5 things to know about New York’s new Deputy Mayor of Public Safety, Chauncey Parker

New York City Mayor Eric Adams on Tuesday named Chauncey Parker as deputy mayor for public safety following the resignation of Philip Banks last week. For the past several months, Parker had served as assistant deputy mayor for public safety under Banks.

“Chauncey has already played an important role in how we bring all federal, state and local law enforcement agencies together,” Adams said at a news conference announcing Parker’s appointment. “Clearly, Chauncey is the best person for the job.”

Adams also named Mona Suazo, former deputy chief of staff for the Office of Public Safety, as assistant deputy mayor for public safety.

Banks resigned last week amid a massive wave of resignations by top Adams officials, including Banks’ brother, former New York City Public Schools Chancellor David Banks. Federal agents raided Philip’s home, along with the homes of several other top mayor aides, last month. The exact purpose of the raids remains unclear, but they point to multiple federal and state investigations touching on the mayor and his associates. On September 26, Adams was indicted on charges of foreign bribery and campaign fraud. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

The deputy mayor of public security is in charge of coordinating the activities between the municipal law enforcement agencies. Along with the New York Police Department, the Deputy Mayor oversees the Fire Department, the Department of Corrections, New York City Emergency Management, the Probation Department, and the Office of Criminal Justice. the Mayor’s Office

Adams restored the position during his administration, and Banks became the first deputy mayor for public safety since the 1990s. Banks’ salary as deputy mayor for public safety was more than $251,000.

Here are five things to know about Parker:

He is a former prosecutor, including in SDNY

Parker began his legal career as an Executive Assistant District Attorney under former Manhattan District Attorneys Robert Morgenthau and Cy Vance Jr. for five years. He served in the Trial Division and the Office of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor in New York City. He helped create the Crime Strategies and Community Partnerships units in the DA’s office. The establishment of the Crime Strategies unit divided the district’s police precincts into five regions and assigned crime-tracking staff to each region. He helped create a database to register more than 9,000 habitual offenders.

Parker served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of New York under U.S. Attorney Mary Jo White for ten years. After serving in the organized crime unit, he was involved in numerous cases, including the 1997 case United States v. Regan, which convicted former police officer Patrick Regan of misconduct and falsely arresting a Washington Heights resident .

SDNY has made headlines in recent weeks as the US Attorney’s office that has charged Eric Adams with foreign bribery and campaign fraud.

During his time at SDNY, he became the executive director of the New York, New Jersey High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas program, a federally funded initiative to address drug trafficking and reduce drug use illegal drugs In August 2015, he helped pilot a heroin reduction program to train first responders on how to reduce heroin use and related deaths.

His appointment does not raise any eyebrows

Adams is under significant pressure to clean up his administration, and Parker fits the bill. Parker is a well-liked administrator among many officials, so his reputation is in better shape than that of his predecessor, who stirred controversy even before he was wanted by the feds last month. Shortly after his abrupt resignation from the NYPD in 2014, Banks was named an unindicted co-conspirator for allegedly accepting bribes from two businessmen.

A testament to Parker’s high acclaim? There was talk that Parker was going to replace Roslynn Mauskopf when she resigned as United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York in 2006. Parker was also a potential candidate for New York Attorney General that same year . He never formally campaigned for any of these positions.

His previous role was an NYPD Deputy Commissioner

Until his appointment as assistant deputy mayor for public safety in July, Parker served as the NYPD’s assistant commissioner for collaborative policing from December 2019 to July 2024. He was responsible for connecting officers of public safety with constituents, government agencies and non-profit organizations. His role involved redesigning law enforcement strategies and strengthening access to police services.

Under his leadership, he saw the opening of “Saturday Night Lights,” an Adams initiative to open gyms throughout the city to provide free, high-quality Saturday night sports programs for children. In partnership with the NYPD and the Department of Youth and Community Development, the program runs through the summer and was recently expanded to 131 gyms by 2022.

He was the state commissioner of criminal justice

Parker served as director of criminal justice and commissioner of the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services for five years under the administration of former New York Governor George Pataki. He oversaw all state criminal justice agencies and was a senior adviser to Pataki.

Parker saw a 20% decrease in paroles for violent offenders during the Pataki administration.

He also contributed to criminal drug justice reform during his tenure, at a time when residents were outspoken about Rockefeller’s drug laws that criminalized more than 2 million people for drug possession, even in small amounts, for decades. In 2004, Pataki signed the Drug Law Reform Act, which called for the release of hundreds of people arrested on nonviolent drug possession charges from prison. The act also called for reducing the sentence for drug possession to between 8 and 20 years. A year after the act, only about 30% of these people were released. Parker affirmed Pataki’s efforts to reform drug laws.

For his work as a state commissioner, Parker received the Distinguished Public Service Award from the University at Albany School of Criminal Justice in 2005.

He helped build the Association for Gun Violence Strategies

With the help of John DeVito, a special agent in charge of New York’s Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Parker launched the Gun Violence Strategies Association in August of 2021. The goal of the partnership with more than 25 government agencies, plus district attorneys, federal agencies and prisons, was to reduce gun violence and bring guns back to New York City. The collective meets every morning at 10 am to discuss methods of reducing gun violence.

Their intention in the partnership was to bring together stakeholders from all agencies and parties to reduce gun violence in the city.

In March 2024, the NYPD reported that they took more than 1,300 guns off the city’s streets last year and nearly 15,000 guns since January 2022.