Mayor Adams' recent NYC crime remarks under scrutiny
NEW YORK - Mayor Eric Adams is coming under scrutiny for first denying, then clarifying recent remarks on crime in New York City.
"I have never in my professional career, I have never witnessed crime at this level," Mayor Adams said during an interview with Good Day New York.
The remarks raised eyebrows since Mayor Adams was a police captain in New York City in the 1980s when many considered crime in the city to be completely out of control.
Later, however, Mayor Adams denied saying it at all.
"I didn't say crime is higher than it's ever been," Adams said during a press conference.
What Adams did say both times, however, was that the city's current crime problem can be blamed on too many illegal guns.
Reducing crime was central to Adams' campaign, and some might argue it helped put him in City Hall.
"The honeymoon is over," said Hank Sheinkopf, a political consultant. "That's partly why the Mayor is reacting the way he is. It was a long honeymoon, more than most, people trying to give him the benefit of the doubt to solve crime and reduce the crime problems we're experiencing, they just don't feel it's happened yet."
"Crime is nowhere near what it was in the 80s, what it was in the 70s, and frankly, Eric Adams inherited the crime problem from De Blasio the same way David Dinkins inherited the crime problem from Ed Koch," Sheinkopf said.
After nearly six months on the job, polls are showing that Adams approval ratings on crime have dropped, and political analysts say fulfilling that promise is just what Adams needs to do to get his poll numbers up.