Mayor Adams meets with NYPD precinct commanders amid rising crime, shootings
NEW YORK -- There was a big weekend meeting Saturday at NYPD headquarters as Mayor Eric Adams called in the commanders from every precinct in the city.
As CBS2's Andrea Grymes reports, they spent the day talking about ways to curb violence ahead of the summer.
One by one, the commanding officers from all 77 NYPD precincts, along with other police officials, arrived at headquarters for the unprecedented meeting. They were asked to bring ideas on how to improve policing and drive down violence. It lasted about three hours.
"This was not about bringing them in, dressing them down. This was about lifting them up," the mayor said.
The mayor says he was surprised to learn many officers do not know what's expected of them. For example, he wants them to issue summonses for turnstile jumping because that often leads to more serious crime.
"In order to start policing the city safely again, I heard across the board, it's time to get back to the basics," Adams said. "We also need every other agency in this city engaged."
According to NYPD statistics, so far this year, as of April 28, there have been 441 shooting victims citywide. That's up nearly 9% compared to the same time last year, when there were 406 victims, and up 85% compared to the same period in 2020.
They're incredibly painful numbers for the people they represent. This week, CBS2 spoke with Lucy Lebron, who clutched her son Jeremy Santana's photo in Brooklyn. He was gunned down last Sunday afternoon in Cypress Hills.
"It was my son that was taken away from me," Lebron said Thursday. "Please, because my pain today, I don't want you to feel this pain."
"We need more visibility of the police on the street," Bishop Joel Seabrooks, with United Clergy Coalition, said Thursday. "I see them in police cars, but we need to see them in our community, in the streets, developing a rapport."
The NYPD has released more details about its summer violence reduction plan to curb shootings.
Starting Sunday, May 1, every borough will have a single inspector working as a violence reduction coordinator so they can deploy cops and resources faster. The Bronx will get two of these inspectors.
In 40 precincts citywide, they'll be adding more officers and modifying shifts to start three hours earlier.
As CBS2's Christina Fan reports, plans are already in place to tackle summer violence, including new Neighborhood Safety Teams that took 50 guns of the streets in the last six weeks.
As for Saturday's meeting, a police source inside described it as positive, an amicable exchange of ideas. The source says the takeaway was, "We've driven down crime before, so how do we do it again?"
Police sources have said they do need the community's help, along with lawmakers and the court system to make sure criminals they arrest stay behind bars.