NYPD, City Council spar at oversight hearing on Mayor Adams' blueprint to end gun violence
NEW YORK -- Ending gun violence in the Big Apple was the topic of a heated oversight hearing on Wednesday at City Hall.
As CBS2's Natalie Duddridge reported, council members grilled the NYPD's top brass.
"We are trying to stop the precursors for violence and criminal activity," Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell said.
"But you're not answering those problems," Council member Tiffany Caban responded.
Caban and others went head to head with Sewell and Deputy Mayor Philip Banks during the virtual hearing over Mayor Eric Adams' new safety plan, which includes adding officers to stop the flow of illegal guns.
"Tell the public what you're relying on to make these really impactful, important decisions that affect predominantly Black and brown low-income New Yorkers," Caban said.
Adams' blueprint brings back a new version the controversial anti-crime street unit, now called Neighborhood Safety Teams, to fight spiking crime.
"These anti-crime teams are not the anti-crime teams of old. They look different. They're vetted different. There's significant oversight," Sewell said.
The plan received some support from the council.
"It seems like it can work. We have to do something and this is a good start," Councilman Bob Holden said.
But there was also pushback.
"With all due respect, you just changed the name, you changed the personnel, but the policy ... you even want to bring back broken windows," Councilman Charles Barron said.
Barron said the broken windows theory is a recipe for race-based enforcement. These quality-of-life offenses include things like turnstile jumping and public urination.
The Legal Aid Society says arrest data from 2021 shows 90 percent of the more than 1,500 broken windows arrests were Black and brown New Yorkers. But the mayor and NYPD have promised the new teams have gone through additional training and a strict selection process.
"Reviewed body camera footage of these officers' encounters, whether they treated people with dignity and respect, whether they applied the law correctly," NYPD Chief of Department Kenneth Corey said.
The NYPD says since the program started in mid-March, there have been 84 arrests and at least 20 guns have been taken off the streets.
The NYPD was also pressed on a number of other proposals, including using facial recognition and new technologies to identify people who carry guns. No exact dollar figure was given on how much the program will cost.
