President Joe Biden speaks during a meeting at the White...

President Joe Biden speaks during a meeting at the White House in Washington on Wednesday. Credit: AP / Andrew Harnik

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden will travel to New York City to meet with Mayor Eric Adams next Thursday to discuss local and federal efforts to combat gun violence amid an uptick in violent crimes, including the recent killing of two NYPD officers.

The White House on Wednesday announced Biden will join Adams to discuss the Biden administration’s "comprehensive strategy to combat gun crime," including boosting federal funding to cities and states to hire more street cops, and targeting illegal gun trafficking.

Adams laid out a 15-page plan on Monday to address the city’s increase in violent crimes. The spate of crimes includes five NYPD officers being shot since Adams took office at the start of the year, including the fatal shootings of Officers Jason Rivera and Wilbert Mora, who were killed while responding to a domestic disturbance in Harlem.

Adams, a former police captain who campaigned as a tough-on-crime candidate, announced plans to reinstate a controversial plainclothes policing unit and said the NYPD will divert more officers to 30 precincts where 80% of the city’s crimes occur.

"The sea of violence comes from many rivers. We must dam every river that feeds this greater crisis," Adams said in a City Hall speech.

The mayor’s plan also calls on the city’s five district attorneys to move gun-related prosecutions to the front of the docket. Adams said the move "would serve as a crucial step toward getting guns off our streets, faster."

Last June, in a Rose Garden address, Biden laid out part of his administration's efforts to combat gun violence, including creating five Department of Justice-led strike forces focused on stopping the flow of firearms trafficked to New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay area and Washington, D.C.

Biden also has said $355 billion allocated to state and local governments under last year’s $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief bill was intended in part to boost local law enforcement funding.

"We shouldn’t be cutting funding for police departments. I proposed increasing funding," Biden said recently in a speech to the U.S. Conference of Mayors.

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