Natasha Verma: Well, now to Mayor Adams. Today he released the latest stats addressing crime in the subway system.
Bianca Peters: That's right, and according to the mayor, overall crime declined by more than 23 percent in March, with robberies down nearly 52 percent, and felony assaults down nearly 11 percent. Now, these stats also show that since the beginning of 2024, overall arrests in the subway system are up almost 53 percent compared to last year, which does include more than an 83 percent increase in gun arrests.
Verma: But for many New Yorkers, no matter what the numbers show, they still fear for their safety.
Peters: With us now is Mayor Adams to talk more about these crime stats released today. Thanks so much for joining us, mayor.
Mayor Eric Adams: Thank you very, very much. And I completely understand how New Yorkers feel. I say this over and over again, the challenge this amazing city is facing, recidivism. They're seeing these crimes happen over and over with repeated offenders, those with severe mental health illness.
And then random acts of violence. Nothing shakes you more than experiencing a random act of violence, and that is why we're zeroing in on the omnipresence of our police.
Verma: Now, you talk about these stats being an effort to make people feel safe, but I know last week you did say stats don't matter if people don't believe that they are in a safe environment. So, do you think these stats now will make people feel differently?
Mayor Adams: And what I say is that you can't give people stats if they feel unsafe. That's what I'm saying. It matters overall because the narrative should be what I've been saying for some time. This is not a city out of control. This is a city where we believe in law and order.
And I can point to some cities across this country that is sort of frightening what you're seeing, but not in New York. We don't see encampments all over all over our city. Our crime is decreasing, our subway city system is safe.
But I know New Yorkers also want to feel safe, and as long as you have these random acts of violence that you're seeing from time to time, it's going to make people feel as though they're not as safe as they would like to be.
Verma: Yes, I mean random act of violence happening more and more often is not so random. I mean, you say that crime is down in the subway, but then why push for the National Guard and extra cops?
Mayor Adams: Well, you said random acts of violence are not random anymore, but they are, because the numbers are saying they are. You can't have 4.1 million people on the subway system and six felonies a day. That is a number that we have to factor in.
And I've always knew our system was safe, but I know how people feel about being safe. And this is what riders said to me the other day when I was on the subway system. We love seeing our cops. We love seeing the visibility of the uniformed officer.
The governor, to her credit, said, if we need National Guard, let's do it, particularly at places like Penn Station, Grand Central Station. It fits in. People love the uniform presence as we stabilize how people are feeling.
Peters: You mentioned you spoke to some subway riders. We did our homework as well, we talked to some as well about this very issue. Let's take a listen to what they have to say.
[Video plays.]
New Yorker: Oh, I'm not that safe, but I'm a New Yorker, so I know how to navigate it. But it's getting worse day by day.
New Yorker: Um, somewhat. Some guy was throwing up and he pulled down his pants in front of me. It was horrible.
New Yorker: Right now I was worried about getting pushed over the train or getting stabbed for no apparent reason, things like that. And that's coming from like the homeless people or the people with mental health issues.
New Yorker: I've seen a lot of like, people, and you can tell are like on substances or something. And, uh, luckily I haven't had any incidents.
[Video ends.]
Verma: Yes, I mean, you heard what they're saying.
Mayor Adams: Listen to what they said. Right, right. Now, look at it. Let's break down what they said, because it's so important. And I bet you if you ask each one of them, have you ever had an experience on a train that was negative? I bet you they will all tell you no.
And look at the descriptions that they gave you: homeless people, mental health, extreme mental health issues, what they are feeling of being pushed on a train track…
Peters: You know, mayor…
Mayor Adams: Look at what they're saying.
Peters: Yes, we are, and that's why we played that clip for you, because we're saying, they just said they don't feel safe. And you know, just to bring up the stat, just to have you respond to it, 538 subway crimes between January 1st and March 31st.
You said six felonies a day in the subway system and you're saying it's not out of control, but what number would constitute being out of control?
Mayor Adams: Well, clearly if you have 4.1 million riders and you're having six felonies a day on a system of that vastness in close proximity, one is too many for me, and want to be clear on that. We don't want to dismiss six felonies that take place on our system.
But we can't take away from the increase in arrests by our police officers, the job they have been doing every day in keeping New Yorkers safe, on quality of life issues and even fare evasion enforcement.
So, one can not say, well, if you have a thousand crimes a day, then you're out of control. I won't do that to New Yorkers. But if you go to the average New Yorker, one person told me, we must have about 300 crimes a day on our system, when we have six felony crimes a day on our system.
Because that's how New Yorkers feel at this time, and I've got to make sure that they are safe and feel safe at the same time.
Verma: So, let me just say, that's crimes underground, so let's go above ground. And you mentioned that a lot of these crimes are going unreported, so many businesses don't always report them because of this idea of revolving door justice.
You have these random crimes, acts of violence where women are getting punched in the face, attacks in Central Park that just came out. Why do you think we are seeing this now?
Mayor Adams: Well, first of all, I never stated that crimes are going unreported. That was a question that was presented by one of the reporters. Crimes are reported. When people are victims of serious crimes or crimes that they feel they want the police to know about, trust me, New Yorkers are opinionated and they report when a crime takes place in their vicinity.
Here's our problem. Any time you have 542 people arrested for shoplifting and they committed over 7,600 crimes in the city, that's a recidivist problem. When you have 38 people that assault transit employees and they were arrested over 1,100 times, that's a recidivist problem and you have a revolving door where we're not using of the authority that we would like to have to do involuntary removals.
New Yorkers tell me all the time, we have too many people who are dealing with severe mental health illness. That is the problem that we're facing. Recidivism, extreme mental health illness and random acts of violence. This city is a safe city. We're the safest big city in America based on all stats.
Peters: Let's move on to the budget, though. because the City Council is pushing for your administration to reverse planned budget cuts saying that there are available funds from higher than forecasted tax revenues. So, we're talking about an extra billion dollars, so what do you do with that money? What do you have to say about that?
Mayor Adams: Well, first of all, we have... We're dealing with almost a perfect storm. We had to satisfy and settle our union contracts; $4 billion dollars we spent already on migrants and asylum seekers, potentially $12 billion over three years. We're looking at a fiscal cliff. Previous administration had permanent programs funded by temporary Covid dollars.
And so we're going to sit down with the City Council just as we've done on two budgets previously. We're going to do it again. We're looking forward to sit down with speaker Adrienne Adams and her team so we can continue to allow the city to recover.
This city has recovered jobs, has recovered in safety and it has recovered in the prosperity that we expect for working class people.
Verma: Okay, let's talk about the schools. So, your mayoral control of the city's public school system is still up in the air. Is there any clarity on what's going on there?
Mayor Adams: No, Albany is doing what Albany does, and we're looking forward. The team has been up there. My director of Intergovernmental Affairs and many of my [deputy] mayors, my chief advisor, we have been speaking with the team. The chancellor went up yesterday.
But think about this for a moment. We outpace the entire state in reading and math. We have a new phonic‑based reading curriculum that the entire state is going to follow. Pre-mayor[al] control, we had a 50‑something percent graduation rate, now we're at an over 80 percent graduation rate.
I think we deserve to have the mayoralty accountability that will continue the success that we're seeing already, everything from dyslexia screening to ensuring our children are prepared to be employed or go to college in the future. We've done our job. Albany now has to do its job and say let's continue the success.
Verma: All right, mayor.
Peters: Before you go…
Mayor Adams: Yes.
Peters: Any way that we can phone in and get maybe one of the NYPD men in brass to accompany us on the subway, because I'm telling you, that's a nice perk to have when you're riding the subway down there.
Mayor Adams: Oh, listen, I ride with my team, but you don't have to phone in. You're riding with NYPD every time you're in the subway system. And you know it, if you use it, you know this is the best subway system on the globe, and you know you feel safe in that subway system. Have you ever had a negative encounter on the subway system?
Verma: Yes, I have…
Peters: Yes, quite a few.
Verma: I've had many. Mayor Adams. C'mon!
Mayor Adams: Someone must have tried to sell you a terrible cup of coffee or something.
Verma: Oh‑oh, it's no...
Peters: I wish it was that.
Mayor Adams: You know you enjoy our subway system.
Verma: And the things you've seen in the subway system,
Peters: Oh‑hh! But you know, we do appreciate seeing the men and women in blue down there, so, thank you for that.
Mayor Adams: Thank you very much. Take care.
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