Politics
Adams Chooses Ex-Prosecutor to Replace City Hall Official Who Resigned
Chauncey Parker will replace Philip B. Banks III, who last week resigned from his role as the deputy mayor for public safety.
Mayor Eric Adams on Tuesday appointed a law enforcement veteran as the new deputy mayor for public safety to replace Philip B. Banks III, who resigned last week as corruption investigations intensified at City Hall.
Mr. Adams announced that Chauncey Parker would take over for Mr. Banks, who is a longtime friend of the mayor and one of five top city officials who left the Adams administration after investigators seized their cellphones.
Mr. Parker, 64, a former deputy commissioner in the Police Department in charge of public safety initiatives, also served as an assistant U.S. attorney in the Southern District of New York — the office that charged Mr. Adams last month with bribery and fraud.
“Chauncey has been a leader in this area for over 40 years,” Mr. Adams said at a news conference on Tuesday at City Hall.
Mr. Parker has worked at “all levels of government,” the mayor added. “Building bridges is what we believe is needed now.”
The decision appears to be an unusual step for the mayor, who has often selected close confidants for top public safety positions. Mr. Parker does not appear to be a part of the mayor’s inner circle; neither does Thomas Donlon, a former F.B.I. agent who Mr. Adams named interim police commissioner last month after Edward A. Caban resigned.
Gov. Kathy Hochul, who has the power to remove Mr. Adams from office, has urged the mayor to remove city officials who are part of the investigations of the Adams administration. Among those who have left are Mr. Caban; Timothy Pearson, a close aide to the mayor; Mr. Banks; his brother, David Banks, the former schools chancellor; and Sheena Wright, the former first deputy mayor and David Banks’s wife.
Mr. Parker began to work under Mr. Banks in July as the assistant deputy mayor for public safety. His past law enforcement experience includes being a prosecutor for the Manhattan district attorney, and serving as the commissioner of the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services. He is also the executive director of a multiagency program to drive down drug trafficking in New York and New Jersey. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Rollins College and a law degree from Duke University.
Mr. Adams created the position of deputy mayor for public safety. In the role, Mr. Banks, who earned $251,000, had wide influence over the Police and Fire Departments.
Mr. Parker will be expected to tackle several key issues, including gun violence, crimes involving minors and decreasing the Fire Department’s emergency response time.
“Those key agencies I work with very, very closely,” Mr. Parker said at the news conference, “will be yearning for us to do everything we can to form these partnerships for the mayor and for this city.”
