ALBANY Things are tough in the 20th Senate District.
State Sen. Eric Adams says parts of his Brooklyn district are so dangerous he needs an armed escort to accompany staffers to crime scenes and sites of community unrest.
The Democrat, a retired police captain himself, told The Post yesterday that he decided to hire a former cop as an aide after staffers complained of safety concerns during late-night visits with crime victims.
Adams recently advertised for a “deputy chief of staff” with a pistol permit, 15 years in law enforcement, one year in law school and “experience as a member of a political advance team.”
The three-term senator said the $75,000-a-year staffer would replace a current aide with similar qualifications.
“I have a diversified district,” Adams said. “One end is low- and moderate-income community housing, where staff goes to a lot of community meetings and some of those are in high-crime areas.”
“In some of the cases where my staff has been, they were scared,” Adams continued. “It’s mainly for my female staff.”
Adams, whose district includes parts of Bedford-Stuyvesant, Borough Park, Brownsville, Crown Heights, Flatbush and Windsor Terrace, saidhe considers it part of his job to provide liaisons between the community and police.
A critic of police misconduct, Adams co-founded the group 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement Who Care while on the force.
He said his staff had a brush with danger just last summer while representing him at a “Stop the Violence” rally in the district during which a woman was shot.
Adams said having an aide with a police background on his staff has helped community relations.
He said he, too, occasionally carries a handgun in his district, but leaves it in a drawer while in Albany. He insisted he has no intention to use the staffer as a bodyguard.
“It’s not for me,” Adams said. “I’m my own bodyguard.”