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Once a cop, always a cop: Here's what NYC Mayor Eric Adams did on his first day to work

Eric Adams was sworn in by Associate Justice Sylvia O. Hinds-Radix of the state Supreme Court's appellate division

Hours after being sworn in as the new mayor of New York, Eric Adams took the train to City Hall on his first day of the job. The former New York City police captain conversed with reporters and New Yorkers on the train. In fact, he also called 911 to report a brawl after observing two men fighting near the subway station.

As reporters followed the mayor, he was heard saying on the phone, "Yes, I'm at Broadway and Kosciuszko and I have an assault in progress. No - assault in progress, not past assault. They are fighting each other on the street right now, three males." The two men left by the time police arrived, and Adams, 61, told them he would have investigated the matter more if he had been the officer at the scene. 

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Adams was sworn in by Associate Justice Sylvia O Hinds-Radix of the state Supreme Court's appellate division as he held a portrait of his late mother, Dorothy, in one hand, and a family Bible in the other. On New Year's Eve, he stood briefly on the main platform in Times Square and then took the oath. Soon after being sworn in, Adams wrote on Twitter, "I promised New Yorkers that our team would hit the ground running on Day 1. That’s exactly what we’re doing. Effective leadership requires the three C’s: clarity, consistency, and communication. The two executive orders I signed today meet that criteria."

A 22-year NYPD veteran who ran his campaign on public safety, Adams promised to look after areas where people do not have a lot of confidence in police. He said that he will give officers promotions based on how local residents rate them. "The goal is to rebuild trust," Adams told the New York Daily News. “We can show people that these officers are human beings just like them. They have children. They have families. They have spouses. They want to go home safe, and they want you to go home safe.”

Adams recalled how an officer walked the working-class neighborhood of Jamaica, Queens, where he grew up. "He knew how to keep you out of trouble." Noting that cops who are out in the community are likely to understand the people they are dealing with better, Adams said, "I believe that that steady cop could differentiate between little Johnny just acting up and little Johnny carrying a gun."

Adam further advocated for a return of the stop-and-frisk policy, claiming it "'is a perfectly legal, appropriate and constitutional tool, when used smartly". He has also promised to bring back an anticrime unit after it was disbanded by Police Commissioner Dermot Shea last year.