NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- New Yorkers should be able to help choose who gets to lead the NYPD precincts in their neighborhoods, Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams said this week.
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In an interview with the New York Post, Adams — a former NYPD captain — said Mayor Bill de Blasio should sign an executive order changing the way the NYPD appoints precinct commanding officers.
Under the executive order, the NYPD commissioner would pick three prospective precinct commanding officers, Adams said.
A committee would then vote on those picks "based on various criteria, including past complaints lodged with the city's Civilian Complaint Review Board," the outlet reported.
"If the mayor's in agreement with it, it could be instant," Adams told the outlet. "This is something he can do right away. This is low-hanging fruit."
De Blasio's office didn't immediately respond to request for comment on Adams' proposal.
Last week, Adams told THE CITY commanding officers needn't even be members of the NYPD.
"There's no rule that states that you have to be a law enforcement person. You could be a civilian and be a police commissioner," he said, adding that there "are ways to change the paramilitary physical aspect of policing and civilianize and make it more humane in nature."
Adams has also encouraged more young people of color to become NYPD officers.
"When we were not getting the proper medical care, we encouraged black and brown young people to become doctors," he said in an interview with NY1. "When we were failing in education, we encouraged young black and brown (people) to become teachers and educators."
"Yet policing is the only institution where we are talking about the lack of proper policing, yet we discourage smart, young black and brown (people) to come into law enforcement. And so we use our tax dollars to pay an institution that we tell our young black and brown children not to become a part of," he said.
"That's a big mistake," he added. "If we want to reform the police and change that precinct commander, then it should be the young man that's in church with us, that we should inspire him to become a cop."
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