Adams’ Deadly Advice

Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams needs to make up his mind: Does he want cops to enforce the law — or not? On one hand, he tells people not to call the police about nonviolent acts, which he says risks a “heavy-handed” response. Instead, he suggests that civilians try to work out problems on their own.

That didn’t end well for Shatavia Walls and Kelvin Hernandez, who were shot for asking a halt to using illegal fireworks near kids. Walls, struck eight times, died Friday.

Her mother said Walls heard Adams’ advice: “It was probably on the back of her mind,” said Helen Testagros. Alas, “you don’t know who you are approaching.”

Yet now Adams is slamming cops for failing to respond to calls: In a letter to NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea, he demands the department prove that officers aren’t dragging their feet in response to reforms that cops, their unions and top brass dislike.

This slowdown is “penalizing certain communities,” railed Adams. Dislike of reforms “cannot be used as an excuse for reduced [sic] response time from the NYPD.”

So which is it? Does he want cops to show up faster and take charge, even though their response might be “heavy-handed”? Or should folks settle matters themselves and perhaps suffer the same fate as Walls?

In reality, New Yorkers should never fear calling the cops — and have no reason to worry. Cops are hired, and trained, to enforce the law; they take the risks to spare the public. Adams’ suggestions that police overreact — or that they’re now under-reacting en masse — only feeds unfounded distrust.

Cops, obviously, should also respond as quickly as possible. But what does Adams expect them to do when they arrive, given all the handcuffs placed on them at the urging of pols like . . . him?

Adams has long been an enigma: An excop, he helped paint a Black Lives Matter mural, though the movement is fiercely anticop. He co-founded 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement Who Care, which focuses on police brutality and community relations.

Now, as he eyes a mayoral run, he suggests cops aren’t responding fast enough —and calls for bringing back the recently disbanded anti-crime units (with reforms). Yet he stands by his cop-dubious advice on nonviolent crime despite Wall’s death.

The main thing he has going for him is that his main rivals for mayor, Corey Johnson and Scott Stringer, seem even more clueless on crime. The city of Shatavia Walls deserves better.