5 things to know about NYC’s new Deputy Mayor for Public Safety Chauncey Parker

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

“Chauncey has already played a major role in how he goes about bringing all of the federal, state and local law enforcement entities together,” Adams said at a press conference announcing Parker’s appointment. “Clearly Chauncey is the best person for the job.”

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

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

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

Adams restored the position during his administration, with Banks becoming the first deputy mayor for public safety since the 1990s. Banks’ salary when he was deputy mayor for public safety was over $251,000.

Here are five things to know about Parker:

He’s a former prosecutor – including at SDNY

Parker started 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 New York City Special Narcotics Prosecutor. He helped create the Crime Strategies and Community Partnerships units in the DA’s office. The establishment of the Crime Strategies unit divided the borough’s police precincts into five regions and assigned staff to locate crime in every region. He helped build a database to record over 9,000 regular criminal offenders. 

Parker served as an assistant attorney in the Southern District of New York under U.S. Attorney Mary Jo White for ten years. Having served in the Organized Crime unit, he participated 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 they are the U.S. attorney’s office that has indicted Eric Adams under charges of foreign bribery and campaign fraud.

During his time in SDNY, he became the executive director of New York, New Jersey High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas program, a federally-funded initiative to address drug trafficking and reduce illegal drug use. 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 isn’t raising any eyebrows

Adams is under significant pressure to clean up his administration, and Parker fits the bill. Parker is a highly acclaimed administrator among numerous officials, so his reputation is in better shape than that of his predecessor, who courted controversy even before he was searched 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 were talks that Parker was going to replace Roslynn Mauskopf when she stepped down from her position as the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York in 2006. Parker was also a potential candidate to be the New York Attorney General that same year. He never formally campaigned to fill either of those positions.

His prior role was an NYPD deputy commissioner 

Until his appointment as assistant deputy mayor for public safety in July, Parker was the deputy commissioner for collaborative policing at the NYPD from December 2019 to July 2024. He was responsible for connecting public safety officials with constituents, government agencies and nonprofit organizations. His role entailed 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 across the city to provide free and high-quality sports programs on Saturday nights for kids. In partnership with the NYPD and Department of Youth and Community Development, the program operates during the summer and recently expanded to 131 gyms in 2022. 

He was the state commissioner for criminal justice

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

Parker saw a 20% decrease in parole releases for violent felons during Pataki’s administration.

He also contributed to drug criminal justice reform during his tenure, at a time when residents were outspoken about the Rockefeller drug laws that criminalized over 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 charges of nonviolent drug possession from prison. The act also called to reduce the sentence for drug possession down to 8 to 20 years. A year into the act, only about 30% of those people were released. Parker affirmed Pataki’s efforts in reforming drug laws. 

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

He helped build the Gun Violence Strategies Partnership

With assistance from John DeVito, a special agent in charge of the New York Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Parker launched the Gun Violence Strategies Partnership in August 2021. The goal of the partnership with over 25 government agencies, in addition to district attorneys, federal agencies and prisons, was to reduce gun violence and take guns back in New York City. The collective meets every morning at 10 a.m. to discuss methods of gun violence reduction.

His intention in the partnership was to bring stakeholders from every agency and party to reduce gun violence in the city. 

In March 2024, the NYPD reported that they took over 1,300 guns off city streets in the past year and close to 15,000 guns since January 2022.