Deputy Mayor Kaz Daughtry, Public Safety: Good afternoon, everyone. I am Deputy Mayor for Public Safety Kaz Daughtry. We are here today to announce yet another milestone in the mission to protect the safety of all New Yorkers. Under Mayor Adams’ leadership, this administration has not only constantly driven down crime, but also addressing the root causes of it. Delivering record-breaking progress to make sure that we have affordable housing, good-paying jobs, and the support they need to succeed.
As the mayor often says, there are many rivers that feed the sea of violence, and we are damming them one by one. Holding those who commit crimes accountable while investing in upstream solutions to prevent crimes and violence before they occur. We also recognize that people don’t just need to be safe, but they need to feel safe as well. That’s why under the leadership of Mayor Adams and Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch, we have increased the focus of enhancing the quality of life to restore order to our communities.
Since day one, this administration’s [priority has] been to end gun violence in the City of New York. Nothing defines our public safety strategy more than taking illegal guns off the streets and out of the hands of the criminals. Every illegal gun seized represents a potential life saved, and the families and the community spared from the trauma and the heartbreak that follows in the wake of a shooting.
We are honored here today to be joined by Jackie Rowe-Adams, who knows all too well the devastation of losing loved ones to gun violence. She turned that pain of losing two of her sons into purpose by founding the Harlem Mother Saves. She has been a true partner, never backing down from the fight to ensure no one else has to endure the unimaginable of losing a loved one. Thank you for being here today, Ms. Jackie Rowe-Adams. And with that, I’d like to turn it over to the 110th mayor of the City of New York, the safest big city in America, Mayor Adams.
Mayor Eric Adams: I like saying that over and over again, safest big city in America, and I’m looking out in the crowd and I see Lisa, who did Street Soldiers for many years. We combined and fought to deal with violence in our city and on our streets. And these guns are real symbols. They’re symbols of the devastation.
And I remember at the beginning of my time as mayor, sitting in the hospital room with a mother and an 11-month-old baby, 11-month-old baby that was shot in the head. And the mother was so strong and proud and really energized us to know that we had a mission in front of us and we put plans in place to address this issue. And we know that we can bring down violence because we have done it over and over again.
And it is more than just those men and women who wear the blue uniform, it’s those who wear blue suits and blue jeans, it’s everyday people collaborating with us. And that is what Jackie Rowe-Adams has represented for all of us. As Deputy Mayor Daughtry stated, she turned her pain into purpose. Losing two children, she didn’t say, woe is me, she said, why not me?
And she brought together other individuals and has been consistent from the time she started the organization, no matter who was the mayor, no matter who was the police commissioner, no matter what officer retired or came into the department, her voice has been a consistent voice for parents who lost their loved ones to gun violence.
These guns are really, they carve highways of death through our communities. They devastate lives. Even when the bullet hits the intended target or unintended target, the pathway of destruction does not stop. It rips apart the anatomy of our community and it devastates the loved ones and family members. They start to benchmark their lives by birthdays that are missed, holidays that are missed. Every time they hear a name that’s similar to the person that they lost, they relive that pain over and over again.
When we take a gun off the street, we are able to alleviate, if not eradicate, that pain. And that’s what the men and women are doing in this city that wear that blue uniform. And that’s why we’re here at the 75th precinct. And I want to thank the inspector for what they are doing here in this community.
East New York has always had a reputation of having some of the greatest level of violence among the countless number of people who just want to live in peace. And we stated that our pursuit would not just be localized in one area, it would be citywide.
And so today, we are here to announce 1,000 illegal guns removed off the streets since the start of this year, 1,000 illegal guns, driving year-to-date shootings. And this number is so significant, hats off to Commissioner Tisch. We have driven year-to-date shootings down to a record low in our city’s history, saving countless lives and keeping New York City safe. We are the safest big city in America.
So those who have not read the memo, stop saying our city is in chaos and crisis. It is not. The numbers don’t lie, your noise lies. Let’s stay focused on what we’re doing and applaud these men and women who are doing the job every day. They’re doing the dangerous work of interacting with armed recidivists, repeated offenders over and over again.
I would challenge anyone, each one of these guns, I guarantee you, the person we got it from, in some way or another, had already had an interaction with the criminal justice system. And this is why we’re focusing on recidivism over and over again. And so Commissioner Tisch and your team, job well done. Chief Chell and what you’re doing with the uniformed officers.
For the first two months of 2025, New York City had the fewest number of shooting incidents in more than 30 years, fewest number of shooting incidents in 30 years, a 14.5 percent decrease compared to the same time period in 2024 and a major victory in our campaign to keep New Yorkers safe.
Transit crime, Commissioner Tisch came in, zero focus on transit crime, putting people back on the subway system, having our offices being visible to do what Deputy Mayor Daughtry stated, not only be safe, but feel safe. We know that is the battle that we’re fighting. Our numbers are impressive, but numbers must match how people are feeling. Transit crime was down 15.1 percent following a significant deployment of officers under the commissioner’s leadership.
And crime in New York City public housing, always known as a place where crime has been localized. We have not left them off our vision of what safety looks like. In housing development, crime declined 13 percent compared to February 2024. These results mark the third consecutive month of double digit decreases in crime with not just one borough, not just two boroughs, all five boroughs are witnessing a decrease in six of the seven major crime categories.
Remarkable policing, and she will go into it, it is really built on the zone-based policing and Commissioner Tisch will explain what that is all about and how it has made a major impact in decreasing crime. We’re deploying our officers, we’re moving officers into our subway system, our neighborhood safety teams, public safety teams, and community response teams are all focused on driving down violence and we’re doing it every day. But we’re not just being reactive, we’re being proactive.
Our partnership with what we’re doing with young people, justice involved young people, how do we keep them out of the pathway of violence and how do we put them on the pathway of opportunity and productivity in our city? These numbers we’re talking about are just part of the 20,500 guns off the street since the start of this administration and for three years in a row, the number of homicides and shootings have both substantially declined.
But we know there’s more to do. We’re not going to arrest, we’re not going to send back, we’re going to increase the number of police officers that are on our streets. We’re going to make sure we move our officers from desk duties to the duties of patrolling our streets. There’s a real plan of how to build on our success. Any other person would sit back and clap and applaud themselves and pat themselves on the back, but we’re not doing that. We’re saying to New Yorkers, we got your back. We’re going to fight hard to make sure this city not only becomes the safest big city in America, but the safest city in America.
Opening playgrounds, making sure we have safe spaces where people could assemble and enjoy the beauty of this city. We’re moving into the summer months, everyone knows what happens during the summer months. We see an increase in violence. We didn’t see that take place last year in the area of shootings, and it’s not going to happen again. We’re focused on making sure this city remains the safest big city in America. Thank you team. Thank you officers. Turn back over to you, DM.
Deputy Mayor Daughtry: Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I’d like to introduce the Honorable Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch.
Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch: Thank you, deputy mayor. Good afternoon, everyone. Today we mark another important milestone, 1,000 guns seized by the NYPD since the start of this year. We are making today’s announcement here at the 75th precinct in a borough where shootings have now reached their lowest levels in recorded history. And across the city, we continue to break records and the results are quite clear.
January and February combined saw the fewest shootings for the first two months of a year in recorded history. And major crimes have seen double-digit decreases over the past three months. But while the numbers are moving in the right direction, the work, as the mayor said, is far from over.
Among the 1,000 guns we’ve taken off the streets in the last nine weeks, 40 were ghost guns, the untraceable firearms assembled with the intent to evade law enforcement. What’s more concerning is we’re seeing rapid fire modification devices coming in with some of the guns that we are recovering, attachments that turn handguns into high capacity weapons capable of firing at an alarming rate.
Since we’ve started tracking these lethal accessories about 18 months ago, 82 have come into our police lab. These devices have no place in our communities and our officers are seizing them before they can cause devastation. These gun recoveries are what relentless, targeted enforcement looks like. And a prime example of this is what unfolded in Manhattan North on January 13th.
That night, a shooting erupted on the streets of the 30th Precinct, which was later tied to drill rap. Because our officers were deployed in the right places and at the right time, eight individuals were apprehended as they fled from the shooting, and we recovered five firearms. I would be remiss not to add that two of the eight arrested are documented crew members in our criminal group database, an invaluable tool that some in our City Council would like to see abolished.
A tool that helps us understand affiliations, but more importantly, it prevents violence and retaliatory violence before it happens. Preventing retaliatory violence is exactly what we were able to do in this case. So it is truly the height of absurdity to take a resource designed to keep the public safe from gang violence away from the police. This should not even be a conversation.
But despite all this, since the shooting, the NYPD did what was in the best interest of public safety and deployed resources to surrounding precincts where we anticipated violence. And we had that knowledge in advance, thanks to the criminal group database. As a result of this redeployment, your officers recovered an additional 56 firearms in Manhattan North.
It is incredible work done by women and men who dedicate their lives to public safety. They are out there every day doing a dangerous job in service to a mission much greater than themselves. And I want to thank each of them for their continued noble work. We don’t do this alone, though.
Our partnerships with communities across the city are an important part of our success, and there is truly no greater champion for that collaboration than Jackie Rowe-Adams. So thank you, Jackie, for being here. And of course, thank you to Mayor Adams. Since day one of your administration, you have made it clear that the NYPD’s mandate is to get the guns, and you continue to give us the tools and the resources to do just that. Thank you.
Deputy Mayor Daughtry: Thank you, Police Commissioner Tisch. And our final speaker, I’d like to welcome to the podium Ms. Jackie Rowe-Adams.
Jackie Rowe-Adams, Founder and CEO, Harlem Mothers and Fathers S.A.V.E: So good afternoon. You heard it. You see it. And you see the mayor here. But before, and I really want y’all to hear this, because people think he just started with these guns and crime. And Lisa, you know what I’m talking about, because you’ve been around a long time. And you’ve been doing these stories with our organization Harlem Mothers. At that time, it was Harlem Mothers. Now it’s so big, to this Harlem Mothers and Fathers, because fathers count too.
And you know the mayor, before he was mayor, I just want to say 2006. Eric Adams was the sergeant of NYPD and the president of 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement [Who Care]. And he stood on the steps of 2006 with mothers, five mothers crying, “Who’s giving our kids these guns? Who’s giving our kids these guns?” We was crying all over the place.
He stood there along with former Assemblyman Keith Wright. And Keith called this man here, which was sergeant. And when we called the question, that Friday, that Tuesday, Mayor Adams and the 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement [Who Care] had these bodegas closed down in Harlem, two bodegas, am I right, in Harlem selling guns.
So he ain’t just start this. He’s the only mayor that I know, and I’ve been around a long time, that was able to get guns off the street before he was even mayor. So look at here now, here we are, public safety. He kept his word on public safety. And if it wasn’t for Mayor Adams, today we wouldn’t be standing here with all of these guns.
We got 1,000 guns. We got 40, I understand, we got 40 ghost guns. This is what public safety looks like. This is what public safety looks like. The mothers and fathers are hurting, but we’re so glad crime is down. Thank you, commissioner. Thank you so much. Thank you, Mayor Adams. Crime is down. Years ago, you know, Lisa, I didn’t say that. You know, David, I didn’t say that when you was around. Crime is down. This is true public safety.
So just let me say to all elected officials, I have to say it. You cannot do what this mayor did. This mayor right here, along with the team of NYPD and partners, community activists on gun violence and gun safety and violence, period, have made a difference in one year that mayors haven’t did in four years. So it is important that we all work together, and it is important that we stop talking about it and be about it, because he’s about it. So let’s focus on, and the focus, because see, Mayor Adams keeps his focus and stay on his grind, and he keeps stuff going like this, because if he didn’t, we wouldn’t have this.
So elected officials, if you know how, keep the focus and stay on your grind, because you off your grind. Let’s save our city. Let’s save our kids. Let’s stop playing with our kids’ lives, because Albany have blood on their hands because they do not sign these bills that come out to save our kids. They let the criminals come out of jail, and knowing they done committed murder, know they done committed a crime. But our mayor is trying to keep this city safe, and the elected officials, and especially City Council, step it up. Step it up.
You want to be the mayor? Well, start right now in helping our mayor save this city. Enough is enough. Enough is enough. Our kids are dying in the street. You see these guns here? They didn’t just get here by accident. They got here because the mayor and his team is doing the work, NYPD.
So I say to you before I leave, mayor, you just keep up the good work. I am so proud of you, because I’m going to tell you something. I had a headache this morning just hearing some disappointing news about some stuff was going on. How you still standing? I could not stand up under all this pressure, everybody trying to beat him up. Well, honey, he ain’t stepping down. He just stepping on up, up, up.
And I’m going to look forward to 2026, mayor, and working with Mayor Adams, 2026, keeping public safety alive. And you know what? You can say what you want about the mayor, but he got it going on and people saying his numbers is down. His numbers ain’t down. Y’all ain’t talking to the right people. His numbers ain’t down because he’s doing something. So keep on doing something.
We’re going to keep this work going. We’re going to keep saving lives. My kids I lost years ago, but that didn’t stop me. And I get emotional a lot when I talk about this because it’s important for everyone to know we can’t do this alone. The mayor can’t do it alone. NYPD can’t do it alone. So please, all our elected officials, please step up and let’s stop this violence and let’s continue to keep the violence down. Thank you.
Mayor Adams: Thank you so much. Well said out of the mouth of a mom. And I think that– I hope it wasn’t lost on what the commissioner stated about the gang database. That gang database plays a vital role in stopping retaliatory shootings. When a gang member is shot, their crews go out and they carry out retaliatory actions and oftentimes they don’t hit the intended target. You have innocent people who are shot.
So policies cannot impact public safety and public safety is not something that’s built on idealism. The realism of removing these guns off the street is not to handcuff the police, but handcuff those who are committing violent crimes. Why don’t we open to a few questions?
Question: I just wanted to go back to something you said earlier about– you said people who haven’t got the memo that crime is down and they’re sort of promoting this idea that the city’s in chaos. Could you be more specific? Like, would you put the mayoral candidates in that category and like Andrew Cuomo coming–
[Crosstalk.]
Mayor Adams: No, it’s a general, it’s a general question. No, I put everyone in that category that is not acknowledging that bond raters have dug into how well we’re doing in this city and recovering our economy. What we have been able to accomplish on public safety and our subway system. We inherited a subway system that was going through a very devastating time when people were not on the trains out of fear of COVID and fear of violence.
When you look at the numbers that we have shown over and over again, and so anyone who’s attempting to put a narrative out there, it hurts the productivity of our city. We are attracting new businesses here. We’re attracting new corporations. People are coming back to work. They’re back on our subway system. And so if you are team New York, you should be accurate in your assessment and not dump on New York, but lift New York up.
Now, if we didn’t have the numbers to prove it, then we have to deal with that. But the numbers are clear. Our economy has recovered. Tourism is back, fourth largest in the city’s history. We’re building jobs. Everybody’s excited about the City of Yes. We are taking these illegal guns off the streets. People are back on our subway system. So the numbers are clear. We can’t just make up a status of the city. We need to look at how well the city is doing.
Question: I’m wondering on the topic of your relationship with the NYPD ongoing. What do you think about the profile that was recently done on Commissioner Tisch in New York magazine that characterizes your–
[Crosstalk.]
Question: My question is, do you have a borough breakdown of how many– of which borough had the most gun seizures? And additionally, Mayor Adams, do you agree with the Trump administration’s move to detain a Green Card holding a pro-Palestinian activist from Columbia University?
Mayor Adams: If he has a gun, he needs to go.
Question: He didn’t, though. He was detained for no reason. [Inaudible.]
Mayor Adams: Do we have the number? Okay. We’ll get those numbers to you Katie. Any other on-topic questions? Marcia, you got an on-topic question?
Question: Actually, I wanted to follow on Joe’s question. I think that the question about whether people are actually giving you a fair shot at making this the safest city in the world. When you stand in front of 1,000 guns or however many you have here, are you at all frustrated by the fact that you feel that other people are not giving you credit for it?
I mean, every day you have people who are saying, I can make this city safer. I’m going to hire 5,000 cops. I’m going to do it this way. And here, you’re standing here in front of the evidence. How frustrating is it for you that you have to deal with this constant onslaught of people who are trying to make it look like the way you ran for mayor originally, which was keeping the city safe, somehow you’re not keeping that promise?
Mayor Adams: It’s not frustrating. What’s frustrating for me is when I speak to a police officer who just made an arrest, he finished up the paperwork, and all of a sudden you see the person he arrested back on the streets. That’s frustrating. Frustrating when he makes a gun call of a person who pointed a gun at an innocent person, and that person is back on the streets because our judicial system is failing them.
The frustration is what I am seeing from those officers who are placing their lives on the line every day, [inaudible] that they lost a loved one to gun violence, or have to go visit a loved one or family member who they want to say we will never forget. That’s the frustration.
We have a criminal justice system, not only in the men and women in NYPD, but the Department of Correction that deals with some of the most violent people in this city, yet they are not getting any credit for it. I’m supposed to be attacked as a mayor, but the men and women who are providing that safety, we need to lift them up. We need to talk about their success.
So when you say our city is not safe, you are actually talking down on those officers who contribute their lives. When you say that our Department of Correction officers are not doing their job, you’re talking down on them. That is what’s frustrating to me. I’m open season, go after me, but leave the men and women who are providing the safety alone. Let’s lift them up. So as they talk about the city, let’s applaud them for the job that they’ve done.
Question: You’re in the middle of a mayoral election season where what the currency of the day is, is to talk down against you and everything else that’s going on in the city. So I would imagine that it must be a frustrating job, given the fact that you’re trying to say, as you said, attract jobs, attract people. Trying to say we’ve come back from COVID and the myriad of things that you’re dealing with, and everybody’s trying to take you down and the Police Department with it.
Mayor Adams: Nope. Again, my frustration is that as they talk about me politically, let’s talk about the great workers of the city. Let’s talk about what we have done. As they criticize me, talk about the thousand guns that the cops took off the streets. Talk about what this team is doing. And so, you know, you don’t worry about what people are saying when your numbers are good. Our numbers are great. We’ve turned the city around. Let’s applaud the men and women who have done that every day.
Question: Mr. Mayor, a lot of the guns– thanks for the shout out by the way. Putting it on Tik Tok in about 10 minutes. The detectives say, the NYPD detectives that deal with a lot of these gun cases say that many of the people, it’s a precision approach, and that many of the people that are arrested and that are the active shooters have multiple shooters and that a lot of these guns have multiple crimes or even bodies on them. Do you think the laws are tough enough in the state for these recidivist shooters in these violence cases?
Mayor Adams: We have to do more. The commissioner has stated it. I have stated it. You know, everyone used, you know, one sound bite, but it’s more than that. We need to zero in on recidivism. Too many people are committing crimes over and over again. I threw the number out, I think 545 people who were arrested for shoplifting were arrested over 7,000 times. Those are bad numbers. 38 people who assaulted transit employees were arrested over 1,100 times.
And I will, you know, bet anything that each one of these guns that we’ve recovered off a person, that person had a recidivist history. There is a level of arrogance that is going with those who are committing crimes. They know the law better than what we know the law. And we need to shut the door that is allowing the recidivist to continue to commit the crimes.
Question: How do you shut the door on recidivism when you’re not getting any help from Albany, when you’re not getting any help from judges who have people all over the place?
Mayor Adams: Well, listen, you know, each time we go to these meetings, I try to educate that there are three parts of the criminal justice system. Police is one part. Everyone knows the police. There are the lawmakers and there’s a judicial branch and the prosecutors that are part of the apparatus.
We’re doing our job. We’re making arrests. Arrests are up, apprehensions. The numbers are dropping. The other parts of the criminal justice system, they must do their job. And it’s time for us to continually inform New Yorkers that there are other parts of the criminal justice system that no one sees.
We all know the police officers. We all know the uniforms. And so when you think of public safety, you automatically think of that police officer, but there are other parts of the criminal justice system. Thank you.
March 10, 2025 New York City Hall Manhattan
Sources: NYC.gov , Midtown Tribune
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