New York City Mayor Eric Adams, a former police captain, has announced that he is contemplating the need to hire more police officers as he formulates a plan to crack down on crime in the city.
“If we need to hire more, we’re going to hire more and nothing is going to get in the way of that,” Adams told ABC-7 Eyewitness News this past Friday.
“I want to send a very loud and clear message that I am going to give the officers of this city the tools they need to fight the insanity of gun violence and to fight for quality of life,” he said.
“We have a sea of violence in our city and country and there are many rivers that are feeding that sea. We must dam each one.”
With President Joe Biden expected to arrive in New York City for talks with Adams and other on the current wave of gun violence, Adams has an opportunity to appeal for extra federal help in the effort – an opportunity he said he is going to leverage to the limit.
“He gets it,” Adams told ABC News. “I met with him right after the primary and communicated that we needed to have a city, state and federal response the same way we did fighting terrorism . . . those who attacked our city. He understood that.
“He’s going to come, take a look at it and I believe with his help we’re going to stop the flow of guns while the New York City Police Department continues to take the guns that are here, off the streets.”
