A revamped version of a specialized police unit focused on getting firearms off New York’s streets is expected to begin operating on Monday in line with one of Mayor Eric Adams’s central campaign pledges as gun violence in the city remains above its prepandemic levels.
The rolling out of the unit coincides with rising anxiety about public safety among some New Yorkers, a feeling that has been stoked by a string of high-profile shootings and attacks on the subway earlier this year.
Mr. Adams’s vow during the mayoral race to revive the unit, which is viewed within the Police Department as an elite squad, was among the campaign’s most contentious subjects. Progressive candidates argued that the unit, which was responsible in its earlier incarnation for a disproportionate number of fatal shootings by the police, was too troubled to bring back.
The mayor and the police commissioner, Keechant Sewell, have said that the revamped squad, which they refer to as the anti-gun unit, will avoid past problems and that misconduct and overly aggressive tactics will not be tolerated. To increase accountability, officers assigned to the unit will wear modified uniforms that identify them as Police Department members, rather than plain clothes, officials said.
“We actually had to take a look at the mistakes of the past,” Ms. Sewell said at a news conference on Friday. “We’ve talked to the community and found out exactly what the changes are they’d like to see, what their concerns were in the past.”
Still, how the unit performs — and whether it avoids the abuses of its predecessor — will provide a significant test for both Mr. Adams and Commissioner Sewell.
The department disbanded the most recent iteration of what was known then as the anti-crime unit in summer 2020 amid the monthslong protests in New York against police abuses after the murder of George Floyd. Dermot F. Shea, the police commissioner at the time, said the anti-crime teams had sowed tension between the police and the people they serve.
Before it was shut down, the unit operated out of the department’s 77 precincts and nine housing commands; its 600 or so members wore street clothes, which made them difficult to recognize as officers.
In addition to the modified uniforms, officers attached to the teams will wear body cameras, which the mayor has said he expects to be activated for every interaction with a resident.
The new teams will initially patrol about 25 areas in the city and later expand to 30 precincts and four housing commands. Eventually, their posts will include neighborhoods including Harlem and Inwood in Manhattan; Melrose and Morrisania in the Bronx; East Flatbush and Canarsie in Brooklyn; and several parts of southeastern Queens.
In time, more than 400officers will be assigned to the squads, which the department is calling “neighborhood safety teams.” Ms. Sewell said the officers had been through “an extensive amount of vetting,” and other top police officials said that each officer would complete seven days of training on subjects that included the use of force, constitutional law and community interactions.
The newly deployed teams are the latest versions of specialized units that have disbanded and rebranded several times over the years, often amid long lists of complaints. The city has paid millions of dollars in settlements to resolve lawsuits stemming from their conduct. The units also played a significant role in the searches of millions of young Black and Latino men at the height of the stop-and-frisk era.
N.Y.C. Mayor Eric Adams’s New Administration
Schools Chancellor: David Banks. The longtime New York City educator, who rose to prominence after creating a network of public all-boys schools, takes the lead at the nation’s largest public school system as it struggles to emerge from the pandemic.
Police Commissioner: Keechant Sewell. The Nassau County chief of detectives becomes New York City’s first female police commissioner, taking over the nation’s largest police force amid a crisis of trust in American policing and a troubling rise in violence.
Commissioner of Correction Department: Louis Molina. The former N.Y.P.D. officer, who was the chief of the Las Vegas public safety department, is tasked with leading the city’s embattled Correction Department and restoring order at the troubled Rikers Island jail complex.
Chief Counsel: Brendan McGuire. After a stint as a partner in a law firm’s white-collar practice, the former federal prosecutor returns to the public sector to advise the mayor on legal matters involving City Hall, the executive staff and administrative matters.
Transportation Commissioner: Ydanis Rodriguez. The Manhattan council member is a trusted ally of Mr. Adams. Mr. Rodriguez will face major challenges in his new role: In 2021, traffic deaths in the city soared to their highest level since 2013, partly due to speeding and reckless driving.
Health Commissioner: Dr. Ashwin Vasan. Dr. Dave A. Chokshi, the current commissioner, stays in the role to provide continuity to the city’s pandemic response. In mid-March, Dr. Vasan, the president of a mental health and public health charity, will take over.
Deputy mayors. Mr. Adams announced five women as deputy mayors, including Lorraine Grillo as his top deputy. Philip Banks III, a former N.Y.P.D. chief who resigned while under federal investigation in 2014, later announced his own appointment as deputy mayor for public safety.
Executive director of mayoral security: Bernard Adams. Amid concerns of nepotism, Mayor Adams’s brother, who is a retired police sergeant, will oversee mayoral security after he was originally named as deputy police commissioner.
Many of those who are pushing for greater police accountability have expressed concern about the new teams, saying that a heightened focus on gun arrests has historically encouraged aggressive and discriminatory policing.
Mr. Adams has repeatedly said that officers who break the law or act abusively will not be allowed to stay in the Police Department. He often refers to his role in helping lead the backlash against the anti crime units after officers killed an unarmed Black man, Amadou Diallo, in 1999, shooting at him 41 times.
But how strictly he treats the issue in practice if, and when, high-profile episodes arise is an open question. One hint of how he may respond came last week after a Bronx judge cast doubt on the details of a case the mayor had cited in arguing for tougher criminal justice laws.
In the case, police officials had said at a news conference in January that officers on patrol in the Bronx who approached a loud group of people had seen a teenager shove his hands in his pockets. Officers repeatedly told him to show his hands, but he refused, officials said. After an officer began to scuffle with him, a gun the teenager was carrying went off, firing off one bullet that struck both of them.
But The Daily News reported that the judge in the case said in court last week that there did not appear to be a legitimate basis for the initial stop, and that video showed the teenager had his hands in the air before the altercation began. The judge called one officer’s testimony “inconsistent and unreliable.”
Asked about the judge’s statements at a news conference on Thursday, Mr. Adams defended the officers’ actions and said he believed they had followed the rules.
“Police officers can’t break the law to enforce the law,” Mr. Adams said. “I don’t believe those officers broke the law. Those officers that put their lives on the line to remove illegal guns off the street should not be demonized.”
