Mayor Adams announces $485 million plan to prevent crime, focusing on 6 key precincts in Brooklyn and the Bronx
NEW YORK -- Mayor Eric Adams unveiled a new safety plan Monday that earmarks nearly half a billion dollars to address the root causes of crime.
City commissioners, community leaders, and even Gov. Kathy Hochul and Attorney General Letitia James joined Adams to announce the multi-million dollar plan to tackle gun violence in a new way - with jobs, housing and employment programs intended to prevent people from resorting to crime.
"We're making a historical step that I believe is going to cascade throughout the entire country," said Adams.
New York City is earmarking $485 million for an assortment of programs that include:
- Early intervention
- Skill training to provide pathways to good paying jobs
- Housing
- Mental health
- Programs to strengthen the bonds between police and communities
Hochul is chipping in an additional $30 million to help the city hire more safety personnel and expend the summer jobs program.
"Every New Yorker deserves the security of going to bed a night themselves knowing that they and their children and their loved ones are safe," said Hochul.
A report by the gun violence task force found that 92 percent of gun violence takes place within 30 precincts. Two Brooklyn precincts and four in the Bronx, representing 25 percent of shooting incidents and 39 percent of shots fired in 2022, are being prioritized for the new programs.
It comes as random violence continues to plague the city.
"You said the reality is that New York City is the safest big city in America. But people don't believe that. How will this program change the random acts of violence that make people believe that they're not safe?" CBS New York's Marcia Kramer asked the mayor on Monday.
"These random acts of violence shake our confidence. But it does not paralyze us and I am seeing everyday as I walk the streets, on the subway system, in our parks, going out and moving about, people are saying, 'Eric, we see a difference,'" Adams replied.
In a city of 8.5 million people, the mayor said, random acts of violence will continue even as the NYPD continues to reduce crime.