the mayor of New York, Eric Adams, said this Saturday that the crisis of violence affecting the city must be addressed with a coordinated plan that includes local, state, and federal agencies by insisting that he will not hand it over to criminals.
Adams met today with representatives of crisis management organizations and politicians to hear suggestions on the violence affecting New York, after in the most recent incident on Friday police officer Jason Rivera was killed while his partner Wilbert Mora fights for his life.
“Violence will not divide us, We must stick together, that’s how we can deal with this.”, pointed to New Yorkers who have seen incidents of violence on the streets and in the subway in the last two weeks, during a press conference at the conclusion of the meeting.
The organizations told Adams that they are doing what they can to deal with the situation but they face the bureaucracy of the agencies, which makes their work difficult.
Adams, who was sworn into office on January 1 and to whom the violence has not given him respite, assured the organizations that each city agency will have a liaison for the crisis management team.
The mayor and former police officer reported that next week he will give details on the initiatives he will launch to confront this violence, which he assures is caused byor a “small group” whom it is proposed to identify as well as the root of the problem to combat them, as he promised during his election campaign.
“We are going to design the action plan for security and show how we got here,” he said at the conference after the meeting of just over an hour, which was held in the Bronx.
According to Adams, many point to the controversial bail reform that took place in the city as one of the causes of the rise in violence “But there are other seeds that are feeding it and if we don’t identify them correctly and put in place a plan to remove them, we’re not going to be able to solve the problem.”
He insisted that needs Washington’s help, who already asked after the death of the policeman, to stop the flow of weapons that arrive in this city.
In another act of violence this week, a girl who was in a vehicle with her mother was injured in the cheek by a stray bullet of an individual shooting another in the street.
“We are removing thousands of weapons from the streets, but there is an endless stream that continues to pour across the borders of our city”Adams stated that prior to the meeting he visited the Harlem barracks where Officer Rivera worked, as well as Officer Mora.
According to the police, the weapon with which the officer, only 22 years old, was killed it was stolen and sold in Baltimore in 2017.
The person who shot the officers, who were responding to a domestic trouble call at an apartment in the Harlem neighborhood, was identified as Lashawn McNeil, 47, with a criminal record in several states.
McNeil, who is in critical condition after being injured by another police officer who accompanied Rivera and Mora, used a Glock pistol with a “drum” magazine that allows it to hold an additional 40 rounds to the usual 10 of the gun, which is prohibited in this state, unless you are an active member of the police or military, according to the New York Post.
The mayor said he was pleased to recall that during a meeting held with the president Joe Biden last year, it recognized that there must be collaboration between state and federal agencies, in the same way that happened during 9/11 to fight against terrorism.
Biden and the first lady regretted what happened to the police officers. “We keep them and their families in our prayers”The president stated in a tweet.