NEW YORK (1010 WINS/WCBS 880) – Mayor Eric Adams announced a "gun violence czar" on Thursday as a surge in shootings persists and threatens to get worse in the summer months.
The czar—or “gun violence prevention chair,” as the position is called in city documents—is part of the mayor’s blueprint to end gun violence drawn up shortly after the murders of two NYPD officers in Harlem in January.
Adams appointed Andre T. Mitchell for the job. He's the founder of the Brooklyn anti-violence group Man Up!
Cure Violence groups from across the city joined Adams and Mitchell on the steps of City Hall for the announcement. The mayor said he’s known Mitchell for 30 years and that he’ll be engaging with the deputy mayors to work with city agencies on tackling gun violence. The mayor wants to give the groups a seat at the table when it comes to dealing with the issue.
Outside City Hall at the start of Gun Violence Awareness Month, Adams said gun violence doesn’t have single point of origin or a simple solution.
“Every day we’re hearing about this,” the mayor said. “It’s breaking our hearts, breaking our bodies and breaking our communities. When the bullet hits the target, the physical bullet stops, but the emotional trauma rips apart the anatomy of our entire community.”
Adams also announced the formation of a Gun Violence Prevention Task Force, which will be co-chaired by Mitchell and Deputy Mayor for Strategic Initiatives Sheena Wright.
The mayor’s office described the task force as “a comprehensive multiagency, cross-program effort to address the root causes of gun violence and prevent shootings before they take place.”
Members will meet regularly with the goal of keeping neighborhoods safe. Among the goals will be “engaging with communities most impacted by violence, identifying gaps in services and programming, expanding programs with a proven record of success into underserved areas, and fostering greater interagency and government/community collaboration.”
Mitchell said the new position is a novel approach to a persistent problem.
“It’s a new title, it’s the first ever,” he said. “We should want some things that are different. We’ve been dealing with this issue for far too long, and we’ve been using the same tactics over and over again. And we’ve been getting the same results. So no one should have a problem with us trying something different. Give us a chance to prove our self-worth. We are the people who are closer to the problem.”
Mitchell told the New York Times that he will not be paid for the role, which will have him focused on “precision prevention” and setting up job and resource fairs for communities hit especially hard by gun violence.
On Tuesday, Adams told faith leaders that combatting gun violence is the “civil rights battle of our lifetime.”
Adams’ administration is grappling with a surge in gun violence that has seen shooting incidents roughly double from 777 in 2019 to 1,562 in 2021. His administration has even considered declaring a state of emergency amid the shooting surge, internal documents show.
Maria Haberfeld, a professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, told the Times that a “perfect storm” of gun violence is looming for the summer ahead. She said “symbolic moves” like the gun violence czar are important because they show “that law and order is our priority in the city.”
“Whether or not it will translate immediately into reduction of violence, I don’t think so. It just takes time to get the situation under the control,” Haberfeld said.
In a statement before the announcement, the mayor’s press secretary, Fabien Levy, said, City Hall “will continue to roll out programs in the days, weeks, and months ahead to remove guns from our streets, protect our communities, and create a safe, prosperous, and just city for all New Yorkers.”
Levy said the “gun violence epidemic” isn’t unique to New York and that cities across the U.S. are impacted. He said the mayor is focused on intervention and prevention in the five boroughs.
“The NYPD is doing their part on intervention — having already removed more than 3,000 guns from New York City streets since the beginning of the year,” Levy said. “On prevention, Mayor Adams has already introduced a number of programs, including the Summer Youth Employment Program, Summer Rising, and Saturday Night Lights — all focused on engaging with New Yorkers at a young age and getting them to choose opportunity over violence.”
The state legislature is also addressing guns. It’s voting on a package that closes some loopholes that were exposed in the wake of the Buffalo supermarket mass shooting last month.
“I am very confident that the package of bills that I put together, as well as what I’m working on with the legislature will be accomplished literally in a matter of days,” Gov. Kathy Hochul said Wednesday.
Related
Related
Related
