In the City Hall Blue Room, the atmosphere is tense with the mourning for the death of young police officer Jonathan Diller, who was shot last evening by a career criminal during a traffic stop in Queens. Before opening the floor to journalists’ questions, Mayor Eric Adams asks the room for a moment of silence. Then he declared it as a “senseless act of violence” by a severely mentally ill man.
“When I was at the hospital, I asked myself, ‘What am I going to say to the family? What am I going to say to New Yorkers?’ In this city we have three major problems: recidivism, severe mental health illness, and random acts of violence. Criminals are emboldened, they are no longer afraid of cops, but we are taking action. Because of that, the city is not out of control and the numbers show that shootings are down, homicides are down,” the Mayor said.
The Adams Administration has been placing many undercover police officers in subway stations. They are also focusing on programs to raise awareness of the dangers and educate people on mental illness.
He then went on to discuss another hot topic: debit cards for migrants. “I gave my team a clear directive: bring down the cost by 30% and we are moving there. Thanks to those cards, we are going to take care of $600,000 a month, we are going to do away with food waste and we are going to put money back into the local economy. And also, there is no free money. These are not ATM cards, but for food and baby supplies,” Mayor Adams concluded.
