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Qualify of life crackdown: A return to broken windows?
The next key part of Mayor Eric Adams' public safety plan is a crackdown on quality of life crimes and a revamped version of the anti-gun unit. The NYPD calls it a way to answer community concerns, but critics say it's a return to previous controversial policies.
NEW YORK - Mayor Eric Adams and the NYPD are defending their new approach to public safety in New York City, cracking down on quality-of-life crimes but rejecting suggestions that they are returning to so-called "broken windows" policing.
"We are focused on the people, the places, and the things that lead to criminality and lead to violence and deteriorate the quality of life for everyday New Yorkers," said NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell.
Broken windows policing is a strategy that cracks down on smaller quality-of-life crimes like turnstile jumping, open-air drug selling, public drinking, dice games, and public urination that can lead to more serious crimes.
In an interview with FOX 5 NY, Mayor Adams said the city has turned into the wild, wild west without any consequences for those who break the law.
However, critics say broken windows policing targets and incarcerates more people of color and the poor.
"It's been long discredited for furthering mistrust between the police and communities," said Attorney Jennvine Wong of the Legal Aid Society.
"I don't want to have people tell me you're criminalizing the poor," Adams said. "We've reached a point in this city where rules don't matter and I'm not accepting that."
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Adams is also adamant that his initiative is not a throwback to the broken windows strategy of the past which had been criticized for some police abuses.
Bill Bratton has practiced broken windows policing since the 1970s and implemented it as the NYPD's Commissioner in the early 1990s under former Mayor Rudy Giuliani.
"When I started the effort to go after fare evaders, one out of every 7 that was stopped and arrested by the police was wanted on a warrant. One out of every 20 or one out of every 21 was carrying a weapon. Boxcutters, guns, uzi submachine guns," Bratton told FOX 5 NY. "When I left 27 months later, overall crime was down 39 percent in the city."
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One-on-one with Mayor Eric Adams
Eric Adams, the mayor of New York City, speaks with FOX 5 NY about the many issues facing the city, from the vaccination mandate being lifted for athletes and performers to the current surge of crime across the five boroughs and controversial efforts to fight it.
Mayor Adams has also rolled out the NYPD's new Neighborhood Safety Teams with the mission to get guns off the street.
The teams are somewhat similar to the controversial anti-crime unit that was disbanded in 2020, however the new anti-gun teams wear clothing identifying them as police officers instead of wearing plain street clothes.
According to Bratton, there are now controls in place to help prevent police abuse.
"We have body cams everywhere. Everyone has a smartphone to record what they're doing. We have much better algorithms, much better mapping, much better training than we did 30 years ago," Bratton said.