By Thomas Tracy
New York Daily News
NEW YORK — Mayor Adams sat down with NYPD brass to talk about better protecting the five boroughs in the summer months and his message to cops was abundantly clear.
“Safety, safety, safety,” Adams told a small gaggle of reporters outside of police headquarters in lower Manhattan Saturday before he was whisked into the building for his first of three meetings with NYPD officials.
“I’m showing the police department how we have swagger,” he joked before going inside.
The closed-door meetings with precinct commanders and transit officials was called as the city continued to fight a 2.2% rise in shootings this year, with 376 incidents in 2022 through Sunday compared to 368 during the same period of 2021.
Murders in the city were down by 13%, however, from 137 this time last year to 119, cops said.
At 1 Police Plaza, tables in the auditorium were set up in a large square as NYPD commanding officers in crisp dress blue uniforms and holding thick binders trickled in.
NYPD commanders were smiling and chatting with each other as they went into the meeting, where they were asked to offer up three ideas that could bring down crime and improve public safety. The removal of homeless encampments and summons activity were also expected to be mentioned.
Discussions between the mayor and police commanders were friendly and amicable during a “frank sharing of ideas” an NYPD official inside the meeting room said.
Also discussed was the NYPD’s plan to reassign more officers to the evening hours to combat summertime gun violence in the city.
An additional 350 officers will be seen patrolling city streets and subways between 9 p.m. and 2 a.m. beginning Sunday night, NYPD Chief of Department Kenneth Corey said Friday.
“We’re seeing results now and the results are only going to get better as we move forward,” Corey said Friday.
In the summer of 2020 and 2021, city data shows, 42% of shootings between May 1 and Labor Day occurred between 9 p.m. and 2 a.m., police said.
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