Brooklyn state Sen. Eric Adams' YouTube video gives parents advice on how to spy on their kids
Source: NY Daily News
A Brooklyn pol wants to teach parents how to spy on their kids, scour their backpacks for guns - and strip-search their dollies for drugs.
State Sen. Eric Adams, who served 22 years in the NYPD before running for office, stars in a new online video that shows parents how to sniff out hidden contraband in a little suspect's bedroom.
"A small-caliber weapon could be hiding inside a jewelry box," the senator warns in the five-minute video. "Run your hands over the pillows and see if you feel anything that's unusual."
As ominous music plays over a mock search of a child's bedroom, Adams shows how a bag of marijuana could be stashed under the clothes of a plastic baby doll - and how a crack pipe can sit unnoticed in the zippered pocket of a backpack.
"Could he have found it on the street?" Adams asks. "That's quite possible, but this is a discussion piece where you should start speaking with him to find out what he is doing with it."
When Adams turns up a bullet behind a framed photo, he notes that this doesn't mean the child has a gun, but he adds: "Where there's smoke, there's possibly fire - and where there are bullets, there's possibly a gun."
Adams, a Democrat, plans to blast the video to schools and churches as part of a push to use Black History Month to enlist parents to reduce street violence.
"You would be surprised how many parents are disconnected from the drug and violence culture," Adams told the Daily News. "They believe it's on TV, not in their house."
Adams says he routinely searches the bedroom of his 15-year-old son. He regularly stages unannounced inspections of the teen's book bag and says all parents need to do the same - even if they trust their children.
"It's not spying on your children. It's protecting your home," he said. "If the police come inside a household and those items are in there, the whole house gets arrested. They arrest everybody and sort it out later in the courtroom."
He urges parents to detect problems before cops show up with a warrant - or a younger child finds a sibling's gun.
"It would amaze you how many decent families where you have professional parents - teachers, medical professionals - and all of a sudden, we'd call and say, 'We have your son here in possession of a gun' or, 'Your daughter has been selling drugs.' It's right in their house. ... They don't enter their children's rooms."
Kids are not entitled to privacy at home, Adams said.
"There is no Fourth Amendment or First Amendment or any amendment right inside your household," Adams said of the constitutional protections that bar unreasonable searches and allow for free expression. "Parents write the constitution for what rights are in their homes, and one right they must understand is the right to protect all members of their household."
A Brooklyn pol wants to teach parents how to spy on their kids, scour their backpacks for guns - and strip-search their dollies for drugs.
State Sen. Eric Adams, who served 22 years in the NYPD before running for office, stars in a new online video that shows parents how to sniff out hidden contraband in a little suspect's bedroom.
"A small-caliber weapon could be hiding inside a jewelry box," the senator warns in the five-minute video. "Run your hands over the pillows and see if you feel anything that's unusual."
As ominous music plays over a mock search of a child's bedroom, Adams shows how a bag of marijuana could be stashed under the clothes of a plastic baby doll - and how a crack pipe can sit unnoticed in the zippered pocket of a backpack.
"Could he have found it on the street?" Adams asks. "That's quite possible, but this is a discussion piece where you should start speaking with him to find out what he is doing with it."
When Adams turns up a bullet behind a framed photo, he notes that this doesn't mean the child has a gun, but he adds: "Where there's smoke, there's possibly fire - and where there are bullets, there's possibly a gun."
Adams, a Democrat, plans to blast the video to schools and churches as part of a push to use Black History Month to enlist parents to reduce street violence.
"You would be surprised how many parents are disconnected from the drug and violence culture," Adams told the Daily News. "They believe it's on TV, not in their house."
Adams says he routinely searches the bedroom of his 15-year-old son. He regularly stages unannounced inspections of the teen's book bag and says all parents need to do the same - even if they trust their children.
"It's not spying on your children. It's protecting your home," he said. "If the police come inside a household and those items are in there, the whole house gets arrested. They arrest everybody and sort it out later in the courtroom."
He urges parents to detect problems before cops show up with a warrant - or a younger child finds a sibling's gun.
"It would amaze you how many decent families where you have professional parents - teachers, medical professionals - and all of a sudden, we'd call and say, 'We have your son here in possession of a gun' or, 'Your daughter has been selling drugs.' It's right in their house. ... They don't enter their children's rooms."
Kids are not entitled to privacy at home, Adams said.
"There is no Fourth Amendment or First Amendment or any amendment right inside your household," Adams said of the constitutional protections that bar unreasonable searches and allow for free expression. "Parents write the constitution for what rights are in their homes, and one right they must understand is the right to protect all members of their household."
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