Ex-NYPD Commissioner slams Adams for crime and says it is ‘too dangerous to travel on the subway’

Mayor Eric Adams was slammed by a former New York Police Department commissioner on Sunday for his soft approach to crime in the Big Apple. 

NYPD Ray Kelly, who served as commissioner from 1992 to 1994 and again from 2002 to 2013, appeared on WABC 770 AM radio show, dubbed Cats Roundtable, along with host John Catsmatidis on Sunday to discuss the ongoing crime wave in the city.

Kelly pointed out subway crimes in the cities have run rampant amid Adams claim earlier this week that there is only a perception that crime is ‘out of control’ as the city that never sleeps becomes crime ridden.

‘We were the safest big city in America just a few years ago,’ Kelly said, according to the NY Post. ‘This isn’t brain surgery. You go back and look at the things we were doing then and you re-implement them. But apparently, the mayor doesn’t want to do this.’

The former police commissioner’s comments comes after Adams was put under pressure after disregarding the crime wave on Monday, and pledged days later to fill the subways with more police and extra security measures. 

NYPD Ray Kelly, who served as commissioner from 1992 to 1994 and again from 2002 to 2013, appeared on WABC 770 AM radio show, dubbed Cats Roundtable, along with host John Catsmatidis on Sunday 

Mayor Eric Adams was slammed by Catsmatidis for his soft approach on crime as the city witnesses a significant increase

Adams said on Saturday that the city would increase security in the subway system despite the Mayor previously saying earlier this week that there is only a perception that crime is out of control 

Crime in New York City is up 31.1 percent with robberies and felony assaults leading the way in comparison to October last year, according to the NYPD. 

With nine deaths reported in the subway system this year and an average of six subway crimes per day in the Big Apple, Kelly pointed toward the need to improve safety in the transit system.

‘Every day you read about a crime in the transit system, and it just reinforces the notion that it’s too dangerous to travel on the subway,’ Kelly said. ‘I think they need a fresh look at the transit system because we know the subways are the lifeblood of New York.’ 

Adams appeared in the Grand Central Terminal on Saturday along with the MTA Police Department to announce the addition of 1,200 more shifts per day to enhance security in the subway, according to the New York Post. 

The Mayor also pledged to also enhance mental health services and said the city will establish a two psychiatric centers with 25 beds beginning November 1 at the Manhattan Psychiatric Center. 

As apart of this initiative, subway police will now receive training on how to care for mentally ill riders.

‘The bottom line is that riders will see more officers in the system, and so will those thinking of breaking the law,’ Adams said. 

It is unclear when enhanced security will appear in the subway system. 

Transit crime in New York City is up 41 percent, year on year

On Monday, Adams claimed that there is only a ‘perception’ that crime in the Big Apple is ‘out of control.’ 

Adams claims that he and law enforcement are fighting the ‘actual crime,’ with the average of ‘six crimes a day’ on the subway ‘not giving the impression that it is out of control.’  

Slayings on the transportation network have skyrocketed to the highest annual levels in 25 years, as NYPD data shows the city is grappling with an overall spike in random violence.

The number of murders on the subway system from 2020 to this year is 22 – more than the number from 2008 to 2019 combined.

Between 1997 and 2020, there were never more than five murders a year on New York City subway trains.

That number rose to six in 2020, eight in 2021 and it’s already at eight with two-and-half months left of the year.

Overall felony crime on the subways it up 42 percent this year compared to the same period in 2021, but ridership has almost halved.