NYC mayor-elect made a dig at outgoing Bill de Blasio by vowing to 'get stuff done' while in office - including bringing back a plain-clothes police unit.
Eric Adams, 61, a former NYPD officer, said his first 100 days in office would focus on crime, from revamping the controversial plainclothes anti-crime unit to addressing the crisis at the Rikers jail complex.
'I am not going to be a philosophical mayor,' Adams told "MSNBC, taking a jab at outgoing Mayor Bill de Blasio.
'I'm going to be a mayor that's going to be a G.S.D. mayor, 'get stuff done.''
Eric Adams, New York City's mayor-elect, vowed to stomp out crime in his first 100 days
Adams said he would bring back the city's controversial plainclothes unit, which was disbanded in 2020 amid the Black Lives Matter movement
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The NYPD's plainclothes unit, which at its peak had 600 officers, was disbanded in June 2020 by de Blasio and NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea, as calls to defund the police swept the nation in the wake of the George Floyd shooting.
De Blasio ultimately slashed $1 billion of the department's $6 billion budget.
The plainclothes unit was heavily criticized for targeting minority groups in the city and its connection to some of the city's most notorious shootings. Photos and videos also started to surface showing the officers engaging in excessive force.
Adams said the unit would return, but this time around, the officers would wear body cameras and focus on gang violence and shooting prevention.
'It's not anti-crime, but an anti-gun unit,' he told The New York Times. 'It's having well-trained officers who are going to use their body cameras so that we can see their interactions. They're going to specifically zero in on gang and gun violence.'
Adams, a centrist, ran on the promise to curb the city's steadily rising crime rate.
So far this year, the city has seen 18,898 felony assaults, about 8 per cent more than last year.
Rape is also up from 1,216 last year, to 1,241 this year, and robbery has also gone up from 10,822 to 10,996.
While murders dropped from 407 to 399 and shootings fell from 1,564 to 1,559, overall crime is still up 1.3 per cent from last year.
Adams, a former police officer, ran on the promise to tackle the city's rising crime rates
He said the plainclothes unit would now focus on gang and gun violence. The unit had been previously criticized for its excessive use of force, like in the incident
