Several law enforcement unions formally endorsed Mayor Eric Adams for re-election Thursday. But the city’s largest police union, representing rank-and-file NYPD officers, has not yet announced whom it will endorse.
The unions that have thrown their support behind Adams include those that represent NYPD lieutenants, detectives and sergeants. The Correction Officers Benevolent Association and the union that represents sanitation officers also endorsed Adams.
Lou Turco, president of the NYPD Lieutenants Benevolent Association, said only Adams has a proven track record of leading the NYPD.
“Everybody running for office right now for the mayor… they all have plans on how they’re going to reduce crime. Those are plans. We have action that has been working. Why do you want to change that?”
John Nuthall, a spokesperson for the rank-and-file union, the Police Benevolent Association, said that body is not prepared to make an endorsement at this stage in the mayor’s race.
“We have a separate process and we’re going through that process,” Nuthall said. He declined to say which candidate the PBA may be leaning toward endorsing.
Adams’ re-election campaign has focused on public safety. At press conferences, he routinely touts crime figures that city officials say show a decline in shootings and homicides since he took office.
Adams touted his record at the event Thursday.
“This year, under the leadership of the police commissioner, we’re seeing the lowest numbers of shootings and homicides in the recorded history of the city,” Adams said at City Hall.
Still, Adams’ first term has been plagued by corruption allegations that led to FBI raids on some of his top aides and ultimately to his own indictment, which the Trump administration’s Department of Justice dismissed.
On Wednesday, one of his former police commissioners, Tom Donlon, filed a civil racketeering lawsuit against the city, claiming that Adams and his top aides ran the department as a criminal enterprise. Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani, who won the Democratic primary, has criticized NYPD tactics, including the way officers police protests and an uptick in police stops.
A City Hall spokesperson has said Donlon’s lawsuit is meritless.
The PBA and the city are currently locked in a legal dispute after the NYPD moved to fire 30 officers earlier this month, who it says should never have been hired by the department. The union has accused the city of violating the law by not allowing the officers a chance to appeal the firings.
An NYPD spokesperson said keeping the officers on the force would be illegal because they were hired despite disqualifying red flags during their application process. A judge has ordered the firings to be put on hold until the legal dispute is resolved.
Jessica Tisch, Adams’ fourth police commissioner, has also focused the department on quality-of-life issues and rolled out “Q-teams” in precincts across the city. The teams are staffed with officers who respond to quality-of-life issues such as drug use, illegal parking and noise complaints.
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