Adams security all in the details
Off-duty cops keeping eye on hopeful after campaign vol stabbed
Eric Adams once vowed he would carry a gun and ditch his security detail if elected mayor.
Despite his pistol-packing pledge, the former NYPD captain was joined by a phalanx of off-duty cops Tuesday who shadowed the mayoral front-runner as he greeted voters across the city.
The current Brooklyn borough president arrived to chants of “Eric! Eric! Eric!” and “Si se puede” in the largely Spanish-speaking neighborhood near the 168th St. subway station in upper Manhattan.
Adams didn’t have much to say about the beefed-up security accompanying him.
Spokeswoman Madia Coleman said a handful of off-duty police volunteered to shadow Adams after a campaign volunteer was stabbed in the Bronx over the weekend.
But Adams suggested the detail came at the NYPD’s direction.
“I only do what the police tell me to do,” he said and laughed when asked if he was traveling with a detail.
A source said cops who know Adams — typically two, but more on Tuesday — took vacation time and decided to show up at public events with the mayoral candidate following the stabbing and added that Adams recently received a death threat.
The additional off-duty officers were not driving Adams, or handing out literature and don’t consider themselves campaign volunteers or part of the official security detail.
An NYPD spokesman said the department “does not discuss security deployments.”
The off-the-books assistance comes after rival contender Andrew Yang recently won the endorsement of the police union that represents current and retired NYPD captains, including Adams.
Crime and public safety have become political flashpoints in recent months as Adams, Yang and the other candidates vying for the Democratic nomination have sparred over their relationships with the NYPD and the “defund the police” movement.
Last week, Police Benevolent Association President Patrick Lynch told members that the only candidates they should rank in the Dem primary are Yang, Adams and Kathryn Garcia, the city’s former sanitation commissioner.
“If you do not find a candidate acceptable, do not rank that person. Ranking candidates other than Yang, Adams and Garcia could inadvertently help an anti-police candidate win,” Lynch wrote in an email to members.
Looking forward, Adams, who talked about his penchant for bubble baths at the last Democratic mayoral debate, said once the election is over he’d like to unwind for a week.“If I could stay in my pajamas for a whole week and not have to answer any reporters’ questions for a week,” he said. “I’m gonna grow a beard. I’m going to meditate. I’m going to just get my eating habits back well, and just really enjoy this.
“This has not been a four-year journey. This has been a 24-year journey. So I’m going to exhale and get prepared to lead our city in the right direction,” he added.