During a press briefing in Brooklyn, New York City Mayor Eric Adams was asked about Assemblyman and Democratic nominee for Mayor Zohran Mamdani's criticism of the NYPD's Strategic Response Group's deployment to protests.
00:00Assemblyman Mamdani has been critical of the strategic response group in relation to its use of protests.
00:09How do you respond to that criticism?
00:11Well, I was told this morning by my team, he also doesn't feel that police should respond to hate crimes or investigate hate crimes.
00:25So police should not investigate hate crimes.
00:27Police should not go to domestic violence incidents.
00:30One of the most dangerous incidents a police officer can go on doesn't want SRG to respond to these incidents.
00:40We just have a philosophical difference in the principles of public safety.
00:45And there's a reason crime is down and jobs are up.
00:49And idealism collides with realism when you are saving the lives of people.
00:53Thank God SRG was there to go inside that building and do a floor-by-floor search.
01:00Specialized, well-trained law enforcement officers know how to do their specialty.
01:07And that's what officers who respond to domestic violence incidents.
01:11I keep reminding people, Officer Mora and Rivera were going to a domestic violence call when they were assassinated.
01:20I saw the tape.
01:22I saw how they were assassinated.
01:24And so when you put civilians in harm's way to respond to a domestic violence incident, that's irresponsible and it's reckless.
01:32When you state that police officers should not investigate hate crimes, that's irresponsible and that's reckless.
01:39And reckless thought can't turn into reckless action because innocent New Yorkers are going to be hurt.
01:47What about protests?
01:48Same with protests.
01:49If you go look at some of the protests that are taking place, I remember the protests we had last year where someone threw a chair that hit and dented the helmet of a police officer.
02:03You know, no one is there.
02:05They don't go into action unless there's a need.
02:07Peaceful protests?
02:08SRG does not go into action.
02:10These are specialized, trained people.
02:12And so when you have protests that's acting orderly, that's moving the way they're supposed to do, you don't have SRG.
02:20They come when it gets out of hand.
02:22That's what specialized units are for.
02:24So I would really encourage him as he's campaigning to sit down and learn what a specialized unit does in the police department.
02:33And you can't be so idealistic that you're not realistic.
02:36There are bad people that do bad things to good people in this city.
02:39And if you want to police this city based on philosophies and concepts, that's not going to happen.
