Mayor Adams names former prosecutor, NYPD official as deputy mayor for public safety

Mayor Eric Adams appointed Chauncey Parker on Tuesday as deputy mayor for public safety after his close confidant, Philip Banks, resigned last week amid one of several federal probes into the administration.

Parker served as assistant deputy mayor for public safety under Banks. Before joining City Hall, he was the NYPD’s deputy commissioner for collaborative policing. He has also worked as an assistant U.S. attorney in the Southern District of New York and an executive assistant district attorney in the Manhattan DA’s office, two offices currently investigating Adams’ inner circle.

“We’re so grateful for this opportunity and we’re going to go off and get some stuff done,” Parker said during a news conference Tuesday.

Parker has helped lead a program addressing the small group of New Yorkers behind the majority of the city’s gun violence. A group consisting of representatives from 15 different agencies, including prosecutors, law enforcement and jail officials, meets every morning, according to Parker.

Liz Glazer, a criminal justice expert who founded Vital City, a group and publication on public policy, called Parker “a terrific choice” who is “inventive and creative.”

Glazer said she has known Parker for 30 years going back to their days as prosecutors in the U.S. attorney’s office.

“He engages every person and group in thinking about solutions,” she said. “Most of all, he’s a person of the highest integrity at a time when that’s what the city needs.”

Mona Suazo, a 19-year veteran of the NYPD, is now assistant deputy mayor for public safety under Parker. For the past two years, she has worked as deputy chief of staff in the city’s Office for Public Safety.

Banks resigned on Oct. 7 as part of an exodus from the Adams administration amid the mayor’s indictment and at least four federal investigations into his inner circle. FBI agents raided Banks’ home in Queens last month, along with the Manhattan home of his brother Schools Chancellor David Banks and his wife, former First Deputy Mayor Sheena Wright. All three hastily left their City Hall positions following revelations that they were under federal investigation.