NEWYORK: New York city Mayor Eric Adams said that public safety is the prerequisite to prosperity and our cities must be safe.
Speaking at press conference along with Mayors of African American Mayors Association, Mayor Adams said that we will all tell you the problems we’re facing in New York is no different than across the entire country, so it’s imperative that today was a focus on technology and how we can use technologies to run our city better.
“We realize the challenge that gun violence is playing on our country and it falls on the laps of mayors. We go to the funerals, we have to deal with the families, we have to deal with the over proliferation of guns. We don’t make the federal laws that are allowing these guns to go on to our streets, but we have to police, make sure our police departments are responding to them accordingly,” he said,
Mayor Adams said that he wants to just really acknowledge all of my fellow mayors that are here for their support and this cross-pollination of ideas that we are experiencing as we deal with the tough issues that our cities are facing.
He said that they too believe that we have an obligation to protect our citizens, make our cities more livable and affordable for everyday people that are in them and that’s what we were elected to do.
“I say it over and over again, the people of these cities, they did not elect us to define the problem. They elected us to solve the problem and the device we are going to be utilizing during this pilot project that we’re doing is going to be in our subway system,” he said.
Mayor Adams said that our subway system is the lifeblood of our city and in the beginning of his administration he saw a horrific shooting that took place in Sunset Park and all we know when you’re in a close confinement like this, how dangerous it is if a person is armed with a weapon.
“The goal is to prevent that from taking place in the first place. We cannot say enough for Chief Kemper. We started out with a slight uptick in crimes in our subway system in January, but ever since you saw the media turnaround, Chief Maddrey ensured that we infused with Commissioner Caban, that we infused 1,000 more officers into our system and early this month, we reported that transit crime was down 7.8 percent so far this year. Robberies are at their lowest level in recorded history. These numbers say a lot. If you were to remove the two years from the COVID, we have a 14-year low in crimes in the subway system. 4.1 million riders, about five felonies a day out of 4.1 million riders. That’s a great stat. If you had that record in baseball, you would be in the Hall of Fame. This is a Hall of Fame team that’s here right now,” he said.
He announced that city administration is officially launching an initial pilot of a groundbreaking new weapons detection technology, working with their partners in the private sector.
“Many ideas are in the private sector, and we want to embrace them. We will be deploying electromagnetic detection system at select subway stations over the next month. Many New Yorkers will be familiar with this type of technology. It’s not new. It’s being used in big cities across the country and outside the country,” he said.
“We’re currently using similar technology at the Met, One Vanderbilt, Citi Field, and ten Major League Baseball stadiums around the country. We’re urging all companies out there that are looking to develop this technology, we want them to reach out to our team because we want the best product for New Yorkers. Competition is good, and we believe the mere fact we’re doing it here and have mayors from across the country that’s here, we’re going to see some new innovation in this area,” he said.
“Finally, to be able to detect if someone is carrying a gun and where that gun is located on that person’s body. This is good technology,” he said.
“The technology is layered on top of that procedure where officers would be well-trained to make sure we carry out every constitutional safeguard. Just as with bag checks, we would not be announcing in advance where or when we are doing this. It could be every fifth, tenth, or twentieth person. It would vary from day to day. Just as someone can refuse a bag check, they can refuse a scan. If they refuse a bag check and a scan, they have to get off our system because you have to follow the rules, and this is the rule,” he said.
Mayor Adams said that this 30-day pilot will cost the city nothing and that’s what this is so we can examine the product.
St. Louis, Missouri Mayor Tishaura Jones said that what Mayor Adams’ administration is doing with innovative technology to improve public safety transit is a great example of forward-thinking ways and we’re all looking towards making all of our cities safer.
“Technology, when used well, can help rebuild our city governments, modernize processes, and make our communities safer. Throughout my term as mayor, we’ve achieved amazing progress in reducing crime and improving public safety in St. Louis. We’ve seen a 24 percent reduction in shooting incidents and a 23 percent decrease in shooting victims. That’s directly linked to our investment in technologies like ShotSpotter, which allows for a quicker response time in gunfire incidents. Another noteworthy statistic is a 39 percent reduction in felony theft and a 19 percent reduction in auto theft, which is related to our increased use of surveillance cameras and data-driven policing technologies like CompStat,” she said.
Montgomery, Alabama Mayor Steven Reed, who is also the president of the African American Mayors Association, said that technology and innovation plays an integral role in the safety and success of all of our cities, which is why our discussions earlier today at AAMA’s first inaugural Tech Summit have been so important.
“AAMA mayor-led cities across the country are looking at tech successes, like those here in New York City, to bring to our cities, and to see how important it is to share those resources to make government more efficient. This summit has been an incredible opportunity to bring leaders together, to discuss how we can ensure our cities remain on the cutting edge of innovation, delivering results that create inclusive economic growth that is felt by all of our residents and all of our citizens,” he said.
“As the president of the African American Mayors Association, we collectively represent over 500 mayors across the nation, from cities large and small, from the West Coast to the East Coast, all the way to the Heartland, from North and South, impacting the everyday lives of more than 25 million Americans. Whether it’s New York City, Montgomery, Alabama, or St. Louis, Missouri, and beyond, all of our cities stand to benefit from ensuring that our municipalities are integrating the best available technology, like Mayor Adams is doing right here in New York, and the very best practices,” he said.
He appreciated Mayor Adams and his team for leading the way and said that this forum is a badly-needed space for us to share what has worked here in New York, but what’s also possible to work in our communities regardless of their size, to learn from one another, to share knowledge and information, and to make sure that we’re adopting those best practices that will lead to safer communities, that will lead to safer outcomes for our residents as well as our officers.
“Looking at new technologies, like artificial intelligence, presenting enormous opportunities for the better-functioning and flourishing of our cities. That’s the goal of this conference for us. That’s the goal of these conversations. When we’re here in New York City, and we’re meeting and discussing and learning from one another, it is to better ensure the outcomes for our results, and the outcomes and results for all of our residents, respective of our cities,” he said.
