New York City Mayor Eric Adams Appoints New Deputy Mayor for Public Safety

A new public safety deputy was named Tuesday by Mayor Eric Adams, whose longtime confidant held the job until last week and is among at least nine aides ousted in the scandal.

Chauncey Parker, the new deputy, replaced Adams’ friend and former NYPD chief Phil Banks, who last month had his phone seized by the FBI in one of at least four investigations into Adams and his circle

Parker’s elevation is just the latest staffing change at City Hall, carried out at the behest of Gov. Kathy Hochul, who wants Adams removed from scandal-scarred aides.

Banks, whom Adams nominated in 2022 despite Banks previously being an unindicted co-conspirator in a corruption scandal several years ago, resigned last week. Parker is a longtime government official who has held management jobs in the NYPD, the city and the state and served as an Assistant US Attorney in the Southern District Attorney’s Office.

“He was Deputy Mayor Banks’ lieutenant, and now to elevate him to that position, he continues to say what I’ve been saying over and over again. Our bench is deep,” Adams said. Since the mayor was indicted in late September on corruption charges, aides have been resigning at a rate unprecedented in modern municipal memory.

The deputy mayor for public safety helps oversee police, fire, probation, criminal justice and prisons.

Hochul, who has the power to remove Adams from office, has pushed him to fire aides affected by the various federal investigations.

Since Adams’ indictment, Hochul has exercised a stronger hand over Adams’ personnel choices.

“I want New Yorkers to know that we’re watching this situation closely, and it was important” that Adams “clean house for a lot of people and bring in new talent,” he said Tuesday, speaking at an unrelated event at the Deer Park Fire. Department, where he announced funding for fire training facilities and a new fire museum to be built in the community.

Hochul said he intended to work to “restore trust, calm the situation, but we are here watching the situation very carefully.”

Parker said his focus was on the city’s most dangerous people, especially those involved in gun violence, who are “the small number who commit a very disproportionate number of crimes.”

“A handful of people. But they’re arrested for gun violence and then they’re arrested for other gun violence,” Parker said at his appointment news conference, before reporters asked Adams questions about the corruption scandals and his campaign for re-election.

Separately Tuesday, Adams Health Commissioner Dr. Ashwin Vasan announced he will expedite his resignation. Vasan, who said in September that he would be leaving within a few months, said his decision was unrelated to the scandals. Vasan has not been linked to any of the investigations.

With John Asbury

Matthew Chayes, a Newsday reporter since 2007, covers New York City.