that's the case?

Mayor Adams: We'll give you the exact number of how many more police officers we need. And I stated this before, it was a misnomer that no one wants to join the New York City Police Department. That's just not true. What we were doing, the process was taking too long. Commissioner Pinnock from DCAS, speaking with the police commissioner and her team, we are now creating a different way for the exam to take place. We were waiting too long to do the exams and we have to have a real recruitment plan. The recruitment in our city historically has been waiting until people take an exam. And we were not competitive enough. And we're changing that. And with our hiring halls, as I mentioned last week, 800 people showed up at the hiring halls. We're going to start being on college campuses, our seniors who are graduating from school.

We are going to start doing things differently to bolster our numbers. And the goal is that you're going to have everybody that's going to try to get a New York City police officer to come to their municipality. This is the best trained police department. A police officer in New York City can go run some of the counties’ police departments because of the level of training and experience that they receive. And so people going to always try to grab our guys. But being a member of the New York City Police Department, trust me, there is no other law enforcement experience. And we're going to continue to recruit to bolster our numbers, but we'll get the exact numbers that we need.

Question: Is that what we're talking about, the target you guys want to hit as far as total number of cops?

Mayor Adams: We'll find out what the exact numbers that the police commissioner needs, but we will make sure we have the proper number of police officers to keep the city safe. It's about keeping the city safe and they're doing a remarkable job. I always hear people talk about the morale of police officers. If the morale is low, the product is not showing that. The number of arrests, the numbers of gun removals, the number of carrying out their actions every day. Our police officers are doing an amazing job under unusual circumstances.

Question: Mr. Mayor, we just went through caucus weekend. You went up there. Can you give us an idea of how your conversations with all the new lawmakers went, especially when it comes to some of your priorities, migrant funding, MTA, all that?

Mayor Adams: Good, good. Had some great conversations with the speaker of… I saw the leader of the Senate. She was under the weather, but she took out some time to speak, meeting with other lawmakers up there. Had real good, some great forums, great panelists that were sharing some good information. I think it was a good week. And caucus week is a good time to have an informal conversation. And I believe we're going to have an excellent year in Albany. We have some good things. We have a governor that we are aligned on some of the important issues and that's some issues that we disagree on. And we're going to speak with the leaders in both chambers and the elected officials from New York City to make sure New York is not treated unfairly during this cycle, but there's some real stuff. I was speaking with Brendan and the Council over the weekend.

We have to zero in on this cannabis stuff. This cannabis stuff is a real problem. And we must make sure that we can't have people have a mockery of our system. I know the Post wrote a couple of articles right across the street where someone is… We go in, we do enforcement, and I think we can only do $250 fine. I thought it was less than that. But that's the cost of doing business. And our police officers can't take the necessary action of… We need to be targeting those landlords that knowingly are renting the space. And so we're going to put a package together just to deal with cannabis so this does not get out of hand. We are about up to about 14, 1,500, cannabis illegal cannabis shops. And it's not only that they're selling illegal cannabis, but they're targeting young people.

They're opening it in schools. You can even sell alcohol within a certain distance of schools. Some of these products are targeting our young people. Now, I want everybody to go back to when I was on the debate stage and I was asked a question about legalization of cannabis. And my approach was different from everyone else that was on that stage because I was concerned about the signal that we were sending out. And I don't know who it was that did the story, I think it was the Daily News, it couldn't have been yours, Michael, because it was a great story.

But there was a story in the Daily News that showed the impact on cannabis in children. Children are getting high on their way to school. Children are taking these gummy bears. I must be old-fashioned. People don't realize what's happening in our country and in our city. We have to start refocusing. These children are waking up in the morning, going into the store, getting gummy bears that's laced with marijuana, and then they’re going to go in school and learn, and they're opening up all around us? No, no, no. We are losing our grip. And because I say no to that, I got to be the bad guy. No. I just know what it takes to raise healthy children and families and we have created an environment in this city and country where we are harming our children. We always talk about build a better planet for our children, we have to build better children for our planet. And we're not doing that. Thanks a lot.

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