Mayor Eric Adams raised eyebrows at the start of his administration when he named Phil Banks as deputy mayor for public safety, even though Banks had a checkered past in the NYPD.

What You Need To Know

  • Deputy Mayor Phil Banks worked his way up the NYPD ranks

  • Banks resigned abruptly from the NYPD in 2014

  • He has remained tight-lipped about his future in City Hall

Since then, Banks has been one of the most powerful and influential members of the mayor’s team, but he’s recently been noticeably absent from Adams’ weekly press conference with reporters, which also includes the mayor’s cabinet.

When asked directly earlier this month if he’s leaving the administration, Banks would not answer directly.

“When you told me who you heard it from, I’ll answer the question,” he told reporters.

Jillian Snider, adjunct lecturer for CUNY’s John Jay College, told NY1: “We should know what this role entails. We should know the duties and responsibilities of this role, and more importantly, we should know any great accomplishments or any challenges this office is facing.”

A longtime friend and confidant of Adams, Banks rose through the ranks of the NYPD to become chief of department in 2013.

A year later, Banks abruptly resigned. He was later named as an unindicted coconspirator in a federal investigation into NYPD corruption.

Prosecutors alleged two businessmen cultivated a close relationship with Banks in order to get NYPD favors.

Banks was never charged with a crime, still his appointment eight years later as deputy mayor for public safety quickly sparked concern.

Liz Glazer, former executive director of the Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice, questioned: “Would Banks be somebody who could walk into a room of district attorneys and judges and others who would immediately have confidence in him?”

As deputy mayor for public safety, Banks has oversight over thousands of city employees in the FDNY, Department of Correction, Department of Emergency Management and the Office of Criminal Justice.

His responsibilities expanded in 2023 when the Adams gave Banks oversight over the newly created Office of Municipal Services Assessment.

In March, Adams highlighted the work Banks has done to coordinate city agencies

“What we did by bringing on Phil Banks to be the deputy mayor for public safety, we knew that we had to have one apparatus that was combined with all of our public safety apparatuses that were historically disjointed. Probation, Department of Correction, FDNY, hospital police,” Adams said.

In terms of violence across the five boroughs, so far, murders have declined across the city, down to 18% over the last two years, shooting incidents have dropped 37.5%.