Adams’ ‘dissolving’ cop jobs

Mar 27, 2024

By Jeff Coltin, Nick Reisman and Emily Ngo

Presented by Flavors Hook Kids NY

With help from Irie Sentner

New York City Mayor Eric Adams and Police Commissioner Edward A. Caban at a press conference.

“The foundation of the public safety apparatus is dissolving right in front of our eyes,” Mayor Eric Adams warned. | Benny Polatseck/Mayoral Photography Office

After NYPD officer Jonathan Diller was shot and killed doing a traffic stop Monday night, Mayor Eric Adams once again grappled with his public safety messaging.

The city is not out of control, he said at his wide-ranging Tuesday press conference. But New York could end up like other, unnamed American cities, that are out of control if cops and other people in public safety roles keep leaving their jobs.

Adams lamented the drop in correction and police officers as they retire or age out of the force. Prosecutors are leaving because they’re “overwhelmed with paperwork,” he added. Probation and parole officers too.

“The foundation of the public safety apparatus is dissolving right in front of our eyes,” Adams warned.

Adams is backed up by the numbers — NYPD headcount has fallen steadily since 2018, Correction headcount has fallen by more than one-third in the same period, and ADAs are leaving for greener pastures.

“If we don’t get in front of it, we are going to be dealing with a severe public safety crisis that other cities are experiencing,” Adams said. “That is the concern, that’s the clarion call that we must put out.”

But it’s an eyebrow-raising message coming from the mayor who has cut four upcoming NYPD recruit classes.

Adams did reverse the cut to a new class starting in April. But City Hall spokesperson Kayla Mamelak confirmed the next four classes through April 2025 “are still not currently scheduled.”

Unlike previous pols looking to boost their public safety credentials, Adams hasn’t seriously pushed for more cops.

He’s focused on doing more with less, efficiently allocating police officers so they’re not bunched up at peaceful parades, or staring at their phones while deployed to subway stations.

The city has been making a big push to hire correction officers hoping subway ads and a jazzy “Take the Test” jingle would get people to work on Rikers Island, where there’s rampant violence against both officers and detainees. Recruitment has been anemic.

It wasn’t clear if Adams’ comments Tuesday portend a new hiring push, but it at least leaves the door open to reinstate the canceled NYPD classes. Cops leaving the force dropped the uniformed headcount below 34,000 — one thousand less than what’s budgeted.

NYPD leadership, and police unions, would welcome it. City Council Public Safety Chair Yusef Salaam told Playbook that in recent meetings, the cancellation of police academy classes “was brought up constantly.” — Jeff Coltin

IT’S WEDNESDAY: Got news? Send it our way: Jeff Coltin, Emily Ngo and Nick Reisman.

A message from Flavors Hook Kids NY:

Kid-friendly flavored e-cigarettes can be found in retailers across New York State. 89.4% of kids who use e-cigarettes are hooked on these flavored products. Let’s close the enforcement loopholes to keep these kid-friendly flavored tobacco products off our store shelves. Let’s pass Assembly Bill A9110 and Senate Bill S8531 sponsored by Assemblymember Rosenthal and Senator Hoylman-Sigal.

DO WE HAVE A BUDGET YET? No.

WHERE’S KATHY? In Albany with no public schedule.

WHERE’S ERIC? Making a jobs-related announcement, then delivering remarks at the Iftar and Inauguration of Community Bangla Network TV of Prothom Alo North America, then hosting “Talk with Eric: A Community Conversation.”

QUOTE OF THE DAY: “I’ve been booed so much, I think my name is Boo.” — Adams said in response to criticism over one of his migrant programs.

ABOVE THE FOLD

Yonkers Mayor Mike Spano testifies during a joint legislative budget hearing on local government Monday, Feb. 11, 2019, in Albany, N.Y.

Yonkers Mayor Mike Spano, who spent two decades in the state Assembly as a Republican and later a Democratic lawmaker, visited Albany to press for a change in how direct aid to schools is determined. | Hans Pennink/AP

BACK TO SCHOOL: There are a few concerns state lawmakers have in every budget negotiation that rise to the level of school aid.

Just ask Yonkers Mayor Mike Spano, who spent two decades in the state Assembly as a Republican and later a Democratic lawmaker.

“The most paramount concern you’re going to have is delivering for your district,” Spano told Playbook. “Nobody wants to have someone saying you don’t deliver.”

Spano was in Albany on Tuesday to press for a change in how direct aid to schools is determined, a move that could send millions of additional dollars to his city.

But more broadly, lawmakers and Hochul are locked in a dispute over how to fund school districts. The governor wants to overhaul the funding formula which would mean cuts for districts that have seen their enrollment drop.

The proposal has been a tough sell for lawmakers, whose seats are up for reelection this November. And it also united Democrats and Republicans in opposition.

But Hochul has shown no signs she’ll back down. She’s pointed to the state significantly increasing direct aid to schools over the last two years at levels long favored by left-leaning education advocates.

That’s put the governor and the Democratic-controlled Legislature at loggerheads with less than a week to go before the state budget is due to pass.

“It’s clear we don’t have an agreement,” Senate Education Committee Chair Shelley Mayer said in an interview.

Some lawmakers agree — both publicly and privately — that the education funding formula is a mess. It hasn’t been updated in more than a decade, a period of time in which New York has struggled to retain its population.

Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie doesn’t want cuts. But he has backed a study for how to address the complex formula for schools.

“Particularly when you’re using data from two censuses ago, it’s only right,” he told reporters on Tuesday. “We want it to be a review and have it adjusted. We always want to make sure the school districts have the resources they need in order to educate the children of our state.” — Nick Reisman

A message from Flavors Hook Kids NY:

CITY HALL: THE LATEST

Mayor Eric Adams with inmates on Rikers Island.

Mayor Eric Adams said he would initiate an investigation of the alleged abuse and impunity at Rikers Island but appeared limited in what he could say with the city as a defendant in the cases. | Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office

RIKERS UNDER SCRUTINY: Redoubled efforts to expand the Adult Survivors Act window, plans for a City Council oversight hearing and a “thorough investigation” by Adams were vowed Tuesday in response to the WNYC/Gothamist analysis of 719 lawsuits alleging rampant sexual violence against detainees on Rikers Island.

The complaints filed under the Adult Survivors Act against New York City and the Department of Correction detailed how jail employees, over the decades, allegedly groped woman detainees, ordered them to perform oral sex and committed rapes that in some instances resulted in pregnancies.

The plaintiffs seek more than $14.7 billion in damages.

Adams said he would initiate an investigation of the alleged abuse and impunity at the notorious jail complex but appeared limited in what he could say with the city as a defendant in the cases. The mayor added that Rikers’ culture of dysfunction predates him.

The city’s corporate counsel, Sylvia Hinds-Radix, told reporters, “These are very sensitive issues. … The city has absolutely no tolerance for any kinds of these incidents.” — Emily Ngo

More from the city:

— The billionaire who made straw donations to Adams has a checkered past in his native China. (The Wire China)

— The city says the pilot program providing preloaded debit cards to migrants is just that: a pilot and six-week trial run. (POLITICO)

— Where are the city’s migrant shelters? Parts of Manhattan and Queens have the highest concentration. (City & State)

NEW FROM PLANET ALBANY

State Sen. Andrew Gounardes stands at a podium with supporters of "rider representation" holding signs behind him.

State Sen. Andrew Gounardes wants to end the use of algorithmic-based feeds for the social media accounts held by minors. | Courtesy of state Sen. Andrew Gounardes' office

LET’S GET SOCIAL: Democratic Brooklyn state Sen. Andrew Gounardes and Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis probably do not have a lot in common.

But they are united over how social media has affected kids — and they both want limits.

This week, DeSantis signed a ban on social media for kids under 14 — a measure that’s expected to face a court challenge.

“I think it shows that people on every side of the aisle, in every part of the country recognize that zero protections on social media are wreaking incredible havoc on kids and they’re willing to do everything possible to protect them,” Gounardes told Playbook.

Gounardes’ proposal in New York doesn’t go nearly as far as the Florida law: He wants to end the use of algorithmic-based feeds for the social media accounts held by minors.

“There is some value and some benefits,” Gounardes said of kids having social media access. “We just want to go after the most harmful elements of the design.”

The tech industry disagrees and has been fighting the New York bill. Some companies have called for Congress to act rather than create a patchwork of state-by-state measures.

Gounardes is skeptical Washington will move on the issue fast enough. And he’s got the backing of Hochul, who has included the social media regulations in her budget proposal — significantly increasing its chances of being made law. — Nick Reisman

INDIGESTION PRICING: The Riders Alliance today will release a report detailing the many lawsuits that are trying to sink congestion pricing in Manhattan.

The report is meant to push back on the legal challenges that potentially threaten the enactment of the toll plan.

"Riders won congestion pricing and have defended it from five years of baseless attacks," said Riders Alliance Policy spokesperson Danny Pearlstein. "Millions of New Yorkers, commuters, and visitors need and deserve reliable and accessible subways, cleaner air and faster emergency response, bus service, and deliveries.” — Nick Reisman

More from Albany:

— A pro-Israel political advocacy group has launched a state-level PAC with plans to target DSA and WFP-backed candidates. (New York Focus)

— The labor lobbyist dating Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie has been cleared to return to work before the Assembly. (New York Focus)

— New videos unsealed in a court filing are giving former Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s attorneys new fodder to refute harassment allegations made against him. (Times Union)

NEW YORK STATE OF MIND

— Mount Sinai Beth Israel violated a cease-and-desist order that bars the closure of any beds or services while the hospital’s permanent shutdown is pending regulatory approval, a state Department of Health investigation found. (POLITICO)

— Establishment Democrats are challenging progressives’ staying power in 2024. (City & State)

— Hochul offered assistance to Maryland in the wake of a bridge collapse in Baltimore. (AMNY)

A message from Flavors Hook Kids NY:

Bubble gum, mango, and strawberry-banana are just some of the kid-friendly flavored e-cigarette products that can be found in retailers across New York State. These products are still widely available due to enforcement loopholes that retailers use to keep hooking our kids. 81% of youth who have ever used a tobacco product started with a flavored product and our kids are getting hooked on a lifetime of nicotine addiction. We can’t wait any longer to close the enforcement loopholes to keep these kid-friendly flavored tobacco products off our store shelves. Let’s pass Assembly Bill A9110 and Senate Bill S8531 sponsored by Assemblymember Rosenthal and Senator Hoylman-Sigal.

SOCIAL DATA

Edited by Daniel Lippman

MAKING MOVES: Run for Something co-founder Amanda Litman will step into the role of president as the political organization’s co-executive director Ross Morales Rocketto prepares to depart.

FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — Dion Nissenbaum, a longtime reporter for the Wall Street Journal, on Tuesday was laid off by the paper, according to four current and former WSJ reporters. Nissenbaum, who most recently covered the Middle East for the Journal, is a two-time Pulitzer finalist. His last long-term Mideast stint was in Beirut where he and his daughter were injured in the port blast in 2020. A WSJ spokesperson didn’t respond to a request for comment.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY: NBC/MSNBC’s Jacob Soboroff … Walt Mossberg … former Rep. Susan Molinari (R-N.Y.) … Edelman’s Erin Schwille … Sally Kohn … Meredith Artley … Morgan Manousos … Yuriy Bash … (WAS TUESDAY): Nancy Snyderman

YOUR NEW YORK NUMBER OF THE DAY

50 percent

The share of immigrants to New York, roughly, coming from outside Central and South America, according to immigration court data analyzed by Gothamist.