Transcript: Office of Public Safety Holds Briefing on Public Safety in New York City

December 29, 2023

Deputy Mayor Philip Banks III, Public Safety: Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Philip Banks, I'm the deputy mayor for Public Safety. And certainly, welcome. For many of you who have been tuning into our weekly conferences, you are pretty much aware of what we're doing here.

But for those of you who are looking at it for the first time, today's a discussion that we have each week, and we have a series of briefings about public safety in New York City, and it's told by the perspective of many people who work in these agencies who are tasked with providing safety to you as a New Yorker.

So, our focus today is going to be on the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission, commonly known as TLC. During the holiday season our streets are packed with travelers, whether you're here visiting, or you're on your way in and out of town, or just seeing your friends and family, many of us will be transporting through taxis or rideshare services. It's actually the commissioner's job and his team's job to make sure that those vehicles are operating safely so you can get where you need to go.

So, I am grateful to be joined here today by the TLC commissioner, David Do, and he has with him two members of his staff. He has his deputy commissioner for the Uniformed Services Bureau, Ira Goldapper, and he also has his assistant commissioner for his Prosecution Division, Mohammed Akinlolu.

And they're tasked with making sure that those taxis and those rideshare drivers are operating safely, they're held accountable, they regulate them, they inspect them. Their actual objective is to make sure that you can trust them when they're on the highways and they're actually performing their duties as they are required to do so.

So, before I turn it over to the commissioner, I just want to stress one thing. It is the holidays. We know many of you will be out there at parties or at bars where there will be a lot of consumption of alcohol. Okay. Legally, you know what legally, what you're supposed to do: you are not supposed to drive if you had too much to drink.

But I'm going to absolutely say there's really no reason at all for you to get behind the wheel of a car in New York City. You know what the law is. The law says you cannot drink and drive. But I'm even taking it further. Especially during this part of the time, there's no reason to get behind the wheel of a car even if you've just had one drink.

We have one of the largest and best transportation systems in the world. We have taxis, we other for‑hire vehicles on every street. It's not smart. It's not logical for you to do it. If you're going to have a drink, find an alternative way to get around.
And these folks here are going to do their part to make sure that the streets are safe, and we need you to do your particular part here. So, be responsible. Be safe. Don't put your life or the lives of others in danger. And with that, I'll turn it over to Commissioner Do. David, how are you doing today?

Commissioner David Do, Taxi and Limousine Commission: I'm good, thank you so much, deputy mayor, and thank you so much for your commitment and the mayor's commitment over the last year for lowering crime in the city dramatically. I really appreciate that.

Again, I want to reiterate what the deputy mayor just said, is that don't drink and drive. There are so many options out there, including a taxi and limousine vehicle, right, be it a yellow or a for‑hire vehicle like Uber and Lyft. There's 100,000 options for you in New York City.

TLC is not a very well‑known public safety agency, but what we lack in size we make up for in impact. We regulate the largest taxi and for‑hire vehicle fleet in the United States. We have 170,000 licensed drivers and over 100,000 vehicles. So, every time you get into a TLC authorized cab, rideshare or community car service, you're entering into a vehicle that's inspected by the TLC and that the driver has been licensed by the TLC.

Why does that matter? It matters because it's about safety. All of our drivers go through a background check and drug test. They completed a 24‑hour course, pass tests, and even take a refresher course once every three years. All of that training is approved by our Driver Education Unit. That's part of our licensing and standards process, and it's one of the reasons that per mile driven TLC drivers are the safest on our roadways.

Another reason is that we have a dedicated group of uniformed officers who enforce our rules, the Uniformed Services Bureau. You may not always see them, but they're operating in all five boroughs to keep our streets safe and ensuring our drivers and vehicles are operating according to the law.

They are public safety professionals, but I think it's also important to remind everyone is that you all are public safety officials, too. We cannot do all the work on our own. We depend on you and your complaints to alert us through 311 about unsafe and illegal behavior. We depend on you to also testify at our hearings which can be done over the phone.

And to get into more details about all of our public safety work, I'm going to go and turn it over to our deputy commissioner for our Uniformed Services bureau, Ira Goldapper. Ira.

Deputy Commissioner Ira Goldapper, Uniformed Services Bureau, Taxi and Limousine Commission: Thank you, commissioner, and thank you, Deputy Mayor Banks. I'm honored to have been invited back to give an update on the TLC's great work to keep the public safe.

Good afternoon. I'm Ira Goldapper, deputy commissioner for TLC's Uniformed Services Bureau. TLC enforces its rules and New York Vehicle and Traffic Law on the for‑hire industry to keep the public safe by way of TLC's Uniformed Services Bureau consisting of the Safety and Emissions and Enforcement Divisions as well as TLC's Prosecution Division.

The Safety and Emissions Division operates TLC's inspection facility where all TLC licensed vehicles such as taxicabs and for‑hire vehicles, the Ubers, Lyfts and community cars get inspected by DMV certified officers. These vehicles must pass DMV safety and emissions requirements as well as additional TLC requirements before they may pick up passengers to ensure the vehicles are safe for the riding public.

Along with vehicle inspections, officers assigned to the Safety and Emissions Division inspect meter shops and the meters used in taxicabs. They review vehicle specifications to determine suitability as taxis as well as wheelchair accessible vehicles and test and evaluate new vehicle technologies used in those vehicles. They investigate complaints from the public regarding unsafe vehicle conditions and engage in community outreach to both the industry and the public.

During this calendar year‑to‑date, officers and safety emissions conducted over 130,000 vehicle inspections to ensure rider safety. You can get an idea of what that looks from this little time lapse video of one of our inspection lanes at Woodside.

As you can see, the men and women of the safety and emissions division work tirelessly to ensure that vehicles are safe for the riding public, and they do a fantastic job. While officers within Safety and Emissions are inspecting vehicles for rider safety, officers within USB's Enforcement Division are enforcing TLC rules and vehicle and traffic law to protect riders and the public at large.

Officers within the Enforcement Division patrol the city 24 hours a day, seven days a week enforcing the city's Vision Zero initiative. They patrol taxi stands at high volume locations and conduct operations to combat against unlawful passenger refusals as well as refusals to engage the meters. They conduct base integrity testing to ensure that bases are not operating without a license before dispatching unlicensed drivers.

Along with regular enforcement duties, officers within the Enforcement Division regularly conduct joint operations with NYPD at high visibility corridors for Vision Zero enforcement and respond to community complaints as well as with the Port Authority Police Department at airports and other major transportation hubs to combat unlicensed for‑hire activity. When they are not inspecting vehicles or patrolling the city and our airports, the officers assist the city with traffic control and manage taxi queues at large‑scale events such as the Macy's 4th of July celebration and the U.S. Open, to name a couple. You may see them at Citi Field and Yankee Stadium during big games or other events.

TLC officers are always ready to step up when the city needs them. Their enforcement activities are not limited to TLC licensees. As peace officers, they also enforce the law with respect to unlicensed for‑hire activity; that is, individuals who are not licensed by the TLC, unlawfully transporting passengers for‑hire — also known as hustling — and it is incredibly dangerous to the public.

Aside from not having a TLC licensed vehicle or having it be inspected, they don't even have the appropriate insurance. Oftentimes they do not even have a valid driver's license. During this calendar year to date, officers have issued over 4,100 summonses related to unlicensed for‑hire activity alone, seized a number of vehicles and made numerous arrests.

Because illegal for‑hire activity is such a danger to public safety and the industry at large, officers within USB work with our external affairs team, our van-hailing mobile outreach and TLC communications to get the messaging out to the public regarding the danger of illegal for‑hire operators.

What people think might be a cheap ride may actually cost them dearly. As an example, I'll tell you the story of a family from Singapore who were traveling to New York City in May of 2022 for their first trip to America. After clearing immigration and heading towards the taxi queue at JFK, a father, mother and their two young daughters were intercepted by a hustler who offered them a great deal to their hotel in Midtown. Unfortunately for this family, they accepted the ride and were escorted to a vehicle away from the taxi queue.

On the way to their hotel, the driver stopped and picked up another man who advised the father that the ride will cost them $500. Knowing that he had been scammed but fearing for the safety of his family, he paid that man $500 with five crisp $100 bills. Not satisfied with the $500 from this family, the hustler then told the father that he had mistakenly given him five $1 bills, not $100 bills. The father took the five singles back from the hustler and proceeded to pay them another $500 knowing that he was at their mercy.

The family was subsequently dropped off at their hotel after spending $995 for the ride. The father said he kept the five singles as a reminder, and he'll never make that mistake again.

Fortunately for them, they arrived at their destination physically unharmed, but this trip could have been much, much worse. And without catching these hustlers in the act, there is very little we can do.

It pains me greatly to know that this family's first visit to the Big Apple was ruined in this manner, and they're not alone. Because of this story and others like it, USB is committed to ending unlicensed for‑hire activity and are working with our partners in the Port Authority to this end.

While we've made good strides, there is much more to do. Therefore, along with our continuing enforcement efforts we will also be launching a full‑on public service campaign to educate the public about the dangers of unlicensed for‑hire vehicles and provide additional safety tips in the coming year.

As the commissioner stated, we are a small agency. We cannot be everywhere at once. Therefore, it's important to educate the public so that they can make better choices. I'd like to now introduce my partner in these enforcement efforts, Associate Commissioner Mohammed Akinlolu who oversees the TLC's Prosecution division.

Associate Commissioner Mohammed Akinlolu, Prosecution, Taxi and Limousine Commision: Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Mohammad Akinlolu. I am the associate commissioner of Prosecution. Prosecution prosecutes about 100,000 summonses annually through the Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings, OATH.

We prosecute several types of summonses: summonses issued in the field by the officers, our TLC officer if someone sees the issue on the street, we want to keep them on the streets to keep making New York City streets safe. So, we do not bring them to court to prosecute. So, we prosecute all those summonses. I have, you know, attorneys prosecuting those summonses and we keep the officers on the street.

We prosecute summonses issued in the field, we prosecute administrative summonses. Those are summonses based on a review of the driver's records. All our licensees will review their records to see if that's a violation of something that, you know, should trigger a summons, we do that.

And we have consumer complaint summonses where the members of the public call 311, file complaints about our TLC licensed drivers. So, we prosecute to investigate and we prosecute those. Most of those summonses are Vision Zero summonses, your complaints about moving violation or hazardous driving violation, for any member of the public can file a complaint.

It doesn't have to be the passengers in the vehicle, it could be other motorists, it could be, you know, just a pedestrian on the street. We prosecute summonses of DMV or TLC points. So, when they were pulled over by NYPD, you know, if any of our licensee pulled over by NYPD, and some of the summonses, the violation might carry points.

So, we review those points periodically. So, we look at the number of points they have. If it meets a threshold, it's in violation of TLC rules, so we issue summonses on that also. Then we will also prosecute red light summonses based on Department of Transportation records as well as those issued in the field by the TLC officers.

And summonses issued to drivers who are drivers who are driving too many hours. The Department of Transportation summonses, the red light summonses, when they are in violation of that, they get summonses in the mail, but that summons is issued to the owner of the vehicle because the camera will not catch the driver of the vehicle.

So, we review the records. Every month we get the records from the Department of Transportation, Department of Finance. We review it. We try to identify the driver who was behind the wheel at that time so we go after the driver.

So, in the video here you can see just an example of the kinds of behavior we prosecute. You see the driver engaging in violent and dangerous behavior on the road, harassing a non TLC driver. So, we were alerted to this by the public, and with the cooperation of witnesses the people who videotaped the event.

So, we went after the driver, so the driver surrendered his license for a period of three years, so that means for three years he will not be behind any TLC licensed vehicles. After three years, he has a right to reapply for a license but he has to go through fitness. So, it's not going to be just automatic for him.

I also want to emphasize how important it is for the public to not to alert only 311, you know, to the complaint and involving TLC drivers. So, but they, we implore them to be available to testify at hearings, because at hearings if we have just the complaints without anybody testifying as to what happened, you know, during that time, the case would be dismissed.

So, it's like NYPD officer issues a summons on the street, at the hearing they will be there to convince the judge that this is what they observed and this is what happened. So, same thing. If a member of the public file a 311 complaint against a TLC driver, we implore them, you know, we call them, you know, we e‑mail them to come to the hearing because it's very important; if not, all the complaints, you know, it's like a waste of time.

So, in 2023, out of nearly 20,000 field summonses issued for a moving violation, approximately 17,000 had guilty dispositions or they were settled before a hearing and almost 2,000 are still scheduled for hearing before the Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings.

Over 14,000 summonses were issued as a result of consumer complaints for hazardous driving, including thousands for bike lane violations. Over 90 percent of those complaints result in guilty findings or dispositions, and nearly half of those were settled before the summons is even issued. Almost 2,000 are still awaiting hearing, and some of them are… May settle before their hearing dates.

Approximately 1,200 summonses were issued for Department of Motor Vehicles and TLC points, and nearly half of those were closed out because licensees took defensive driving courses to reduce points.

That's what we're talking about public safety. It's not only going half [inaudible] for fines, you know, if they can take a defensive driving course that will make them better drivers on the road, then the summonses will be withdrawn. So, they have the option to do that. So, but that depends on the number of points that they have accumulated within a certain period of time in accordance with TLC rules.

Additionally, out of almost 500 settlements that were issued prior to a summons being issued, 480 where accepted or closed out because licensees provided an applicable course reducing the points. About 4,000 summonses were issued based on Department of Transportation camera records, almost 65 percent of them are guilty dispositions. The remainder were either closed out because the driver is also the owner of the vehicle and have already paid a DOT summons, so we are not going after them. We don't want to be accused of double jeopardy, we don't even want them to be jeopardized twice.

If the owner of the vehicle is also the driver of the vehicle after paying the Department of Transportation fine, we will not issue a TLC summons to that driver, or sometime when we issue it and we don't know if it provides evidence that he's also the owner of the vehicle and he has paid the Department of Transportation fine, so we will drop that summons.

So, at the end of every hearing, prosecutors emphasize the need for public safety considerations at the end of… Before the judge and also to the respondents, that although this is one summons but we just want to know that, you know, having a TLC license is a privilege, not a right, and you have to maintain it and we emphasize that public safety is the key to maintain your license.

Lastly, I would like to emphasize that we do not just prosecute drivers, so we also have a division within our Prosecution Unit, it's called Driver Protection Unit, so we prosecute [inaudible] and agents and vehicle owners that may be exploiting drivers, Driver Prosecution Unit is a unit dedicated solely for that.

The most common types of cases involved include under payment, you know, if they are not getting paid, you know, everything that is due to them, you know, from the garage or the agent or the owner of the vehicle. So, we go after those, because they are also licensees of TLC.

So, on that payment, late payment [inaudible] to drivers also, so that was the base that was involved in this during Covid, and they owed drivers like $1.5 million and we went after that base and we collected all every single cent of that 1.5, you know, back to the drivers. So, we do that on a regular basis.

Lease driving violation, also. Lease must be in writing, you know, the lease between the driver and the owner or the agent, it must be in writing. If it's not in writing or they are not complying with the rules stipulated in the lease, so we go after them also. I will now hand it over to Commissioner Do to talk a little bit more about TLC Vision Zero works. Thank you.

Commissioner Do: Well, thank you so much, Mohammed. And like Mohammed said, the TLC is one of the principal Vision Zero agencies. And it makes sense, because TLC drivers are on the road more than anyone else, and we frequently partner with NYPD, DOT and other sister agencies to raise awareness about Vision Zero, about to keep all roadway users safe.

That's why yesterday we had a press conference at One Police Plaza with Chief Rivera of Transportation and Commissioner Rodriguez to talk about New Year's Eve celebrations: don't drink and drive. And one of the ways that we can have fun and stay safe at this time of year is to use public transportation or use the yellow or many of the other options that you have to do rideshare.

And I mentioned earlier, per miles driven, TLC drivers are the safest and we're extremely proud of that. And once a year… We are just not all about penalizing our drivers. Once a year, we have an honor roll to celebrate our drivers. The 500 safest drivers come and we celebrate them and promote them.

And we're also constantly looking at ways to improve safety. And our communications team has done an amazing job at that. And I'm going to in our presentation today with a partnership that we've had with the Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment, DOT and DCAS; and of course, rock legend Chubby Checker. And some of you may have already seen this on taxi TV, but we're very proud of the New York Twist video to keep all roadway users safe.

[Video plays.]

Well, thank you so much, deputy mayor.

Banks: I appreciate that, and actually that, you know, that video, certainly for me, it's [inaudible] because when I do get out of that car, there is, there's like a blind spot there, right? And you could be putting yourself and other people's lives into some type of danger. So, that's a great visualization. So, whoever created that in partnership, please, I take my hat off to them.

I have a couple of points I'd just like to clarify for the public going back to something that we said about the uniformed force and how they patrol. Do they patrol randomly? They're out there just looking at, observing? Are they following up on complaints just to be a reinforcer? So, we can just have a real quick, how does the uniformed force actually patrol on a day‑by‑day basis?

Commissioner Do: That's right. I think we are a small but mighty force, right, like I said earlier. We currently have 100 uniformed officers, and so we have to be very strategic in how we patrol all five boroughs, right?
And so we work with not only our public about public complaints but we also look at where there are the most violations. So, sometimes we are in Brooklyn, sometimes we're in the Bronx and sometimes we're in Midtown Manhattan. But I think our deputy commissioner for uniformed services can give a little bit more details.

Deputy Commissioner Goldapper: Thank you. Yes. So, we, just like any other law enforcement force we have to create deployments, and it depends, you know, based on...because we are so small we do have to schedule these in a way that we're hitting the biggest area or the biggest trouble spot as effectively as possible.

So, and sometimes they're patrolling doing Vision Zero enforcement, other times they are doing operations for passenger refusals or meter… Failing to engage the meter or even the unlicensed for‑hire activity, as well as the cruise terminals where sometimes presence is important to deter unlicensed for‑hire activity.

So, we have to work not only strategically but you know, smart in order to cover it. It's five boroughs, it's 24 hours, and we are a small force.

Deputy Mayor Banks: So, we talked about 311, right? What exactly do you want to [inaudible] what are the common violations that you're seeing or you're concentrating on that you want the orders of the experience to be able to call 311 on them.

Commissioner Do: Yes, so you know, recently, I believe it was October, we got 3,300 complaints. That is from the public, right? So, like I said, I can't be, me and my team can't be in all five boroughs all the time. And so we depend on the public. Be it bike lane violations, bus lane violations, blocking a crosswalk, illegal parking, double parking all across our city. We follow up on every one of those complaints.

We ask the public to take a picture, to take video, to report it to 311 so that our one of our prosecutors can take over, investigate and then bring it in front of the administrative law judge.

Deputy Mayor Banks: So, the takeaway here I guess is for the audience is that if you observe, right, whether you're actually riding in one of them or actually if you're on the street and you just see the violations, right? You want to know because now you can kind of craft or focus your enforcement to correct that.

Commissioner Do: That's right.

Banks: And I just want to go back to one more point before we shut down. Hustling. We used the term hustling, right? Where do… Are they targeting a type of New Yorker? Is it the tourist that they're targeting? Is it the college student that they're targeting? And are they at any, prone to be at any more locations than the other? Are they at the airports more so than any other place? Are they at the Port Authority? So, just tell a little briefly about hustling and what we need to be on the lookout for.

Deputy Commissioner Goldapper: Sure. Thank you for that question. So, there's actually a variety type of hustling. So, at the airports, oftentimes the target would be tourists from out of the country. With the use of the rideshare apps, a lot of people commonly will get on a taxi queue or an app. So at the airports, that would be the tourists from out of state… From overseas.

But they also will hit up people from out of state at things like the cruise terminals. And there's certain neighborhoods where those illegal commuter vans operate. So, the audience differs based on its location, but for the most part major transportation hubs and thoroughfares.

Deputy Mayor Banks: I mean, $995, and that probably wasn't nowhere near as disastrous as that could have turned out. So you know, please pass it on, or as we would say in public safety family and friends, tell a family member, tell a friend and tell both of them to tell another family member and a friend and we can get this message out because intel is always the number one part of…  Proper intel out, proper information out we can do, put a large dent into some of these particular issues.

So, we're going to wrap this up now. But I just, for the audience to know, is that if we look at like, and I'm going to go back to the holiday seasons, about driving while intoxicated. Years ago, right, especially when I was a young police officer, it was always against the law.

But I don't know if society did not put the same level of importance that they put on it now. Right? It was always against the law. But there's been a focus, and I think it's a really good focus that's been happening. We've even lowered the level of what makes you intoxicated. Right? The speed laws that have changed; certainly, I think people have faced greater prosecution. Right? So, that's an area that I think society has made really good progress.

But the biggest progress yet to be made is our own individual behavior. Right? Don't drink and drive. I mean, it's really, if you can make it that simple. Now, let's be realistic about it. People are going to go out for dinner and they're going to have a glass of wine. And they're going to say, well, are you saying not to go have a glass of wine?

We want to be responsible. What we want to say is if at all possible, if you can not drink and drive, we would be a safer society. So, let's be responsible. Let's think about it clearly. We do have a great transportation system in New York City; and ultimately, we don't want you to put yourself in any position where you cause harm to yourself.

But if you cause harm to someone else, that's a terrible burden to live with, and that's something you certainly don't want to go through that and we certainly don't want you to. So, these are one of the areas together we can make some progress on and so we can continue to go in the proper way.

So, with that, happy holidays. Commissioner, thank you very much, always looking forward to working with you, and again in the new year to you and your team. Certainly I appreciate this, very informative and thank you.

Commissioner Do: Thank you, Deputy Mayor.

[Crosstalk.]

Deputy Mayor Banks: These guys want to be. Listen, listen. These guys want to… 

[Crosstalk]

No, no. No, no, no, no.

They have no discipline, so let them continue, right, to be able to do this. This is the same charade that they do. But we don't want to waste time, because they have to get back to work. They're working for the taxpayers. So, you're not asking any questions to the commissioner, yes.

Question: Okay. So, these illegal for‑hire drivers, are there typically large surges around New Years weekend, and if so, what are the numbers for that? And secondly are they only soliciting drivers in person or are they doing it through apps and other ways?

Commissioner Do: So, it's typically in person. So, it's every behavior of that magnitude is an illegal street hail, illegal hustling. You can't come up to a passenger and say, hey, get into my vehicle. Right? That is completely illegal, and that needs to be reported to the TLC.

TLC does popup enforcement all across our city. Most recently we do it at JFK airport, where it happens a lot, but also at event venues across our city. And so when we see and hear about major events where, you know, the typical transportation like the MTA does not serve, then we'll take a look at that. Ira said earlier that year‑to‑date we had over 4,000 hustling complaints and summonses filed. Is that right, Ira?

Deputy Commissioner Goldapper: That's correct, over 4,100 summons issued.

Question: Is there more of a surge on New Years weekend?

Deputy Commissioner Goldapper: Yes, because you do get a higher volume of tourists coming in, and any big event you're going to have people trying to drum up the business.

Question: Do you have the numbers for that surge?

Deputy Commissioner Goldapper: I don't, offhand.

[Crosstalk]

Deputy Mayor Banks: No, no. Just for the audience, listen here. You have work to do. So, this is where the clown hour starts. So, I don't want to keep you three here because you have work to do for the public, for the public here.
We have a reporter that asked a question. Right? And I don't know what the intent of the question was, but at least she has some data and if she decides she wants to report it, she has it. And maybe the objective is to keep you safe.

Some reporters, not all, we go into the clown hour. They don't write any articles about safety, information. They get into the clown hour. So, you certainly don't need to stick around for this.

[Crosstalk]

Continue.

[Crosstalk]

You can go.

[Crosstalk]

Deputy Mayor Banks: ...into that, the possibility could be is that because some people in the media have spread some good tips and maybe driver behavior has corrected itself. So, the NYPD is out there looking for driver behavior infractions. You don't create infractions, when you see them, you observe them, you correct them.

They also have the ability to give warning and admonishments, to be able to say, hey, you need to correct this. So, if you look at it in totality, we're looking to keep our city safe and we don't judge it by just numbers.

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