Transcript: Mayor Adams and NYPD Announces Record-Low Shooting Victims In First Half Of 2025

July 1, 2025

Mayor Eric Adams: Good afternoon. I'm really glad to be here with the police commissioner, Chief LiPetri, and the entire executive team, and Deputy Mayor Kaz Daughtry, and just really want to say thank you to the men and women of the New York City Police Department. It has always been my North Star to make sure our city is safe, not only as the mayor, but also just as a police officer. And it was important that we put in place a clear plan on how to accomplish that. 

And we had an ocean liner of crime that we had to turn around, and it doesn't turn around instantly. You have to put in place programs and initiatives that they, both, were proactive and reactive. And you're seeing the results of proper planning, proper execution, and not allowing one who thinks an experiment can get in a place of experience. Experience matters, and you're seeing the results of that. 

And I said over and over again throughout my time in public life that public safety is the prerequisite to prosperity. That's the number one thing I've heard throughout my time in office, and now as the mayor of the City of New York. If you are not safe, you cannot send your children to school, you cannot go to work, you're afraid to be on our public transportation system, you're just afraid to enjoy the parks every day. Safety matters. Safety matters. 

People want not only to be safe, they must feel safe. And we focus on that over and over again, and this administration is delivering just that. Our 2025 second quarter crime data shows that our public safety system is working. 

We will continue to drive down crime throughout New York City, and you see it everywhere from below ground to above ground, and what traditionally has been a significant place where crime has existed, in our public housing. Public housing residents deserve the same safety that I expect in front of Gracie Mansion. You should have it in Marlboro public housing. That is our focus.

And we're going to continue to drive down crime. We are going to work to sweep crime and illegal activities from our neighborhoods, and the success is clear. And when you add that to our Quality of Life Division, we're now focusing on people feeling safe because we knew it mattered. 

So I want to start with the top line. Major crime was down in June. Crime was down in the second quarter of 2025. Crime is down overall this year, and crime is now down for the sixth quarter in a row. I said that all fast, so let me slow it down. Major crime was down in June. Crime was down in the second quarter of 2025. Crime is down this year, and crime is now down for the second quarter in a row. 

Homicides down. Rape, robbery, felony assault down. Burglary down triple digits. Grand larceny and auto theft were down. Additionally, shootings were down with double digits declines in June. Actually, that doesn't do it justice. Shootings were down 30 percent for June. June, the hot month. Everyone knows when you enter summer, you're dealing with a whole summer safety plan. You're dealing with a whole shift in policing. We all are concerned about the month of June. 

Retail theft, something that plagued the country. But here in New York, down more than 17 percent and a place that is extremely important to me. Hate crimes. Hate crimes were down, as were crimes in our housing developments, and this is important because our efforts of removing over 22,300 illegal guns off our streets 2,600 this year alone, we've removed off of our streets. And those 2600 weapons will no longer threaten the life of individuals, families, loved ones and disrupt communities. 

And so for the first six months of 2025 shooting incidents reached their lowest level in New York City's recorded history in the first six months. Tying the previous records, which had been set in 2018. And the number of shooting victims for the first six months of the year, they're located now at record lows. We beat the previous 2018 record with 14 fewer shooting victims and beat last year by 125 less. Those 125 people that are alive today, families and friends. 

So far this year, we've had 100 fewer shootings compared to the same period last year. And when you compare this six month period to the same period in 2021, right before we came into office, shootings are down an astronomical 54 percent. These are real results. 

Year to date, major crime is down 5.5 percent equating to 3,348 fewer major crimes. Thousands and thousands of people are no longer being traumatized by being a victim of crime. And those who committed the crimes are incarcerated, particularly these serious crimes. And so I don't understand when people say empty out Rikers and put them back into the communities that were inflicted with violence. People who commit these crimes don't deserve to be on our streets. 

Homicides are down more than 23 percent, so far this year. They are down 36 percent when you compare to the same six month period in 2021, right before we came into office. Robbery, felony assaults, burglaries and grand larceny, auto theft have all continued to decline this year. 

Additionally, crime dropped in our transit system 4.6 million riders and we are protecting them every day. And I want to thank those transit officers and men and women who are in our system for doing the right thing and keeping our system safe. Chief Gulotta, you're doing one heck of a job. Thank you so much. 

Thanks to our efforts, tackling subway crime and serious mental health that have affected quality of life in our trains. When you look at the SCOUT programs and how we are partnering police with mental health professionals, we're targeting and zeroing in on how important it is to remove those who need help off our system. We're not going to place homeless shelters in our subway system. Doesn't work. They need to be in facilities where they deserve to be. 

And another record so far this year, robberies in the transit system are at the lowest level ever. Lowest level ever. Retail theft continues to drop 11.7 percent. This is an area that the commissioner and I talked about a lot that I'm really pleased with. Hate crimes fell by over 17 percent in the second quarter, leading to a drop of 16 percent year to date. 

We witnessed an 11 percent decrease in hate crimes towards Muslims. We witnessed an 18 percent decrease year to date. And when you look at our Jewish brothers and sisters, we've also witnessed a decrease in hate crimes towards our Jewish brothers and sisters by 18 percent this year. We have more to go, a long way to go, but we're moving in the right direction. 

As well as hate crimes based on sexual orientation, which they're down by 47 percent since January. And you have to really understand how important this is. It is when people are treated unfairly, when people are the victims of crimes based on their sexual orientation, the religious belief, the ethnicities, that strikes at the core of our city and it's unacceptable and we are responding to it head on and directly. 

And all these reductions in crimes are no accidents. There are results focusing on everything that we're putting in place daily. These results were achieved by pounding the payment with police officers assigned to hotspot zones, something that the commissioner focused on creating and Chief LiPetri and his understanding of our crime and our analysis, putting police officers where they should be when they need them, everywhere all the time. 

Through our Community Link initiative, we have responded to over 1,600 complaints and conducted over 1,800 operations addressing quality of life concerns like illegal vending, overflowing trash, excessive noise, substance use and illegal vehicles. We seized more than 100,000 illegal vehicles off our streets, not walking past them, not allowing ghost plates to be on our cars, illegal scooters, four wheel dirt bikes. We have really focused on these quality of life issues.

We have been clear this administration will not tolerate crime or allow the feeding of anything goes on our streets and in our neighborhoods that leads to disorder and we were clear to zoom in on it. And thanks to the deep bench of leaders we put in place across the administration, you're seeing the results that we all look for because fighting crime is not only a police officer's job. It’s ACS’s job, Department of Education's job, our employment, DYCD’s job. 

We all have to be part of this crime fighting apparatus and that's what we have done. We're making our city the best place to raise a family in a place where you know that your city is looking out for you and nothing personifies that more than what is important to me, public safety. We have to be safe as a city and we continue to do so. And I want to thank you personally, Commissioner Tisch, for a job well done. I'm gonna turn the podium over to you. Thanks.

Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch: Good afternoon. The first six months of 2025 tell a clear story. New York City is achieving record breaking public safety milestones. The numbers speak for themselves. 1,700 fewer grand larcenies, nearly 1,100 fewer robberies, 44 fewer murders. And nowhere is that progress more striking than in our shooting numbers. 

In the first half of 2025 shooting victims fell to their lowest levels ever recorded, down 24 percent year over year, 24 percent in the second quarter and 35 percent in the month of June. Let me repeat that. The fewest number of shooting victims ever recorded in the first half of any year in New York City. And that didn't just beat the previous low, it shattered it. 

398 victims compared to 411 victims in 2018 and 125 fewer than last year. And I have to point out that it's less than half the number we saw in the first half of 2021, the year before Mayor Adams took office when 852 New Yorkers were shot. The first half of this year also saw the fewest shooting incidents in modern history, tying the all time low that was set in 2018. Six months in that's a full 100 fewer shootings this year versus last year, a 23 percent drop citywide with declines in all five boroughs. 

Shooting incidents were also down 30 percent in June and 22 percent in the second quarter. This progress is no accident. It's no mystery either. Just a very clear formula, strategic deployments, precision takedowns and getting guns off of our streets. And it's our cops who bring that strategy to life who take the plan, they hit the streets, and they make it work. 

But none of this happens without real backing from Mayor Adams, who's made public safety his top priority, and ensure this department has the tools, the resources and the support to get the job done. When the critics called to cut funding, he chose to cut crime. When the pressure came to back down, he chose to double down. And when others tried to make headlines, he chose to make a difference. So let's talk about our strategic deployments, which have been one of the most important drivers behind this progress. 

In January, we launched a scalpel data driven strategy to reduce violent crime, identifying 42 deployment zones across the five boroughs with the highest concentrations of crime. We sent targeted daily deployments into those zones based on real time data, because just 3.5 percent of the city's land across the five boroughs accounts for 41 percent of all shootings. That's not just concentrated violence. That is a clear call for precision policing. And the results this winter were undeniable. 

That's why we've now rolled that success into the summer with our bold and yes, aggressive summer violence reduction plan, expanding into 72 summer zones across 59 communities. This is the largest deployment of its kind in NYPD history, with up to 2,000 uniform cops on footposts in the places where we know that crime occurs the most. Those are long, grueling nights in conditions from extreme heat to pouring rain on street corners in housing developments and in our subways. 

Since the launch of our summer plan on May 5th, major crime in these zones is down 27 percent during deployment hours. Most notably, shootings and shooting victims have dropped a staggering 64 percent. We've also seen felony assaults fall by 41 percent, robbery by 27 percent and grand larceny by 13 percent. This initiative will continue through the rest of the summer. We'll keep applying pressure exactly where the data point us to ensure the weeks ahead are just as safe. 

Then there's our precision takedowns. Over the past several months, NYPD detectives have carried out major takedowns of some of the most violent gangs in this city. Crews like Tren de Aragua, Los Diablos, 9RAQ, Third Side and the 18th Street Gang. These are the groups that drive violence, traffic guns and terrorize our neighborhoods. And thanks to the truly extraordinary work of our investigators and, of course, critical tools like the Criminal Group Database, we have dismantled their operations and taken violent offenders off the streets. 

So far this year, we have carried out 42, 42 gang related takedowns, arresting 322 gang members and associates and recovering 236 illegal guns as a direct result. That is part of a broader effort that's taken more than 2,600 illegal firearms off the streets citywide in 2025 alone. And since the start of the Adams administration, the NYPD has taken more than 22,300 guns off of our streets. Make no mistake about it. We are reaping the benefits of those cumulative efforts now in our shooting numbers. 

In the first six months this year, overall, major crime was down 6 percent citywide. It's down in four out of our five boroughs, led by Queens at 12 percent, Staten Island at 10 percent, Brooklyn at 8 percent and Manhattan at 5 percent. While major crime was slightly up in the borough of the Bronx, we saw real progress in some of the neighborhoods in some of that borough's most challenging areas, including the 4-4 precinct where overall crime was down 11 percent so far this year, and shootings and shooting victims dropped there by more than 70 percent. 

Major crime was also down more than 5 percent in housing and more than 3 percent in transit citywide. Let's break down the seven major crime categories. Citywide murders were down 23 percent, 146 versus 190, marking the second lowest total ever recorded for the first half of any year in New York City. 

Robbery has long been considered a key benchmark crime, a key indicator of how safe people feel walking their neighborhoods, riding the subway or just going about their day. It's also a crime that had been stubbornly on the rise in recent years, but this year we have broken that pattern. Citywide robbery was down 13 percent through the first six months of the year, with declines across all five boroughs. 

Grand larceny down 7 percent citywide through the first half of the year, thanks to our focused effort on shoplifting. Shoplifting arrests are up 144 percent compared to 2020, as we've targeted the crews and repeat offenders driving this crime, and that strategy is working. We're seeing fewer of the same individuals cycling through the system again and again, and we've worked closely with our district attorneys to make sure that these cases are taken seriously. 

A few years ago, prosecutors were downgrading up to 66 percent of NYPD's grand larceny arrests to lesser charges with lighter sentences. This year, that number has dropped to 34 percent, the lowest rate in nearly a decade. In 2025, more serious shoplifters are being convicted on felony charges than at any point since 2018. We'll keep applying pressure where it's needed to make sure that number continues to decline. 

Auto theft, that was down 5 percent in the first half of 2025, a significant shift for a crime that's been one of this city's most challenging. In recent years, burglary dropped 3 percent citywide in the first half of 2025, including an 8 percent decline in the second quarter and an 11 percent drop in June alone, marking the second lowest June on record. 

While felony assaults are down only slightly year to date, an 8 percent drop in June suggests that we're beginning to turn the corner. Rape was the one index crime that rose up by 21 percent through June. That increase is in large part due to a change in state law that took effect in September of 2024, which expanded the legal definition of rape to better reflect the full range of these crimes. Because of that change, we expect to have a clearer year-over-year comparison starting this fall. 

In the first half of the year, major crime in the subway system fell by more than 3 percent, including a staggering 75 percent drop in subway shootings, a 67 percent fall in murders, a 7 percent reduction in grand larcenies, and subway robberies hit an all-time low for the first half of the year, down 8 percent year over year. 

You would have to go back to 2010 to find a six-month stretch this safe in the New York City subway system, including the pandemic years when ridership was at historic lows. This progress is the result of our transit safety plan, which put thousands of officers in the subway system and focused on where the crime actually happens. 73 percent of all subway incidents happen on trains and platforms, so that is exactly where we increased our presence. 

But we didn't just increase presence, we redefined our approach. That included enforcing long-standing rules against lying outstretched, taking up multiple seats, smoking, drinking, and more. For too long, those violations went unchecked and that eroded the sense of safety for everyday riders. So we made a change. This isn't a dragnet and it's not harassment. It's about restoring basic order and responding to what New Yorkers have told us clearly, that disorder breeds fear and makes the system feel unsafe. 

Take the case of James Williams. On June 6th, he was lying across multiple seats on a subway car when officers approached him. When officers checked his name, they discovered that he was wanted in connection with a 2024 rape inside the Union Square station. He was arrested on the spot. This approach has helped us restore order in the system and take violent, wanted offenders off of our streets. 

At the same time, it's allowed us to connect people with the services that they need, like shelter, mental health care, and other critical support. Across all of our outreach efforts in the subway system, we have connected over 5,000 people to services this year, working hand-in-hand with clinicians. This is what New Yorkers have asked for, a transit system that feels more orderly, responsive, and safe. 

But it's not just the subway. Even as major crime has dropped to record lows, New Yorkers continue to tell us that they still don't feel safe. That's why in mid-April we launched the NYPD's Quality of Life Division to address the daily problems that chip away at people's sense of safety. The abandoned car that hasn't moved in months, the illegal scooters flying down the sidewalk, the noise that keeps them up at night. 

In just 75 days, our Q teams responded to nearly 11,000 911 and 311 calls, towed over 4,000 vehicles, seized over 200 illegal e-bikes, mopeds, and scooters, shut down problematic smoke shops, helped clean up more than 500 encampments, and we only have the pilot running in six pilot precincts. That's why starting this month, we are expanding this division into every precinct citywide by Labor Day. 

Before I close, I want to highlight two people whose extraordinary leadership is directly responsible for the results that I have had the honor of outlining today for all of you. Chief of Department John Chell, who is a respected leader and has overseen firsthand the successful execution of the strategies that brought about these wins. Chief Chell lives this stuff. And our Chief of Crime Control Strategies Mike LiPetri. Simply put, Chief Lietri is a crime-fighting genius. In a moment, he will walk through some of these numbers in greater detail. 

But first, I want to thank once again Mayor Adams, whose leadership made all of this progress possible. And as always, it's the women and men of this department who absolutely crushed it during the first half of this year. Every number we share today, every reduction, every life saved reflects their work. Because of them, New York is safer today than it has been in years. And I think it's pretty clear that in the first half of 2025, none of us came to play. And these results speak for themselves. Now I will turn it over to Chief LiPetri.

Chief Michael LiPetri, Crime Control Strategies, Police Department: Good afternoon. The mayor and the police commissioner talked about historic lows for shootings. And you have to go back to 2018 to get to those historic lows. Well, it was a lot different in 2018. Not taking anything away from the policing that was done in 2018. But since that, criminal justice reform, Raise the Age, Less Is More, thousands of illegal smoke shops, havens for violence and lawlessness, a 2,800 decrease in uniformed officers, extreme recidivism with no consequences, and a sharp decrease in the population of Rikers Island. 

So the extreme recidivism, Albert Holmes, seven-time convicted felon, two-time violent felony convictions, a predicate violent felon, [and] 40 years of criminal history preying on New Yorkers. He does a vicious stabbing prior to criminal justice reform, and he gets incarcerated for approximately eight years. When he gets out, post-criminal justice reform, he goes on a complete tear. These are not sealed arrests. These are all live arrests. In 2023, he gets arrested 20 times. In 2024, he gets arrested 19 times. And this year, he's been arrested 10 times. 

If anybody wants to know, he's out on the streets of New York City right now, probably preying on a New Yorker. He gets arrested on 67, gets an ROR by a judge after the Manhattan DA's office asks for bail. He gets arrested the next day, goes over the bridge to the Bronx, gets arrested in the Bronx, gets an NMR, non-monetary release, which means absolutely nothing to him. 

And finally, he gets arrested back in Manhattan on June 10th, and now he's walking around the streets with two warrants, again, preying on New Yorkers. The year prior to the mayor coming into office, [in] 2021, I just have to repeat this. This year, we've seen 400 less shootings and 455 less victims. Think about that. Incredible. 

This year, geographic boroughs across the city not only see reductions in shootings, all five of them, they all five at least 15 percent reduction in shootings. The commissioner talked about the 44. I'll talk about the 73 in Brownsville, Ocean Hill, Brooklyn. Down 42 percent in shootings this year. Since 2021, down 45 percent in shootings this year. 

In the violence reduction zone, they're down seven shootings in their violence reduction zone. Incredible. We talk about the decrease in June in shootings. We'll add May, and it's a 34 percent decrease in shootings citywide for those two months. 86 shooting victims, obviously the lowest in June. 

So how are we doing this? Many different ways. But I do want to highlight the summer violence plan. It is not just cops on dots. It is not. There [are] many things that go to the effect and effectiveness of this plan. First of all, it includes all bureaus in the NYPD, both on the uniform side and the civilian side. 

We've asked our patrol officers to get out there, hit the streets, our transit bureaus, our housing bureau offices, our gun violence suppression division, our intelligence bureau, not just human intelligence, social media, things of that nature. We've asked them to do things differently in these zones because they need to be treated differently. And here's an example from this morning.

PSA 7, which covers the Bronx field intelligence team, gains intelligence of an individual with a firearm. They're focused in the polo grounds in the 32 in Harlem because it is a summer zone. This morning, they arrest an individual and recover eight firearms. That's precision. That's doing something different. 

Our Special Operations Bureau in the summer zones, everybody involved, our Detective Bureau investigators doing things differently. Highest caseload that we've ever seen them have. They're taking petty larcenies of shoplifting because we can't stand for the recidivism that we see. We can't stand for the top 25 locations that drive shoplifting across the city. 

And the police commissioner and the mayor said, I'm proud of what we're doing. We are nowhere near where we need to be when it comes to shoplifting and other crimes, to be quite frank. But we are clearing shoplifting complaints almost at a 50 percent clearance. That means almost 50 percent of our shoplifting complaints have an arrest to it. And a lot of these are low level arrests with the detectives having the highest number of cases. 

Our response time to larcenies in progress at the lowest level. We're getting there faster than ever. We're holding our commanders accountable and they're doing a phenomenal job. I want to get back to the summer zones. It's not just police officers and detectives. Yes, they are the majority of getting out there and hitting those streets. The frontline supervision has to be there. We've asked our sergeants and our lieutenants to do things differently. 

Our commanders hold them accountable and it's working. Let's take Manhattan North. Manhattan North takes a tragic shooting of a 17 year old in May. Two days later, in the heart of one of the summer zones, we have a retaliatory shooting the very next day. Actually, no, that day we started moving resources right into that area quickly. The next day we formalized the plan. And guess what? Since that shooting in May, we've seen an 86 percent reduction in Manhattan North shootings since May 9th to present. 86 percent. That's because we move with speed. 

We've moved with seriousness and we move with intelligence and we gather intelligence in a lot of different ways. Criminal group database being one of them saving lives. We talked about one of the safest Memorial Days, if not Memorial Day weekends, that the city saw. So again, like the commissioner said, we build off our success. We learn from our mistakes. 

So we're going to build off that success for Memorial Day and we're going to be better on July 4th weekend. You're going to see New York City police officers in 28 of the most problematic parks, not just two, but many. You're going to see firearm suppression like you've never seen it before. Lawlessness that we do not stand for. Car meet locations. We know where they are. We'll be there. We know when they move and we'll move with them. 

Actually, we'll beat them there. I just want to talk about the Roosevelt Avenue zone. Been in the news. The mayor has always spoken about it since he took over the administration. I know the police commissioner also [said this] in November. The Roosevelt Avenue summer zone is down 62 percent since May 5th and overall crime robberies have [fallen] 64 percent [and] felony assaults 54 percent. 

The summer zone plan does not focus just on shootings. It focuses on street level crime that we feel we can affect the most. And when you look at the felony assaults, the robberies and the shooting incidents and shootings reduction, it is clearly working, but we all know we have a lot of work to do. So I want to thank everybody. You know, my partner's here and all the other bureaus, the police commissioner and the mayor. Thank you very much.

Question: Good afternoon. Despite the drop in shootings and index crimes, felony assaults are still stubbornly high. [Do] you have an explanation?

LiPetri: Sure. It's being driven by a couple of categories. So unfortunately, we do have a small uptick in our elderly assaults. We do have a small uptick in assaults on police officers and our domestic assaults. What I [would] like to report in our 72 violence reduction zones were down, 41 percent in felony assaults during deployment hours, and that's a big part of our deployment. So we're not just there for shootings. We're there to make New York safer in a lot of different ways.

Question: [Inaudible] mayor, you often talked about the 22,000 guns seized since your administration started. That's 2,600 this year. That's still a lot of weaponry. Although the shootings are down, the victims are down. Are there more guns out there that we know? And is that going to be an intractable problem going forward?

Mayor Adams: Well, I think it's a combination. I think Chief LiPetri, he pointed out [that] the circumstances we're policing under is different from circumstances previously. We look at bail reform. When you look at Raise the Age when you look at Less Is More, all of these entities contributed to some of the shootings, some of the problems that we're facing. [There were] too many guns on the street during I think was my first year in office. 

And I invited President Biden to come to the city and to meet with the Police Department because we didn't have an ATF director and he was able to appoint an ATF director. That coordination on the federal, state and city level is crucial because we have to stop the flow of guns. We don't manufacture guns here. What are they doing in their hands about young people? And so we want to continue that collaboration. 

The governor has been a partner on this issue, and we're going to continue to coordinate with our federal partners. We have to stop guns from coming into these cities like New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and others. That is the focus. What we're doing here is collaborating with our district attorneys to do these gang takedown. 

We saw the numbers and those are the shooters. Those are the trigger pullers and we're focusing on taking them down and also the day to day, officers doing smart heads up policing, not doing illegal Stops and Frisk that we saw eons ago, but smart, targeted precision policing that's allowing us to go after the after these guns and it's crucial. 

Question: Commissioner, you always advocate for the changes in the state law to help you do the job here in the city. And I know the commissioner has also spoken about it. But currently, what is the biggest thing you would like to see change in the state law?

Police Commissioner Tisch: Right now, we're very focused on the Raise The Age law, the Raise the Age law changes the age of criminal responsibility in the criminal justice system in New York State. And since that law started going into effect, it went into effect in multiple phases. We have seen an absolute explosion in youth violence. 

And one of the problems is that we know that when kids are the trigger pullers, they often kill other kids. And basically, kids are living in a virtually consequence free environment now in New York State as it relates to major crime. And so we're seeing more and more gangs recruiting younger and younger kids, both to hold the weapons and to pull the trigger.

Question: Mr. Mayor, a female MTA worker in Brooklyn was assaulted by two passengers who wouldn't pay the fare. The union is asking for more MTA police in high crime areas. Do you think that would help?

Mayor Adams: You have the transit police and you have the MTA police. Both entities are collaborating to bring down crime. And, you know, omnipresence is real. And that was one of the things that the commissioner put in place, a more visible presence of our police officers to deter illegal behavior. I would love to look at an analysis of who assaulted her. 

You know, I would bet a few dollars that the person has a criminal record history. You know, I'm not sure. I haven't looked at it. But Bill Bratton showed us back when he was a police commissioner that people who don't pay their fare, they have a propensity to commit crimes in the system. And he was big on preventing that from happening. And we want to do the same. 

There was a great pushback by lawmakers to decriminalize theft of service. And that was wrong. We know that you have to, it starts at the gate. And I  think the commissioner touched on Raise the Age. Look at how much we had to fix. We had to go back and change what was happening with bail reform. We had to go back and change what happened with the cannabis laws. We had to go back and change the mental health issue. We have to go back and change the Raise the Age. 

We have to look at Less is More. We have to change discovery. We are on the ground policing while individuals are in the sterilized environments of their legislative chambers making these decisions that's impacting real New Yorkers. And so when you have people think they could just hop the turnstile. Deputy Mayor Daughtry and I were at 125th Street and Lexington Avenue Station. And we couldn't believe how you would have thought the system were free. 

Matter of fact, one person actually said nobody pays. So when we enforce the laws, we're preventing chaos and disorder. And we need our lawmakers to be partners with us because everyday people are being impacted. When we have people not paying their fare, it raises the cost of the subway system. And then when you assault a [MTA] employee who's just doing their job, it sends the wrong message.

And so we feel that as many police officers as possible we want in the system. That's why we're bringing on 4,000 new officers. We're increasing the numbers. We want to make this occupation attractive again. We've made some changes and we're seeing a boost in those who are enrolling. So yes, we want more. We want young men and women to be a part of this amazing career. Because I think that police officers make great teachers and they definitely make great mayors.

Question: So you guys are talking about focusing on mental health and expanding Quality of Life teams. Zohran Mamdani also has a plan to expand mental health teams and kind of reshape the department. He also wants to add a Department of Community Safety. Would that help or hurt what the NYPD is doing? And then also Mayor Adams, President Trump [said] today, you'd be a good independent candidate. He helped you a lot. And he also said Mamdani—

[Crosstalk.]

Mayor Adams: So let's talk about the public safety stuff. Look at these numbers. This is a moment of having experience. Not a moment where you're doing an experiment. Experience over experiment. That's where we are right now. And when anyone that wants to defund the police based on their own words. Anyone that says they don't want to hire new police officers when we talk about hiring 4,000. Anyone that believes they want to empty Rikers Island. 

And when you do an analysis of where people who are in Rikers Island have committed their crimes. They are in Black and brown and poorer communities. When you empty Rikers you're sending them back to the communities that they have heard it hurt in the first place. And so I think it speaks for itself. 

Right now, we should not be doing an experiment when we have real results and we have expertise to make New Yorkers safe. The numbers don't lie. I'm not making this up. The numbers don't lie. And New York can't go backwards. You know I policed in the 80s. I know what the city was like. 

We can't go backwards. There's a reason we have had more jobs in New York City in the city's history. There's a reason Broadway had the finest 12 months of activity in the history of the city. We can't go backwards. That is why I said it over and over again. 

I learned from my days of Bill Bratton. Public safety is the economic stimulus package for our city. If we're safe, we will have businesses, we'll have families, we'll have a city where people want to go to. And so we can't go backwards. And so I'm not ready to do an experiment. I hope none of you are ready to do an experiment.

[Crosstalk.]

Question: You may see a path forward. Obviously, the nominee disagrees. How do you, what do you make of the ranked choice voting results today?

Mayor Adams: You know, people talk about doing a rent freeze. They talk about what they would do. You know, there are systems in place so that mayors and executives can't be heavy-handed. That's the independent committee. Independent committee. And I cannot appoint an independent committee and then make an attempt to dictate what they're going to do. Then why do we have a committee? Why don't we just say the mayor will determine what the increases are. 

They do an analysis. They come up with numbers. We wanted a low end from the numbers. As low as possible because we know tenants are hurting. We know affordability is a real issue. No one knows that better than me. I grew up in a household where affordability was a real issue. And that independent committee came up with a number. And I don't want folks to lose sight on something that no one really wants to talk about. 

There is a mindset out there that there's never a time to raise rent. Never a time. You never raise rent. Leave them the way they are no matter what. I had a forum with small property owners last week, I believe it was. And you should hear these stories. You know, the same body of people are saying don't increase rent at all. We're saying no rent during COVID. No rent. 

What do you tell a family who has a 14 unit building? All their wealth is tied up in it. 25 percent of the tenants are not paying any rent for whatever reason or another. And then as taxes go up, heat goes up, everything goes up. We're telling them you can't do anything to increase those costs. That's just unfair. It's just unfair. 

And so, yes, it sounds good. I got it. It sounds good to give everything away [for] free. It sounds good to say never increase the rent. But if you're the mayor of the City of New York, you have to balance with those broken class people who are trying to make ends meet and those tenants who are trying to make ends meet. We're in this together. 

And if we go through this city, you should interview some of these small property owners. They're losing their homes. Then big LLCs come in and buy up all of these small properties. And so I just think it's irresponsible to take a position without speaking to these small property owners. 

These are not the enemy of our city. These are hard-working people and a large number of them are immigrants, you know. And so I would love for them to stay at the 1 percent range, but it's an independent body and that independent party made a decision.

Question: I was wondering if you could address some of these comments that the president made earlier this morning. He was talking about Zohran Mamdani saying that, you know, we'll have to arrest him if he interferes with ICE. Just wondering, where do you stand on that? And he also talked about you were a good independent option and he obviously supported you. So where do you stand on both of those?

Mayor Adams: Well, no one should, I've said this over and over again and I'm going to continue to say it until it resonates and people may appreciate it in a period of reflection. ICE is a federal law enforcement agency. It is not some illegal entity. This administration will collaborate with our federal agencies when it comes to criminal behavior. We're not going to collaborate if it comes down to civil enforcement. The law doesn't allow us to do that. 

And anyone that is elected or not should never interfere with federal authorities carrying out their function. Because if someone doesn't like ICE, what happens if you don't like the IRS? What happens if you don't like the Environmental Protection? You just can't pick and choose. And, you know, my pet peeve is disorder. I don't feel comfortable around disorder. 

You know, maybe it's my blind side that I just don't like disorder. We can't have systems of disorder. And so I will encourage anyone not to interfere with federal authorities legally carrying out their actions. And so the president makes his determination what he's going to do.

I'm not a federal elected official. I keep saying that over and over again. I'm a city elected official. I'm the mayor of the greatest city on the globe, and that's New York City. And I have enough things to improve on in this city that I'm doing than to talk about what they're doing on a federal level. We got federal authorities. Federal authorities need to do their job.