Controversial Anti-Gun Units Headed To New Harlem Nabes: Mayor

HARLEM, NY — Controversial anti-crime teams revived under Mayor Eric Adams arrested dozens of people and confiscated nearly a dozen guns in their first week back in high-crime neighborhoods, and are headed soon to new areas of Harlem, according to city officials.

The anti-gun units — now called Neighborhood Safety Teams — arrested 31 people and confiscated 10 guns in the six days since they were deployed last Monday in 25 precincts behind the majority of the city's gun violence, including in Harlem's 23rd and 32nd precincts, Mayor Eric Adams and police said.

Adams said Monday that the new units will also be deployed soon to Harlem's 25th and 28th precincts, along with three more new precincts across the city.

"More than a gun a day was removed from our streets," Adams said. "This is what precision policing is about."

The mayor and NYPD top brass gave little details Monday on how the Neighborhood Safety Teams' role in the arrests differed from general police response, with Adams refusing to answer directly whether the 31 suspects would have been caught without the new anti-gun units.

Adams would only go so far as to say the Neighborhood Safety Teams' ability to specialize on preventing gun violence in a specific precinct means they are able to "zero in" on perpetrators in a way regular police might not.

On top of the 10 gun possession charges, the 31 arrests made by the teams included felony assault, knife possession, criminal trespassing, forgery, reckless endangerment, suspended drivers' license and drug charges, according to NYPD Commissioner Keechant L. Sewell.

The plan to revive the anti-crime units quickly drew criticism from advocates who point to its history of excessive force and shootings — specifically against Black and brown New Yorkers — which led to its 2020 disbandment. People of color are an overwhelming majority in the Harlem neighborhoods where the anti-crime units will be reinstated, according to census data.

People of color make up a majority in the 30 precincts — located in upper Manhattan, Central Brooklyn, the majority of The Bronx and parts of Queens and Staten Island — that will see new anti-gun teams, census data also show.

Adams previously contended that changes to the anti-crime units will help address issues from the past, including having them wear more identifiable clothing, though they will still be in unmarked police cars.

Read More: Controversial Plainclothes NYPD Units Coming To Harlem

Patch reporters Anna Quinn and Nick Garber contributed to this report.