Eric Adams came into office with a promise: to make the city safer, to combat a perceived and real increase in crime.

A hundred days into his administration, things are not improving just yet.

What You Need To Know

  • Last month, crime increased by more than 36% compared to the same month in 2021

  • As crime increases, Adams is trying to implement some old crime-fighting strategies to tackle it

  • Public safety will likely be a major issue for him this year

"While there is no doubt we face challenges, and reversing years will not take weeks, the NYPD remains steadfast in its vision, plan, commitment to the residents, businesses and visitors to this city," NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell said last week.

Crime statistics released last week show major crime increased more than 36% last month compared to the year before.

Murders were down a bit from 2021, but other crimes are rising dramatically.

Take robberies for instance. For the first three months of this year, they are way up compared to 2021. In March this year, there were 1,267. In March of 2021, there were 854.

Shootings too are up from the year before.

Experts and those close to the issue say it's too soon to lay the blame on Adams.

"A hundred days is not enough time,” said former Police Commissioner William Bratton. “Eric Adams inherited a mess that was not of his creation. So in 100 days he's made a lot of good starts on a number of initiatives."

In those 100 days, Adams has seen some significant challenges.

Two officers gunned down and killed in Harlem.

Random shootings on the street.

Early on, he directed more police officers to the subway.

"We're going to make sure New Yorkers feel safe in our subway system, and they don't feel that way now, and I don't feel that way when i take the train," the mayor said in January.

And as promised, he brought back a controversial plainclothes police unit, under a different name and uniform. There are now 34 of them patrolling.

Adams went to Albany to lobby state lawmakers to change the bail reform law. The legislature incorporated some of those changes into the state budget last week.

Not surprisingly, the mayor's decisions have angered some advocates.

"If I had to tell you, Mr. Mayor, the policies you are working on right now, it's nothing new,” said Marvin Mayfield of the Center for Community Alternatives. “You're going backwards into broken windows policies. You're going backwards in increasing the ways that people are incarcerated for low-level offenses. We asked that you be different, not to judge bail reform, but it seems like you caved in to the tactics and the policies of those that have opposed our progressive steps all along."

Others, like the former police commissioner, argue he's making the right moves.

"So what he is tried to create with his new commissioner is effectively a repeat of what worked in 1990 in the subway, what worked in 1994 when I was police commissioner, what worked for the next 25 years,” Bratton said. “Eric understands the history of what worked in the past, what mistakes were made. The problem is most of those in Albany and most of those in the City Council, they're so young and inexperienced, they don't know the history."

Both the mayor and top NYPD brass say change will not happen overnight.

They'll need more time.