Adams Waxes Nostalgic Over 1980s NYC Policing, Crime. Again

NEW YORK CITY — The "Bad Old Days" of New York City weren't so bad — or so says Mayor Eric Adams.

Adams waxed nostalgic Tuesday morning over policing and the justice system during the 1980s.

He repeated concerns on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" about bail reforms that allow more accused criminals go free before trial, which he has linked to a citywide uptick in violent crime.

"During the 80s, everyone was playing on the same team," he said on MSNBC's "Morning Joe."

"We had lawmakers, judges and police all playing on the same team. We don't appear to be there right now."

But even assuming Adams' memories of 1980s police, politicians and justice system officials working arm-in-arm are true, the decade wasn't exactly peaceful.

Murders hovered above 1,200 a year for the entire decade, with some years reaching 1,800 homicides, according to Mayor's Office of Criminal Justice data.

By contrast, the latest spike in murders citywide is much lower. Homicide jumped from 319 in 2019, to 462 in 2020 and finally to 488 last year, data shows.

"The last similar year was 2009, with 471 murders. While problematic, these statistics come nowhere near the levels of violence faced by the City in the 1980s and 1990s," a Mayor's Office of Criminal Justice study states.

Adams, who was an NYPD officer during the 1980s, apparently thinks crime is worse now.

"I have never in my professional career, I have never witnessed crime at this level," he said during a recent interview with Good Day New York.