Gracie Mansion hosts second day of Mayor Eric Adams' crime and safety summit
NEW YORK -- NYPD stats show crime in the city is on the rise compared to last year.
On Sunday, Mayor Eric Adams wrapped up a two-day summit with dozens of leaders in the criminal justice system.
CBS2's Lisa Rozner found out some of the public safety solutions that they discussed.
From a man terrorizing riders with a samurai sword on an "A" train, to a rider being pushed off a platform, they were some of the nearly dozen violent incidents in the subway system in the last week, alone.
Year to date, NYPD stats show overall crime is up more than 30 percent in city compared to last year.
On Saturday and Sunday, Adams held conversations at Gracie Mansion with more than 40 people from all sides of the criminal justice system, including all five district attorneys and public defenders.
"The conversation focused on the non-legislative actions that can be taken, what can be done now," said Tina Luongo, the Legal Aid Society's chief attorney of criminal defense practice. "The criminal court system and Rikers Island can no longer be the de facto place we think we are treating people with mental illness."
"I helped moderate the panel on mental health and I was very encouraged that we spent, I would say, almost half the time on mental health reforms," added Cheryl Roberts, executive director of Greenburger Center for Social and Criminal Justice.
One solution discussed included investment in community care vans that would be parked outside of arraignment courts. According to Roberts, they would, "provide showers, food, peers mental health services right on site."
Civil rights attorney Norman Siegel, who organized the summit, said there was discussion about expanding mental health courts so more people can get diverted to treatment. Last year, CBS2 highlighted how out of thousands of criminal court filings in New York County, only four made it to mental health court.
"We have to have a mental health court in every one of the boroughs, dealing with mental health and criminal acts, and we need it today," Siegel said.
By phone, the mayor said he supports updating the system for pre-trial discovery -- so there's less time spent waiting for a court date.
"This antiquated infrastructure is impacting on the ability of New Yorkers seeking justice on both ends of the spectrum," Adams said.
"There's a Sixth Amendment guarantee for a speedy trial. It has never been a reality," Siegel said.
The leaders discussed digitizing the system. As for how they will do that, stakeholders are splitting into sub-committees to submit a more detailed plan to the mayor by the end of the year.
