Transcript: Mayor Adams Calls In For Live Interview On 1010 Wins’ “Morning Drive”

March 6, 2024

Scott Stanford: We've been reporting all morning about the governor's press conference coming up at 10 a.m., the topic, fighting violence in and on the subways. We're joined this morning by New York Mayor Eric Adams. Mayor, thanks for a few minutes this morning my friend. We have the mayor? No? 

Mayor Adams: Thank you, great to be here with you. 

Stanford: Oh, there he is. There he is. Hold on, mayor, you were muted, my man. You were muted. Can you hear me now? 

Mayor Adams: I can hear you fine. 

Stanford: All right, mayor. Thank you. Boy, these Zoom calls, my friend. These Zoom calls. 

Listen, mayor, let's start with the topic right at the forefront: crime in the subways, right? Big press conference with Governor Hochul this morning, the two of you working closely together. First of all, I thought for sure you'd be joining her today, no? 

Mayor Adams: No, my schedule didn't allow me to do so, I'm moving around the city. But her message is important. She has been a real partner on this issue of crime. And we know what we're dealing with right now. We're dealing with not only the stats that people must be actually safe but how people feel as well. 

We don't state that the fact that of all the crime in the city only two percent of it is in our subway system or that with over four million riders we get a day we have about six felonies that take place on the system a day. We know that we can continue to do better. 

We had a surge in January, but because we responded accordingly— a thousand more cops in the subway system, 12‑hour tours for our police officers— we witnessed in a month of February a 15 percent decrease in crime in our subway system. 

January crime was driven by grand larcenies, which is slush workers, you know, 50 percent of the crime is when people are sleeping or pickpockets. We have really leaned into that without pickpocket squads. Our goal is the omnipresence of police, doing the bag checks again and making sure that our police are moving throughout the system. 

Stanford: Yes, mayor, I was going to ask, because her press conference today is really to talk about more resources headed this way to fight that violence underground. Can you give us a little preview? Are bag checks included in all of that as well? 

Mayor Adams: Yes. We're going to be doing random bag checks throughout the entire system so we can deter people who want to carry dangerous items into the subway system, but at the same time, it really gives the omnipresence feel. Nothing really makes people feel safe more than seeing the visible presence of police officers. 

But I want to give you one stat that many people are not aware of, and that is the recidivism crisis we are having: 38 people who were arrested for assaulting transit employees only, 38 people were arrested 1,126 times in our city for a crime, just 38 people. And that's the same with the above ground: 542 people were arrested for shoplifting, they were arrested over 7,600 times in our city. If we don't clamp down on this recidivism, you're going to continue to see bad people do bad things to good people in the city. 

Stanford: Well, in that note, is it time for Albany to maybe reconsider their stance on the bail laws and what crimes require bail? 

Mayor Adams: Well, there in some cases where bail are eligible, we found that there's a reluctancy of judges of carrying out the bail, like the women who struck the cello player in the head with a metal bottle. She was out on, released on her own recognizance with outstanding bench warrants. And then, believe it or not, she just got arrested yesterday for another crime, although she was released. 

This is the problem that we're facing, because criminal justice is police, prosecutors and judges, and all of us must work in alignment to ensure we get the safety that New Yorkers need. And we have great partnership with our DAs, we need everyone to be in alignment with us. 

Stanford: Mayor, so you talk about added officers to the subways, the bag checks. You and the governor have certainly been out in front of this thing. You know, what's it going to take for subway riders each and every day to feel safe when they're riding those trains and waiting on those platforms? 

Because I'll tell you what, you know, a lot of the folks we speak to here on the radio, they don't feel safe out there every day. 

Mayor Adams: And it has a lot to do with the random acts of violence, like the conductor being slashed in the neck. I guarantee you, when we catch this guy— and we will catch him— I bet you he's one of the 38ers that we talk about. But these random acts of violence [are] really playing on the psyche of New Yorkers. 

We don't like it. We know that it gets in the way of the real results that we have shown in this city in driving down crime. But these random acts of someone being shoved to the tracks or someone being assaulted for no reason at all, it really hurts what we have accomplished in the city of making this city safe. 

We're the safest big city in America, and that's the fact. But now we have to turn that actual stat into the actual feeling of New Yorkers. And we're conscious of that, more work to be done. And I am persisting on it when I'm in that subway system, riding around, speaking to New Yorkers and talking to the Chief of Police of the transit system, Chief Kemper, that is our role is to have that uniformed officer as visible as possible so we could deter crime and make New Yorkers feel safe. 

Stanford: Mayor, got about 45 seconds left. You said you were implementing a curfew with the Randall's Island migrant shelter, 11pm to 6am, same as the others. Have the asylum seekers been adhering to these curfews? Are you seeing less trouble spots since the curfews have been imposed? 

Mayor Adams: Yes, yes, we are. And think about this for a moment. The Randall's Island, I was on Randall's Island the other day doing a walkthrough, over a thousand people are there. You're not hearing the level of violence that comes out of a place where you have 1,000 people that can't do anything, they can't work, they can't, you know, provide for themselves. 

This is just an unfortunate circumstance that the national government has placed [on] those who are trying to take the next step on [the] American dream. We need to allow people to work, we need to give them temporary protective status, and we need to have this properly funded. To get only roughly close to $150 million on a $4 billion budget, that's just not fair to New Yorkers. 

But I was elected, as I say all the time, not to define the problem, but to solve the problem, and we've been solving the problem every day. People of New York should be proud of what we have done, but the national government must step up. 

Stanford: New York Mayor Eric Adams. Mayor, thank you, sir, for a few minutes this morning. Have a great day. 

Mayor Adams: You, too. Take care.