Biden Vows to N.Y. Officials That He Won’t ‘Abandon Our Streets’

Amid a rise in murders in cities across the nation, and intense Republican efforts to paint Democrats as hostile to law enforcement, President Biden on Thursday traveled to New York City to assert his party’s public safety credentials, affirming his support for law enforcement and detailing his administration’s plans to work with the city to confront gun violence.

Flanked by elected officials including Mayor Eric Adams — a former police captain whose messaging around crime and justice has been embraced by some national Democrats — Mr. Biden highlighted his calls to increase federal investments in policing and pledged that the Justice Department would focus on so-called ghost guns, firearms that are easily assembled from kits but are not regulated by federal gun laws.

“Mayor Adams, you and I agree: The answer is not to abandon our streets,” Mr. Biden said at the New York Police Department headquarters. “The answer is to come together, police and communities, building trust and making us all safer. The answer is not to defund the police. It’s to give you the tools, the training, the funding to be partners, to be protectors.”

The president’s visit comes against the backdrop of a pandemic-era rise in gun violence that has shattered American cities and reordered the politics of public safety, even as the rates of violent crime in places like New York remain well below those of the early 1990s. His appearance unfolded in a city on edge, a day after a funeral for one of the two young police officers who were recently shot to death in Harlem while responding to a 911 call.

“Yesterday we gathered at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in mourning,” Mr. Adams said. “Today, here at 1 Police Plaza where I walked across that stage as a captain, we’re here in solidarity to deal with the issue of violence that has become pervasive, and not only in New York City, but in the cities across America.”

In an already-difficult political environment for Democrats at the beginning of a midterm election year, Mr. Biden is navigating challenging crosscurrents: expectations from his political base to deliver on long-promised police accountability measures, and a concerted Republican effort to define Democrats as weak and untrustworthy on matters of crime.

His struggling approval ratings and languishing legislative agenda have not helped — but New York Democrats, including Mr. Adams, Gov. Kathy Hochul and several members of the congressional delegation, warmly embraced him on Thursday.

Mr. Adams, New York’s second Black mayor, initially made a public name for himself as an advocate for combating police misconduct while serving as an officer on the force. Prominent national Democrats like Mr. Biden have embraced him as a powerful messenger on those issues, even as he has clashed with other political leaders at home over how to improve the city’s safety, with some Democrats arguing that he is too quick to embrace overly punitive measures, and is too reliant on policing.

But for now, Mr. Adams is plainly emerging as an important validator of the president.

“We both know our highest calling, our most important mission, is protecting the people of this city, and of this country,” said Mr. Adams, who has declared himself the “Biden of Brooklyn” — a nod to their overlapping bases of working-class voters of color. “There is no recovery without public safety. There is no recovery without justice. They go hand in hand. That is why we’re working in lock step to end the gun violence that has shaken our city, our nation, to protect our people and the officers who are sworn to protect us.”

Mr. Biden, for his part, described a shared vision with Mr. Adams that the best approach to public safety was not to divest from the police but rather to bolster departments, as well as initiatives that employ community members to intervene before violence occurs.

He noted that he had called on Congress to increase federal grants to police departments by $300 million and encouraged localities to use stimulus funds to hire more officers and pay them overtime. At another point, Mr. Biden turned and singled out Officer Sumit Sulan, the rookie officer who shot and killed the gunman who fatally shot two policemen in Harlem last month. Officer Sulan rose and faced a standing ovation.

“We’re about funding and providing the additional services you need beyond someone with a gun strapped” to their hip, Mr. Biden said, adding that there was another $200 million for community violence intervention programs in his budget proposal.

Mr. Biden was expected later on Thursday to visit one such group that enlists community members, including those who previously committed crimes but now use their experience with the criminal justice system to discourage others from engaging in gang violence.

Chelsia Rose Marcius and Jeffery C. Mays contributed reporting.