New York- 'Window dressing’- Cop Unions, Adams Rip Hochul Budget Bail Fixes

 

Police unions and Mayor Eric Adams ripped into Gov. Kathy Hochul’s planned fixes to New York’s controversial bail reform law through the negotiated state budget, saying they don’t go far enough and amount to “window dressing”

“Although I commend them on steps they took towards dealing with public safety — something that people said was impossible for us to get done — but clearly, there’s more to be done” to clean up soaring crime in the Big Apple, Hizzoner said on Fox 5’s “Good Day New York” ahead of his 100th day in office.

Big Apple police union leaders had more pointed critiques of the Albany criminal justice changes agreed to in the budget process announced by Hochul on Thursday.

“New Yorkers should pay close attention to the words Gov. Hochul and the legislative leaders are using. Their priority is to make New Yorkers ‘feel safer,’ not to provide real public safety,” Police Benevolent Association president Pat Lynch said in a statement Friday.

“Their proposed changes are political window dressing that won’t do much to change the reality on our streets,” he said, accusing Hochul, who is up for election to her first full term in office this year, along with state Sen. Majority Leader Andrew Stewart-Cousins (D-Westchester) and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie (D-Bronx) of “getting ready to push their next slate of anti-police measures as soon as this weak budget passes.”

“If New York’s leaders won’t get serious about public safety, hopefully New York voters will,” the cop union leader said, in a clear shot at Hochul.

The NYPD’s detective’s union head said the changes were “not enough.”

“No mandatory minimum for gun possession which the DEA supports means more shootings. judges must be allowed to consider prior convictions and recidivism,” Detective’s Endowment Association President Paul DiGiacomo said. 

“When are the politicians going to start listening to the professionals?” 

The NYPD Captains Endowment Association president, Chris Monahan, called the proposal “a small step to try to rectify their disastrous legislation of criminal justice and police reform.”

“Unfortunately, there is much more work to be done,” he added.

This Sunday, April 10, will mark Adams’ first 100 days as New York City’s chief executive. The former NYPD cop made public safety a key issue of his campaign for office and it has been the major focus of his short tenure.

Adams pushed for “targeted amendments” to New York’s 2019 bail reform law as a key measure necessary to help him stem a concerning uptick in gun violence.

Hochul announced a “conceptual” deal on Albany’s mammoth $220 billion state budget Thursday evening, which includes provisions allowing judges to set bail for defendants charged with repeat offenses, hate crimes and gun-related charges.

The record-breaking budget will also consider whether someone’s criminal record makes them likely to do “harm” if released.

But the budget deal doesn’t include a comprehensive “dangerousness standard” — a measure Adams has said is needed so judges can lock up newly arrested defendants who pose a risk to the public if they’re put back on the streets.

“I think that we have a lot more to do. The session is still in play,” he continued shortly afterward, during a separate appearance on NY1.

During his first three months in office, Adams, the tough-on-crime former cop, has seen crime continue to surge with shootings showing no signs of slowing.

Gun violence spiked last month by more than 16% compared to last March, when the city was already experiencing a marked increase in shootings that started in the early weeks of the pandemic. 

The mayor did net some wins, however, cheering Albany’s green light of a tax rebate aimed at directing millions of dollars back into the pockets of families.

But Adams didn’t get his wish for three years of mayoral control of the city’s public schools, even though Hochul had previously said she was going to give him four, but he failed to get Albany leaders to agree on the request.

“This is now time to deal with policies, as we deal with everything for mayoral control where over a million children have a level of uncertainty right now. I need to continue the progress in the schools and also make sure we make the right decisions around public safety. And I’m going to continue to partner with Albany to accomplish this,” he added.

When probed about his progress during his first 100 days, he said: “I am a tough grader and I am impatient. I want changes right away.”

“We have to be safe. Every time a gun goes off, we are endangering the life of a New Yorker like the 12-year-old baby we lost last week and so we are going to continue to do the right thing.”

He then touted the work of his new anti-gun unit — a version of the NYPD’s controversial plainclothes anti-crime unit — unveiled on March 14, which has made 101 arrests, 22 of which were for guns through March 30, according to City Hall.

“My police department and our police department, we have removed over 1,000 guns off our streets in the last 90-something days. Yet the guns continue to flow. So I continuously say that there are many rivers that are feeding this sea of violence.”

Adams has also been keen on cleaning up homelessness, launching a subway safety plan in mid-February that removes individuals from subway platforms and tries to connect them with supportive housing.

The mayor has also started an aggressive push to clear homeless encampments from the subways.

“I’m going to continue to do what I have to do to improve the quality of life in the city — including the homeless encampment that we’re removing off our streets to stop the normalizing of the quality-of-life issues that we’re facing.”

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