Transcript: Mayor Adams Delivers Remarks at DOC Graduation Ceremony

January 12, 2024

Host: Thank you, Assistant Commissioner Ayinde Williams, and congratulations to our new recruits. Ladies and gentlemen, I would now like to welcome to the podium, the commissioner for the New York City Department of Correction, Lynelle Maginley‑Liddie. Please receive her with a round of applause.

Commissioner Lynelle Maginley‑Liddie, Department of Correction: Good morning, Mayor Adams, my DOC boldest family, family and friends; and, congratulations to our new correction officers and to all our newly appointed leaders. Let's have another round of applause for these bold men and women.

This ceremony is a time for true celebration. All of us in this room recognize how hard you, our new officers, have worked to reach this important moment in your new careers. Today, you join a department that has boldly stood on the front lines of public safety and public service for more than 125 years. I urge you to take this responsibility seriously. You are not just part of the department's legacy; each and every one of you has the opportunity to help shape its future.

For eight years, I've been incredibly proud to be a member of the DOC team; now, I am blessed to serve as your commissioner. In my time at the department, I have witnessed the dedication as well as the sacrifice and courage it takes to do the work we do.

The work is challenging, but hear me when I say, I know that you have the strength inside you to do it. I know this because you would not have made it to graduation if you did not already have an unwavering commitment to public safety and correctional care.

Moreover, many of you come from the same communities as people in our care. You have seen the impact of the criminal justice system and you have chosen to be leaders in criminal justice reform. From that alone, I know that you have the tools within you to succeed.

And I have said it before, and I will say it every single chance I get: heroes truly do work here, and I'm proud to count you among our heroes.

It is also my great honor to congratulate the families of our new officers. Today is your achievement, too. I thank you for supporting your loved one in their journey to become a correction officer. This was not an easy road, but with your help they made it to graduation day.

I firmly believe that family support is essential to success, and I hope you will continue to be there for them in the days and weeks to come. This job may not be easy, but today your family member is also becoming a member of our family.

As New York's boldest, support each other and learn from each other. I am confident that everyone graduating today has been trained to be the best by the best and that they will continue to be mentored and supported every day forward.

As we welcome our new class of officers, I'm also extremely proud to honor four outstanding members of service. Please join me in recognizing Franklin Holmes, a captain who has not missed a single day of work in 34 years.

Officer Waldo Alejandro who has not missed a day of work in 20 years. And Officer Joseph Fina, who has not missed a day of work in 19 years.

Perfect attendance records means a lot to me. It demonstrates a commitment to your colleagues and those in your care that nothing can shake you. You have shown up for this department in the face of blizzards, hurricanes and a global pandemic. I am proud of you, and I thank you for your service.

I also want to recognize the tremendous achievement of Correction Officer Walter Nelson, who is celebrating his 51st year as a correction officer.

Your commitment to this work is astonishing. Thank you for being here, and thank you for being a role model to generations of staff. Your legacy is going to reverberate for years to come.

Let's hear it again for Officers Walter Nelson, Waldo Alejandro, Joseph Fina and Captain Franklin Holmes.

To those of you who are here today in recognition of the work you have done to advance your career into your new role, I am equally proud of you and thankful for your dedication to this department. The oath you take does not just establish you as a leader, but also a teacher and mentor. I encourage you to take on each day in your new role with the same humility, accountability and purpose that earned you your promotion today.

In closing, I know that integrity, compassion, transparency and innovation are the watch words of this department. These are the principles that will guide our new officers, our rising deputy wardens and the new assistant, associate and deputy commissioners we celebrate today.

Keeping these words at the forefront of everything we do is how we will achieve excellence together. I have no doubt that you will all uphold the values of this agency every single day; and within you all, I see great hope and promise for the future.

Congratulations once again to all of you. Be proud of yourselves and all that you have accomplished, and welcome to the boldest family. Let's do this.

Host: Thank you, Commissioner Maginley‑Liddie. At this time, I would like to invite to the podium the 110th mayor of the City of New York, The Honorable Eric L. Adams.

Mayor Eric Adams: Thank you so much, commissioner; and thank you, families and friends; and, thank you to our graduates. As I was sitting here, I reflected on when I first swore in to become a New York City transit police officer. And some 22 years later, after retiring from the days of policing in this city, I remember sitting down with my son, he was young at the time, and he looked over at me after watching me for a few days and he says, Dad, are you all right? And I smiled and said, yes, I am.

Then he looked me in my eyes and he says, Dad, I mean, are you all right? In reality, I was not all right: 22 years policing during the crack era, an epidemic, watching people do some of the worst things that they can do to themselves. Years of partnering with a good friend who's here now, former Correction Officer Kasun Jenkins, and watching what was happening in the Department of Correction and how you were treated differently and unfairly.

Watching policies being made and changed that would impact on public safety, and really now they're expedited even more. Being around broken people all the time, it transforms and it changed you, and your family members will watch that transformation. And not knowing how much I changed as a human being, I had to re‑find myself to understand how broken people broke me in the process.

That is what you are up against. You are up against an agency where you are the boldest, where you have to inherit broken people in society, now must come into the facilities that you have to protect not only from themselves, but from your fellow officers and from the civilian population.

And with all that you do, you have been treated differently in law enforcement. Some say [it's] behind the jails and the walls of the jails, and that's why people ignore it. I don't believe that. I think that much of what has happened to your agency is because you're predominantly Black and brown. 

And because of that you have been treated in an unfair way. Even when you go to the women restrooms in Rikers Island, how despicable they are. And how you have brought down violence, you have brought down violence against each other. People still want to demonize you. Yet they have not had one day on patrol in one of our jails to know what it is to be a correction officer and know how to deal with people who are hurting on so many levels.

50 percent of the people that are in our jails have mental health illnesses, and almost 18 percent have severe mental health illnesses. And while you try to protect the people that are inside our jails, people are trying to take away your power and authority to do the job right.

That's what we're fighting against. 80 percent of the people who are attacked in our jails are further inmates, yet we want to continue to erode the power and authority to do the job correctly.

So, I'm saying to you, I want you to be able to retire and be able to say to your sons, your daughters, your spouses, your loved ones, your family members, I want you to be able to say you are all right. I want you to be able to say that you may have been in jail but jail is not inside you.

I want you to find your outlet, find your purpose, have a stronger belief in God. Embrace your loved ones that are here with you today and loved ones as you watch them transform from coming night after night, day after day, of being inside these correctional facilities, understand what they're going through.

They are policing the most difficult beat in the history of our city. And it's a hard job. There are days you're going to feel broken. There are days when you're going to feel that no one has your back. There are days you're going to feel as though no one knows what the job you're doing. There are days that no one is going to be there because you feel that you're alone.

But you need to understand something. You have a goddamn mayor that believes in what you're doing, and I will fight like all hell to be with you throughout this entire journey. You need to know that.

And they're going to criticize us, and they're going to try to separate you. You are in this academy right now of your training because that was a despicable academy you had on Metropolitan Avenue. You deserve the quality that comes with the profession.

And I will partner with Benny, your president of the correction officers, to make sure we continue to lift the standards. I'm not going to be able to do everything I would desire to do in my time as mayor of the City of New York, but I'm gonna damn sure try. I'm going to try to equalize the profession that you chose to take.

And all of you who are here may not complete the 20, 30, 40,  the 50 years as these men who have been acknowledged today, but don't become the evil that is inside the facilities. And as it was mentioned by the commissioner, many of the people you are going to protect come from your communities.

30 percent of them are dyslexic. I'm dyslexic. I could have been there. I was arrested as a child in the 103rd Precinct. I was rejected. Only God can make you go from being dyslexic, rejected and become elected to be the mayor of the City of New York.

So, I am them. I am them. The same that you see in our jails is who I could have become. I am them. And as you are in patrol and you see that young man who probably did not have a dad at home, become that dad. You see that young girl who we may have picked up on Pennsylvania Avenue or Roosevelt Avenue for selling her body because she was abused as a child, become that mother.

You see that person who has a habitual habit and repeatedly come in because they're stealing because of their habit, become that counselor, because what you put in people, there's a reciprocal agreement what would be placed in you. You invest in others, the universe will invest in you.

I am who I am because people invested in me. Invest in them, and you will find your job will become so much more fulfilling when you're not just going through the motion, you're determining the outcome.

And I walk in the streets right now and I see people who I arrested and I've interacted with, and they tell me how their lives have changed, how they're doing something else with their lives. That's the role of being a boldest. Being the boldest is bold enough to step out of our comfort zone and treat people with the dignity and respect that they deserve.

I'll fight your fight. The commissioner will fight your fight. You do your job. We will do our job. And we will show people what it means to be the boldest in the City of New York, men and women of the Department of Correction. Thank you for taking on this challenge.