Transcript: Mayor Adams Launches "SilentShield," Investing $1.6 Million in Technology to Immediately Connect Bodega Owners to NYPD in Emergencies

May 4, 2025

First Deputy Mayor Randy Mastro:Okay, let's get this show going. Okay, ladies and gentlemen, my name is Randy Mastro, the first deputy mayor, and it's my great honor and privilege to be here today to talk about a very important initiative. Because, you know, we live in the safest large city in America.

Major crime is down, double digits, historic proportions, subway crime down, double digits, but not in bodegas. And we have a mayor who's got a head and a heart, and he took notice, and he wanted to do something about it. So, today, we were here to announce an important initiative to address the tragic consequences of crime at bodegas. And, ladies and gentlemen, it's my honor to introduce the mayor of New York City, Eric Adams.

Mayor Eric Adams:Unidos somos más.

Translation:United we are stronger.

Mayor Adams:Oh, man, I love it. Listen, what is more New York than a bodega? You know, think about it for a moment. Those of us who live in communities where historically we did not have access to supermarkets, did not have access to safe spaces for our children, did not have access to places to drop off your keys when your children or loved one comes home, or to give you that credit from time to time in between receiving whatever salary you receive.

Bodegas are not just places that occupy retail shops in our communities. Bodegas are our family. We know the owners by name. All of us know the little cat that runs around the store. We know how to get the products, what we need. This is so important to us. And then when you go back and think about COVID, during COVID, it was the bodegas that were the lifeline to our entire community.

Hardworking owners who were there in the stores. Generations. I hear stories of a young person who states that I grew up here working in a bodega with my mom and my dad, and now I have several bodegas. And people who went on to open supermarkets, started with bodegas. And so, my brother Rodriguez, what you have done for this industry and the whole United Bodegas of America, they have really organized and ensured that the industry can continue to grow.

This is a product that has grown inside the inner cities of—in the communities in our city, and we need to support them. Here's the problem. There's a small profit margin. Every item they sell feeds into that profit margin.

Number one, we had to deal with just frequent, rampant shoplifting, taking items out of the store. That takes away from the bottom line of the employees and the workers. We knew that. That's why we put in place our Retail Theft Task Force, with many of the owners that are here. And we saw an 8.2 [percent] drop in thefts and shoplifting. But there was another problem that we saw. And this organization came to us. Can I thank you enough, Fernando Mateo, for bringing this to our attention, and your brother Rodriguez bringing this to our attention, the whole organization?

The crimes that are happening in bodegas are real. When people prey on any industry that's open 24 hours of the day, come out, give the support that is needed. And so, they came up with a brilliant idea. How do we, number one, communicate directly with the Police Department? That's what this device is here. We're going to have a direct communication to the Police Department, 500 bodegas, $1.6 million that we're investing in this initiative.

First Deputy Mayor Mastro, when he heard it, he said, this just makes sense. And so, instead of just having the cats keeping away the rats, we're going to have a direct connection with the police to keep away those dangerous cats that try to rob our stores.

But we go one step further. Hats off to Mateo, Fernando Mateo. Panic button, a panic button that you'll immediately be able to hit, that is going to alarm the police, and it's going to be connected directly to the local precinct. When you do the combination, it's going to give you access to the cameras in the store to see what is taking place and how we can get an immediate response, 500 stores. And so, to the people who are preying on bodegas, you are not going to know what 500 stores they're going to be in.

So, every store you walk in, there's a [potential] that they are going to be armed with the panic button and a direct communication with the police. Now, are we going to use this just because someone is having a simple dispute? No. It's going to be used for serious incidents. And we're going to train each owner and each employee where it's located, how to use it, how to make sure this becomes an additional safety net for our bodega owners.

You stood up for us. You've had our backs as a city. We're going to have your back. This is a city where working-class people deserve to be safe. We are not going to allow a small number of people to prey on innocent New Yorkers in general, but specifically for our businesses like our bodega community. I cannot say thank you enough for the bodega community, what you have done. I remember the bodega on the corner of Merrick Boulevard and 111th Avenue that I would stop in. I would be able to sit there, do my homework. They would make sure that I had something to eat. They would protect us. All of our family knew our bodegas. I thank you.

Because of you, that little boy that sat in that bodega on Merrick Boulevard is now the mayor of the City of New York. And there's a mayor of the City of New York that is coming into your store every day, like my brother right here. Come on up here. You know what I'm saying? So thank you. Andy King, thank you, because you talked about this for so long. It's good to see you. You should be up here standing with us. Good work. Thank you so much for what you have done. Turn it back over to you, F.D.M. Thank you.

First Deputy Mayor Mastro:Thank you. This is going to save lives and protect our bodegas, our bodega workers, and those who come to our bodegas. And now, from the Police Department, I want to introduce chief of Department, John Chell.

Chief John Chell, Chief of Department, Police Department:Hola. Buenos dias. Anyone who's ever lived in this city or been here for a while knows that our bodegas are the fabric of this great city. Without them, we cannot survive.

We must do for all New Yorkers what we do for our bodegas, keep them safe, its customers safe, and the community they serve. Today's announcement of the implementation of SilentShield is just another layer of new technology geared towards keeping New York City bodegas safe and the 500 of them that are victims of high levels of crime.

SilentShields, aside from giving workers peace of mind as it serves, is also a crime prevention tool. It allows quick response by a potential violent situation on police officers to save lives. It gives our responding officers situational awareness to keep them safe. It helps with timely apprehensions, and it gives our detective squad great tools to catch people after the fact.

Ultimately, it helps keep everyone safe and sends a message, like the mayor said, to our criminals. And we got that cat in the store also, don't forget that. SilentShields is a lifeline for our bodegas. I want to thank Mayor Adams again for another piece of innovative technology under the banner of public safety to make our jobs easier and to protect all bodega workers.

Do you ever wonder why a city of 8 million plus people is the safest city in the world? It's because we have the best, hardest working cops and an unwavering commitment from Mayor Adams when it relates to public safety, as demonstrated here today for bodega safety. And more importantly, he supports the hard working cops of the NYPD 100 percent of the time, 24-7-365. Thank you.

First Deputy Mayor Mastro:And now I want to introduce a man I've known for over 30 years. He's my friend. He's my brother. So many of you know him as a tireless champion. The UBA's spokesperson, Fernando Mateo.

Fernando Mateo, Spokesman, United Bodegas of America:Ladies and gentlemen, first of all, thank you for being here in this rainy day. Rainy days are the best days in my life. My kids were born on rainy days. I bought my first house on a rainy day. I opened my business on a rainy day. And I think I met Eric Adams on a rainy day.

To my left is our president, Radames Rodriguez. And behind us, we have over 100 bodega owners here today. Guys, you don't know what we've been through. This is the safest city in the world. That is true. This mayor has made this the safest city in the world. But there are always pockets where criminals take advantage. Those pockets we all know. The trains, taxis, and bodegas. We're the easy target.

So, for so long we've been asking for help. For so long we've been asking for a panic button. We have gotten promises from councilmembers, from congress members, from assemblymembers, from the governor. We have gotten promises. Guess what? The killings are still there. The stabbings, the shootings, the robberies, the attempts, the assaults. They're all still there. But you know what? The day that Randy Mastro came into this administration as the first deputy mayor, I told this organization, you're going to see some action here. Because the word is going to get to the mayor. And the mayor is going to react because he's got common sense.

Chief Chell, I've known forever. Chief Chell is a partner in this endeavor. Okay? Panic buttons is what's going to save the lives of so many. Not just the lives of bodega owners and workers, but the lives of so many that have ran into a bodega seeking safe shelter, and they've been killed. You remember Junior Guzman and many others. People that get beaten with hammers on the head. I mean, what happens in these bodegas is just unbelievable.

Mayor, from my heart, man, thank you, brother. Thank you for coming through. Thank you. I wish everybody, everyone in elected office puts on their listening ears. Like I tell my granddaughter when I ask her to do something, she doesn't listen. I said, put on your listening ears.

Guys, we have been begging, screaming, having press conferences every week. And today, we can say thank you to the City of New York, our mayor, Randy Mastro, Chief Chell, Commissioner Tisch, for please, thank you for allowing us now to connect directly to NYPD headquarters and a precinct, okay? Hopefully now the message will go out there. And Governor Hochul, we're still holding your feet to the fire. Lead by example– you see what's happening here today. We want it to happen with you as well. Thank you. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

Mayor Adams:Thank you, brother. Unidos somos más.

First Deputy Mayor Mastro:God, I love this crowd. Okay. Also, a shout out to my chief of staff, Valerie Vasquez, who championed this issue. Thank you, Valerie. And now, your president. Radhames Rodriguez. Come up. Come up, brother.

Radhames Rodriguez, President, United Bodegas of America:Thank you. Thank God for letting us be here today. Thanks to all the members of United Bodegas of America. For seven years, we've been fighting and fighting and asked for help in our bodegas because everything has happened. It's ending or it's... It happened in the bodegas. It started or it's finished in the bodegas. And we've been through a lot. And nobody came to us and helped us.

The only one that's been supporting us in everything that United Bodegas is doing is our mayor, Eric Adams. The one we're supporting, and we're still supporting him in every bodega. Eric Adam is going to be the mayor for now and for more. I want to thank everybody who brings this together. And now I want to say a couple of words in Spanish.

Primero quiero darles las gracias a Dios por permitirnos hoy debajo de esta lluvia estar acá. Soy un bodeguero de 40 años. En esta misma bodega fuimos golpeados, mis hermanos y yo, varias veces, incluyendo en una sola semana tres veces. Hemos venido luchando siempre por la seguridad de todas las bodegas. Sabemos lo importante que son nuestras bodegas en nuestras comunidades.

Las bodegas no solamente son negocios. Las bodegas son un lugar donde nuestra gente, donde nuestra comunidad viene, donde nuestros niños van a comprar, donde los papás de nuestros niños llegan muchas veces, como dijo Mayor Adams, dejan las llaves para cuando ellos salen de la escuela. Muchas veces tenemos que también darle, por ejemplo, un sándwich hasta que sus papás lleguen de la tarde. O sea, más que negocios somos centros comunitarios.

Esta organización que nació hace siete años después del problema de lo que pasó en una bodega con el niño Junior, del cual realmente sentimos mucho lo que pasó, y desde ahí en adelante hemos venido luchando para que nuestras bodegas tengan más protección, para que cuando haya cualquier problema en una de nuestras bodegas podamos tener la policía que esté alerta y que pueda llegar antes de que situaciones como esa pasen. Yo le doy las gracias a Dios de nuevo, a todos los miembros y miembras de esta gran organización que ha venido luchando y que realmente es una organización que sí representa y que sí lucha por los intereses de nuestras bodegas.

Que nuestra organización no solamente está tirándose una foto cuando hay un problema, no es una organización donde el presidente está solamente adonde hay políticos tirándose una foto. Yo y esta organización lucha por los intereses de los bodegueros, donde tenemos bancos para que le den mejores préstamos, con mejores intereses, donde nos juntamos con las compañías como las que están aquí hoy, algunas de ellos repartiéndose, como es F&J, al cual le doy las gracias por siempre soportarnos, igual que a [inaudible], igual que a [inaudible] que está aquí también. Por eso nuestra organización sigue y será siendo la organización que representa a todos los bodegueros. Muchísimas gracias.

Translation:The bodegas are not just businesses. The bodegas are a place where our people, where our community comes, where our children go to buy, where the parents of our children come. Many times, as Mayor Adams said, they leave the keys for when they leave school. Many times, we have to give them a sandwich, for example, until their parents come home in the afternoon. So, more than businesses, we are community centers.

This organization, which was born seven years ago, after the problem of what happened in a bodega with Junior, in which we deeply feel bad about what happened. And from then on, we have been fighting so that our bodegas have more protection, so that when there is any problem in one of our bodegas, we can have the police on alert and can arrive before situations like that happen. I thank God again, to all the members of this great organization that have been fighting, and this is really an organization that represents and fights for the interests of our bodegas

Our organization is not just taking a picture when there is a problem. It is not an organization where the president is only there when there are politicians taking a picture. This organization and I fight for the interests of our bodegueros [bodega owner], where we have banks to give them better loans, with better interest [rates], where we get together with companies like the ones that are here today, some of them supporting us, such as F&J, for which I thank them for always supporting us, just like [inaudible], just like [inaudible], who is here too. That is why our organization continues to be the organization that represents all the bodegueros [bodega owner]. Thank you very much.

First Deputy Mayor Mastro:Any questions?

Question:[Inaudible.]

Mateo:Well, as you know, the money is being allocated. We will ask the mayor to try to find it from discretionary funds so that we can start tomorrow. There is no reason why we can't start tomorrow, right? If it's in the budget, the budget can replace it. But we would like to start tomorrow because that's really why we're here. We're not here to show. We're not here to talk about it.

We're done with that. This man is a man of action. And that's what we're expecting, to start immediately. We will let you know when the first 100 bodegas are completed and as we move forward. As the mayor said, we're not going to give you the locations because we don't want the criminals out there to know who has it and who doesn't. Wherever they walk into, they're going to feel they have a panic button. Yeah. Any other questions?

Question:[Inaudible.]

Mateo:Si, yo, básicamente, esto va a empezar inmediatamente, el dinero está en el presupuesto, pero nosotros no queremos esperar hasta que el presupuesto nos dé el dinero, sino que el alcalde lo encuentre en áreas de discreción, que nos lo dé para nosotros empezar inmediatamente. Mañana, esperamos que comiences a poner en marcha estos botones de pánico. Quiero decir, eso es lo que Randy dijo.

Translation:Basically, this is going to start immediately. The money is in the budget. But we don't want to wait until the budget gives us the money. We want the mayor to find it in areas of discretion, so we can start immediately. Tomorrow, hopefully, we'll start putting in these panic buttons. I mean, that's what Randy said.

First Deputy Mayor Mastro:I'm not a mañana kind of guy. I'm a today kind of guy! Thank you.