- New York City mayoral hopeful
Eric Adams pushed back on the "defund the police " slogan. - The Brooklyn Borough President told New York Magazine that people of color are not pushing for it.
- "There are a lot of young white affluent people who are coming in and setting the conversation," he said.
Eric Adams, a former NYPD officer running for New York City mayor, has been differentiating himself from the Democratic field as a pro-public safety candidate who sees more police as part of the solution.
In an interview with New York Magazine published Tuesday, Adams said the "defund the police" movement is led not by people of color in the Big Apple, but rather by young white professionals.
"Now, this is really being led by a different demographic," Adams said. "There are a lot of young white affluent people who are coming in and setting the conversation."
So far, only one candidate in the mayoral contest's crowded Democratic primary field has formally called for defunding the police. Dianne Morales, a non-profit executive, has campaigned on the terminology as part of her plan to reallocate $3 billion of the NYPD's nearly $11 billion budget to communities affected most by violent crime.
Adams was beaten in an NYPD precinct as a 12-year-old. Officers kicked Adams "in the groin repeatedly" after he was brought to the station for a criminal trespassing charge, according to his account of the incident in a 2014 essay. Still, he later enlisted as an officer with hopes of reforming the department from the inside. He spent 22 years in uniform before serving in the state senate from 2006 to 2013, becoming the first Black Brooklyn Borough President.
Now 60, Adams is promising to restore public safety across the five boroughs after a summer that saw the number of shootings double and a more recent uptick in gun violence.
"When you start defunding, hey, the cop is no longer on your corner," Adams continued in his New York Magazine interview. "That cop is no longer in your lobby. That cop is not standing outside when you leave your Broadway play. And I have never been to an event where the people were saying we want less cops. Never."
Adams said he first heard the term when he was at a Black Lives Matter protest over the summer, where he was confronted by a young Black man and a group of white friends.
"They are not living in the community that you are living in," Adams told the young man at the time, in his recollection for the magazine.. "Go back to your community, where there is real violence, and tell me you still want to defund the police."