The department has been rocked by the police commissioner’s resignation, a federal probe of the mayor, and other troubling developments.
With the resignation of New York City Police Department (NYPD) Commissioner Edward Caban amid a federal probe of Mayor Eric Adams’s administration, city officials are facing a public trust crisis.
Add to that an incident last weekend in which officers in a Brooklyn subway station opened fire on an alleged turnstile jumper armed with a knife and accidentally shot a fellow officer and a bystander.
The police force and mayoral administration are both scrambling to regain credibility, according to Michael Alcazar, an adjunct professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in Manhattan and a retired NYPD detective.
When Caban stepped down, the mayor moved swiftly to appoint Tom Donlon, a law enforcement professional with a long record of involvement in criminal and terrorist cases, as Caban’s successor.
Given Adams’s stance as a tough-on-crime, pro-law enforcement official, the mayor’s political fortunes depend heavily on the NYPD’s ability to right its course in the aftermath of the Caban corruption scandal.
“The NYPD’s image has undoubtedly been affected by the Caban scandal,“ Alcazar told The Epoch Times in an email on Sept. 16. ”Mayor Adams and Donlon will both face the challenge of communicating their new strategies to the New York communities they serve and working to rebuild trust and confidence.”
Since Caban stepped down, the mayor canceled an appearance at a Sept. 16 fundraiser, just two days after his chief legal adviser, Lisa Zornberg, resigned without notice. Zornberg’s very brief resignation letter said she could no longer effectively serve in her role.
Tiffany Cabán, a New York City Council member from Queens, has called for the mayor to resign, as has Emily Gallagher, a state assemblywoman from Brooklyn, and state Sen. Julia Salazar, also of Brooklyn.
In a Sept. 13 post on social media platform X, Salazar wrote: “We’ve seen enough. I am tired of a lack of accountability from executives at every level of government. Several FBI investigations and too much harm done to the best city in the world. Time to step aside and allow for new leadership.”
