Transcript: Mayor de Blasio and Police Commissioner Bratton Host Press Conference to Discuss Security Measures at the J'Ouvert Festival and Labor Day Parade

August 31, 2016

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Okay. Hello, everyone. Welcome.

In just a few days, Brooklyn will once again host one of the most important celebrations each year in this city; one of the biggest, one of the most beloved, one of the most important – of course the parade on Labor Day and the J' Ouvert celebration preceding it. And for hundreds and hundreds of thousands of Brooklynites and New Yorkers, this is a moment in the year they look forward to. This is the ultimate expression of their heritage and their culture, and we honor that. And it's something that we're going to make sure is better than ever this year, safer than ever this year.

And I want to be very clear – hundreds of thousands of people, good people, law-abiding people, people who love their community participate in these events each year – J' Ouvert and the parade; hundreds of thousands of people.

A few bad apples over the years have caused trouble. We are not going to let a few bad apples destroy something that's so important to hundreds of thousands of good New Yorkers. We're going to make sure that J' Ouvert and the parade are safer than ever. And we're taking extraordinary measures.

You'll hear in a moment from Commissioner Bratton and Chief O'Neill, and they'll tell you about the extraordinary efforts the NYPD will go to – things that have never been done before to protect this event. And they'll also tell you about the history with this parade and others that we have had to overcome over years – finding ways to make them safer and safer. But this year, I can say you're going to see the most extensive security ever for a J' Ouvert celebration – and security that has been planned with the community leadership – and this is crucial – the hardware is so important. The cops, their equipment, their training, the light towers – we're going to talk about all that. But what also matters, deeply, is the involvement of the community in keeping the event safe because the vast, vast majority of community members want the event to be safe, and are willing to do something about it, and they've been part of this planning process.

And I want to thank so many people who are here today who have helped us over months – this is not something that was just thrown together in the last few days – over months and months and months to make sure this would be the safest J' Ouvert ever.

I want to thank everyone who's been a part of that process.

Now, many people are here today. Again, you're going to hear from Commissioner Bratton and Chief O'Neill. I want to thank all the members of the NYPD leadership, and all the members of the NYPD who have been a part of this planning process. I want to thank the elected officials. You'll hear from Congresswoman Clarke. But I also want to thank Assemblymember Diana Richardson and Assemblymember Walter Mosley for their support and their involvement.

And I particularly want to talk about Carey Gabey and the family of Carey Gabey. Carey – we've all come to know, and it's such a sad way to come to know such a good person. But we've come to know his goodness, his life-long commitment to public service, and his love of his heritage – his deep love of J' Ouvert and the parade, and everything it meant to him and his family. And we miss him, and his family misses him so deeply. But let me tell you something about this wonderful family. They've turned that pain into action. They have been at the forefront of the efforts to make these events safer for everyone.

And I want to thank them for being here with us. Carey's wife, Trenelle, is here. Thank you so much – his mother, Audrey McNaughton, and his brother, Aaron McNaughton; a good, good family and all New Yorkers embrace you. We're all here to support you, but I also want to say a special thank you to Trenelle. Trenelle you have been front and center in the efforts over these months to make this event safer. You've been at so many of the meetings working with the NYPD to ensure that Carey's beloved J' Ouvert would be the safest it's ever been. And that spirit is carrying forward in these next days. And he's looking down and saying thank you to you for making sure his beloved event is safe for all.

Now, we all feel this. Commissioner Bratton, Chief O'Neill, and I were talking about this coming over. We all feel every single time a life is lost in this city. We feel what families go through. So often we meet the families and we understand their pain. We don't want any family to go through that pain again. And that's why what you're going to see this J' Ouvert is different than you've ever seen before – massive NYPD presence. Again, in a plan worked out with community leaders – and you're going to hear from some of those leaders – this is not just bringing police in, in isolation. It's doing it with the understanding and the planning with the community. And that's crucial to the success of this operation.

And, second, you're going to see light towers like you've never seen before. This is an event that happens overnight. And one of the things we know makes people feel safe and helps the police to do their job is a well-lit environment. So, there's going to be 200 light towers brought in to make sure that everyone is safe during J' Ouvert.

These approaches, worked through with the community – and we determined that we needed a different kind of approach to organizing the event that hadn't been before. We all appreciate spontaneity but in an event of this importance and size, it needed more structure. And so, for the first time, we worked with the organizers of the event – J' Ouvert City International – to issue them an official permit, and have this extensive planning process. And you'll hear from the executive director, Yvette Rennie, in a moment. I want to thank her for her hard work in that very, very intense process to make sure this event was as well planned as possible.

Local leaders, clergy members, residents – all been a part of it. They've all be spreading the word. The community insists on a safe J' Ouvert. The community is going to ensure, with the police, it happens.

This event celebrates the heritage of all people from the nations of the Caribbean. And at J' Ouvert and at the parade on Monday, we see one of the essential pillars of New York City – the Caribbean community. We see it on display. We see the strength and the rich culture and the warmth and the energy and the families – all the things that make the Caribbean great and make New York City greater in the process.

We will make sure that people are safe. And we will celebrate J' Ouvert the right way.

And one last point, people want to talk about all the good in this celebration – its rich history and heritage, and what it means. And they're doing that using social media. People are sharing their stories of J' Ouvert – what it's meant to their family, what it's meant to their lives via social media using the hashtag #WeAreJOuvert.

So, you'll be seeing a lot that helps you understand why this means so much to so many families in this city.

Just quickly – and I think we have – for the spelling purposes; there is the hashtag back there.

Quickly in Spanish –

[Mayor de Blasio speaks Spanish]

With that, it's my honor to introduce our police commissioner, Bill Bratton.

Police Commissioner William Bratton: Good morning, on this lovely New York summer morning in this incredibly beautiful setting. Beginning after the events – the tragic events of last year's J'Ouvert parade, the Police Department, working with political leadership of this area – Eric Adams, the City Council members, the Assembly members who are here this morning – began a series of meetings with the organizers of the parade – many of the community groups – literally, meetings that were continuous throughout the past year to focus on what might be done from lessons learned from past parades to improve the safety for this year's event. Chief O'Neill, in a few moments, will describe the many changes that are being brought into place – the expansion in many instances of what had already been done, but an expansion of those.

Parades are a rich tradition in this city, particularly parades around the culture, around the ethnicity of the very diverse population in this city. Some of them over the years have been more problematic than others. I can remember the St. Patrick's Parade when I first came here in 1990 – I believe it rivaled Boston for the disorder that went on in and around the parade area. Working very hard on that parade, we have, over the years, made that what all the parades should be – a safe and enjoyable experience for everyone. Similarly, in the late 90s, we had a series of issues around the Puerto Rican Day Parade, and, working with the organizers of that group, we've been able to move forward and ensure a safe experience for the over one-and-a-half million people that come for that parade. 

Similarly, dual events – the J'Ouvert and the Caribbean Festival Parade following – events of this year, we believe, will be the safest in the history of both events. We've worked very hard on the parade – the Caribbean Day Festival Parade on Monday, Labor Day, to improve the safety of the trailers that move many of the participants and to ensure that people are not injured in accidents involving those trailers, and the fencing, and the policing of the event. For J'Ouvert itself, Chief O'Neill is going to step up now and describe what we have done.

A special thanks to Jimmy and Chief Powers in this area who have attended many of the monthly meetings. Certainly, a special thanks to the Gabay family who has been very intimately involved in them. And also, Larry Byrne, my Deputy Commissioner for Legal Matters, who has attended every one and worked to ensure that this parade could be permitted – that they would comply with the conditions that the City sets forth to ensure order and safety at the events – so, a special thanks to Larry for all of his work on this.

With that, Chief O'Neill will explain to you some of the increases in security, some of the increases in lighting, and some of the increases in community participation that we'll be engaged in. 

Thank you.

Chief of Department James O'Neill, NYPD: Good morning, everyone. First of all, I'd just like to thank [inaudible] for being here this morning and for being actively involved in our discussions over the last year. These discussions started the day after Labor Day last year, so it's been a long process. I'd like to thank Larry Byrne also, just as the Commissioner did, for all the hard work in securing a permit, working with the organized J'Ouvert City International. And I'd like to thank Steven Powers too. Steven's probably not going to sleep for 72 hours, starting on Friday. Maybe get some sleep Monday morning? Tuesday morning? Tuesday morning. 

So, on Labor Day, J'Ouvert – vans gather at around 2 am right on this stretch of Flatbush Avenue on the northern corner of Prospect Park. The precession kicks off at around 4 am, heads south, turns left on Empire, and right on Nostrand, before stopping at Maple Avenue at 10 am. So, it's a good six hours. We'll have plenty of police officers, but, as the Mayor said, and the Commissioner said, this is not just about bringing more cops to Brooklyn, it's got to be a shared responsibility here. It can't just be about the police, it's got to be – everybody has to be involved. I know electeds were highly involved. My good friend Eric Adams participated in this process – actually, lead the process – and I appreciate Eric for all the work that he did. I know Laurie Cumbo from the [inaudible] Council is also an active participant also. 

So, J'Ouvert has been around for decades, and I said the organizer, J'Ouvert City International – this is the first time a parade permit has been granted. We do have – timing is everything – ShotSpotter covers a dozen square miles in the heart of Brooklyn, and we're continuing to expand. In fact, the area around the J'Ouvert festivities is completely covered now. But, just remember, ShotSpotter shows us where the violent hot spots exist and it helps us respond to the incidents quicker, and help potential victims, make arrests, and recover weapons. It doesn't prevent shootings. We have a good – we had a very successful gun buy-back program this past Saturday thanks to Joanne Jaffe, and the Brooklyn DA's office. We ended up getting 59 guns, so, thank you, Joanne, for that.

So, thousands of people are looking forward to this celebration, and it's quite a celebration, if you've never been here. Thousands of people participating, thousands of happy people, but, again, every time there's an issue in New York City, it's a very small percentage of the population the causes the issue. Many people like coming down here, but some fear the event because of the history of violence associated with it. All of our efforts – there are going to be many changes this year geared toward deterring acts of violence. We're doubling the number of uniformed officers assigned to the precession in the surrounding areas of Crown Heights. So, it's not just the parade routes where you're going to see more cops – it's going to be blocks out from the parade route, and that's an important aspect of what we're doing.

Last year, we had about 40 light towers. This year, we're putting 200 light towers in, and, again, that's not just along the route. Flatbush Avenue will have plenty, Empire will have plenty, but blocks out too. We're going to be placing RNP's a couple of blocks out from the parade. So, you'll see more marked cars and vans all around the area. Those are the most visible changes that you're seeing. At the end of the day, as I always say, what do we get paid to do? We get paid to keep people safe, and, the night of J'Ouvert, we're going get paid to make sure the participants can enjoy themselves without fear. The cops on the street corners are placed there to protect those lawfully taking part in the celebration. We'd love to have a – they know they're going to have a busy night, because there's just thousands and thousands of people, but we'd love to also have an uneventful night. 

Like I said, just like everywhere else in this city, we already know that the majority of violent crime is committed by a relatively small number of individuals, and we're watching those people. You've seen the large takedowns we've done over the past couple of years to disrupt gang and crew activity – people running drugs and guns. That's never going to stop – it's such an important part of what we do. Precision policing and targeted enforcement will continue. Leading up to this event, we've been checking in parolees. We've been working with community leaders who can help us prevent shootings from occurring.

Again, I'd like to thank Eric Adams, and also Ken Thompson office, Brooklyn DA. But for all our planning in the Police Department, I want to stress what I always say – the police are only part of this equation. We're continuing to drive down crime, deterring violence, and keeping people safe. This is – especially the night of J'Ouvert – it's an absolute shared responsibility between the NYPD and the public we are sworn to protect and serve. I'm going to keep a watchful eye. I want everybody to keep a watchful eye that night. Know where your children are, and, please, if you see any issues, anything brewing, call 9-1-1 and we'll make sure we have the appropriate personnel respond to the scene. You need to report any suspicious behavior to us. 

So, I look forward to a great festive weekend. I look forward to a great Sunday night into Monday morning. I look forward to a great Monday. And, Steve, I'll be seeing you out there early Monday morning through Monday afternoon. 

So, thanks. 

Mayor: Thank you. And, I want to say, Jimmy O'Neill's put a huge amount of time and energy into this effort, and I want to just commend Chief O'Neill, because he, as I've said many times, believes in neighborhood-policing, is the architect of the neighborhood policing initiative in the City, but he's put that into action here. This process was done with the community for months, and months, and months, and it's going to really yield results because of Jimmy. Well done. Thank you.

I also want to commend, even though they couldn't be here, Eric Adams, Laurie Cumbo, Ken Thompson – all key players in this initiative. Eric in particular played a major, major convening role, and that's helped everything to keep building and moving along. And I want to thank two of the elected officials who have joined us for their support and their involvement – Councilmember Jumaane Williams and Senator Kevin Parker, thank you both for all you have done. 

Now, epitomizing the efforts to work with the community have been the faith outreach efforts. These have been crucial in getting the world out that this community insists on a safe J'Ouvert, and is going to work with the police to make it happen. One of the leaders of this effort is Pastor Gil Monrose, the faith outreach director for the Office of Borough President Adams.

Pastor Monrose?

[…]

Finally, I want you to hear from the Executive Director of J'Ouvert International. Again, she's played a crucial role in the planning process and making this a much better structured and safer event. I want to introduce Executive Director Yvette Rennie.

[…]

Mayor: Thank you. Thank you very much. We are going to take questions on J' Ouvert and on the preparations for J' Ouvert and the parade and then I'll be departing. Commissioner Bratton and members of his team will take questions on other police matters at that point. Let's first do anything related to J' Ouvert.

Question: Mr. Mayor and Police Commissioner in regards to what happened last year, what's your message to gangs?

Mayor: I'll start. The message is there is going to be overwhelming police presence and full involvement in the community to stop any acts of violence and anyone in the community who attempts acts of violence; we are going to get them. It's as simple as theat.

Commissioner Bratton: As Chief O'Neill indicated, a part from the preparation of the presence of police at the parade itself and in the surrounding neighborhoods of a much larger degree, we have been focusing on the gangs that are in that area as well as based on our intelligence, gangs that have come in from other areas. So that before the event, they will be receiving visits and if there are active warrants, etc., parole violations we will be seeking to enforce those. And we send a clear message that we are going to have a very large presence both during and before the event. And we also are going to make sure that our officers are aware of who's who among that gang population. The idea here is to have a celebration and have it free of violence. Last year, unfortunately that did not occur. That is the goal this year.

Question: What is the position on alcohol?

Commissioner Bratton: I am going to have Chief Powers come up to discuss what he's been doing with the State Liquor Authority as far as some of the events, etc., protocols, prohibitions, etc., that he is intending to put in place for that event. Chief Powers as you know commands the precincts in this area of Brooklyn and [inaudible] focus on the J' Ouvert event as well as the parade on Monday morning occur.

Brooklyn South Commander Assistant, Chief Steven Powers: What we've done is a vice enforcement component to our resources. We are going to try and make sure that places that are serving alcohol after hours—we are going to deal with that and we are going to do our regular enforcement. Just like any other parade, consuming alcohol on the street isn't legal on the streets of New York. So, we plan on enforcing.

Question: You said you are doubling the number of uniformed officers. Are there an approximate number of the officers that will be out there?

Commissioner Bratton: As the Mayor has indicated through Chief O'Neill that we do not give out the specific numbers, but there will be easily several thousand officers involved in policing J' Ouvert as well as a very large number policing the following day's parade. The officers there are primarily for crowd management – crowd control, in an event that attracts a million to a million and a half people, causes a lot of traffic-related congestion in the area – so the heavy emphasis on policing there is to ensure that we are able to manage the very large crowds that attend both of these events.

Question: On the quality-of-life issue, I am told that there is a severe shortage of restrooms along Flatbush Avenue that leads to long lines for women and men using the park as a restroom essentially. [Inaudible]

Chief Powers: We are working closely with the Parks Department and we have obtained a number of extra [inaudible] for this year's event because in prior years like you mentioned this is a problem.

Mayor: Other questions on J' Ouvert and parade, Marcia?

Question: Mr. Mayor, I wonder if the decision to rip up the pedestrian malls on Eastern Parkway was a safety issue and why are you doing it? Will they be replaced and how much will they cost?

Mayor: It definitely was a safety issue. In other words, the original pedestrian malls were put in for safety and then when the recognition of what it would mean to move the floats around them became clear, we realized there was an unintended consequence. So to me this is a case where the City was trying to do something good for the overall safety of the community, 365 days of the year. But on that one day there was a different problem that had been created that had not been fully taken into account – that the floats would have trouble navigating around them and that could create safety issues for the people around. So they are being taken out for the parade. We have to figure out a long-term solution. We don't have that yet, but we will get to a long-term solution. I don't know we can find out though.

Question: The parade organizers – ask of those being removed?

Mayor: Some of the elected officials raised the concern that there might be a danger problem because of the floats having to navigate the very tight space. And when we looked at that very practically we came to the conclusion that they were right and we had to reset. So again, now we will have to figure out a solution that will work for the long-term.  The idea of having that pedestrian island was a good one. We have to find that happy medium.     

Question: Is there a day and time when they are going to be removed.

Mayor: Chief, do you know, have they been removed?

Chief Powers: They've been removed.

Question: The Commissioner mentioned St. Patrick's Day, the Puerto Rican Day Parade. Can you tell us some lessons learned that PD took away and is bringing to this parade?

Commissioner Bratton: Sure. Active participation of the organizers of the event – having them being held accountable for going along with the permit requirements; having the appropriate number of police available – not only along the parade route but in my experience with the St. Patrick's Parade, most of the problems occurred on the surrounding side street similarly with the events here in Brooklyn; a lot of the issues off the parade route and to the side streets requires a larger police presence; the enforcement of the alcohol issue has been critical in dealing with parades in the City and usually when we get a handle on that aspect of it, we see a significant dissipation of the problems that we experienced as far as unruly behavior – fights and other types of disturbances.

Question: Can you clarify whether you all have discussed of any book bags or any other –

Mayor: Screening of any book bags, backpacks that kind of thing – ShotSpotter. 

Commissioner Bratton: This parade is not like the Times Square event of New Year's Eve where it is a contained area. So there are not controlled points as far as when people bring in bags, baskets etc. We will have significant numbers of counterterrorism forces out there. In this day and age, we live in unfortunately that is another added element that requires additional police officers who are skilled in that issue – our Vapor Wake dogs that are basically skilled at detecting explosives, etc., that this is open to the public event. We will have additional eyes and ears open to the public for anything out of the ordinary. And this is where the public has a shared responsibility, the 'See Something, Say Something.' If something is happening report it. We have sufficient resources and we have to respond very quickly to any reports we receive. ShotSpotter technology is technology that the Mayor and the City Council authorized a little over a year-and-a-half ago. In the recent budget authorized a significant expansion almost doubling that. I think we will have by the first of the year, almost 60 square miles of the City. It is able to detect shots that are fired. In this City like most cities in America that have ShotSpotter, 75 to 80 percent of shots fired are never reported to the police. So it's a very, very valuable addition to us, having an awareness of the number of shooting incidents in the neighborhood that the community is unfortunately so used to that they no longer call. It's critical we get there, we often times make an arrest, often times recover the weapon and very often recover the [inaudible]shell casings, which are very helpful in identifying and going through with criminal cases. I just talked to the Mayor earlier about ShotSpotter technology – will probably be very appropriate in our airports in light of recent events here in JFK and the one in Los Angeles when it sounded like shots were in fact other acoustic issues. So, ShotSpotter might be very helpful in identifying for us very specifically where an event is occurring in these long concourses; is it in fact a shot or is it possibly something else. It's technology that has many uses. Fortunately, New York has led the way in terms of the sheer amount of area that we will be covering with this technology.

Mayor: But it will definitely help in terms of J' Ouvert and the parade now that it is in this area. So it is here permanently, but it is also going to add the security capacity that we are going to experience this week.

Commissioner Bratton: Chief Powers just reminded me that Chief O' Neill and his comments talking about what has been done this year. But also this year having an additional 42 cameras in the area, will be very helpful— areas that have been identified in the past as problematic. In addition to the thousands of eyes and ears of our offices, also aided by ministers and the various community organizations that are working with us, we will have that technology that will be very helpful. The lighting that we are putting in will be a very significant benefit – lighting up those trouble areas that will make use of the cameras even more beneficial to us.

Question: You said there are 42 more cameras?

Commissioner Bratton: Forty-two more police cameras on route in related trouble areas around the route.

Question: Biggest concern as you face this weekend?

Commissioner Bratton: Just the crowds, just the sheer number of people that come in for this event. It gets bigger every year and one of the reasons we are increasing and deploying personnel is to deal with that crowd management and the many traffic issues that relate to it. So it is the idea – as many of these events – to have sufficient resources to keep it a safe event as well as facilitate the movement of people in and out of the area as much as we can. We will have additional officers on the subway line servicing this area as you might expect. And similarly our traffic agents – we have a significant number of traffic agents that have been brought in for it. So we are doing everything we can possibly do in coordination with the other entire city agencies – the Department of Transportation, Sanitation will have extra pick-up at the trash that will invariably occur with a million-and-a half people in a relatively small area.

Question: J' Ouvert and the Labor Day Parade have been going on for years. You both are very familiar with it. What do you hear in the run up to this year's event that make you want to put in 200 light towers, so many more additional officers? What specifically were you hearing? Was it a crowd issue, was it a safety issue?

Mayor: I think it was a combination but first of all – the tragedy of losing Carey Gabay I think gripped this whole city and added to everyone's resolve. And then, I give Borough President Adams particular credit for this. There was a real belief among the elected officials and community leaders that something could be done differently while still maintaining all that was good about the celebration – all it meant to the community. That it could be much more organized. It could be a deeper community involvement in insuring the safety. And then that led to a series of discussions of what needed to be done both from the NYPD perspective and a community perspective and an identification of next generation of things we needed to do to make it safe was light towers and the additional police presence in addition to all of the work with the community, security cameras, ShotSpotter. So a very comprehensive plan came together and in the past there wasn't that kind of deep planning with the community and there certainly wasn't the kind of investment of resources. Now this will be the standard going forward.

Question: Can you give estimates on how many people are expected and how many [inaudible]?

Chief Powers: We expect about a quarter-of-a-million people to attend this event – for J' Ouvert – and probably about a million-and-a-half for the West Indian Day Parade.

Mayor: Is there anyone who hasn't asked a question?

Question: Is there a price tag for how much more this additional security is going to cost?

Mayor: Let me just state the obvious. We will know at the end, but we are obviously going to do whatever it takes to ensure security. It's the same way we approach – even though as Commissioner said, New Year's Eve is a different physical context. We put more resources than ever before into protecting it; the same with the Macy's Parade on Thanksgiving. We are going to do whatever it takes and I think it's some of the best money we spent.

Question: [Inaudible]

Mayor: You're saying are the police going to keep a flow of people or is it going to be more stationary?

Chief Powers: There is a J' Ouvert Parade route along with the many components that go on with J' Ouvert it is a tremendous amount of partying that goes on in the streets. There are backyard barbecues, there's crowded clubs and bars. But as far as the J' Ouvert parade route, there is an established parade route and Chief O'Neill spoke about that before – eastbound on Empire up to Nostrand and Southbound on Nostrand to Midwood.

Mayor: Can people keep moving? That's the question.

Chief Powers: Absolutely, that's never been an issue. They move around. It's a six-hour parade. Approximately, 30 bands this year and everybody wants to pass the judges because there is some prize money involved and there is a winner of the parade.

Mayor: Any other questions on J' Ouvert and the parade? Going once—

Question: But the idea of having the police work so closely with the community, [inaudible] a lot of feedback. Does that sort of run counter to what was discussed yesterday with the police not disclosing the personnel records –

Mayor: No, again that's a matter of State law. This is about a deep and consistent planning process with the community. This is one of the great examples of a neighborhood-policing philosophy applied to a major event; working with the community to figure out what would make everyone safe and deeply involving the clergy and the elected officials and the community leaders. So, those are really apples and oranges.

Last call – yes?

Question: You guys are going to do with someone who you catch drinking or doing drugs in public?

Chief Powers: As far as the drinking, you know, we're going to be using discretion. If we think the person is particularly unruly then, of course, we're going to give them a summons. But, you know, we're going to use discretion as we always do in all of our encounters with the public.

Last, last call – before I go over to other police matters, I'm going to leave you in the capable hands of Commissioner Bratton.

Thanks, everyone.

[Applause]

Commissioner Bratton: Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

Bob, [inaudible] if I can maybe get you up. We're aware of several issues of interest to you so as always I do have Bob Boyce available to discuss some of the intimacies of the crime investigations you're concerned with. I'd like to begin, however, responding to the questions raised about the 50-A situation. In my comments yesterday what was lost in the reporting of my comments is 'well, you're New York-based you naturally have an interest in the New York City Police Department'. But this is an issue of law in which every other police agency in the State does what we are now going to do – we basically comply with the law. So, you can ask away from now to doomsday. The resolution to this issue is in Albany; it is a State issue that they will have to address. We do not have the independent ability to break the law and the terms of our violation of the law over these last almost 60 years – or whenever the law was passed – it was unintentional and actually corrected thanks to the media. One of your foil requests caused us to take a look at it based on that inquiry. So, if you have – somebody you want to blame, blame whoever filed that FOIL request because they have now denied you access to information that we were giving you inadvertently for 60 years. I'd also point out that the Fire Department of New York City, the Corrections Department of New York City also have to be in compliance with that issue; and if they have been good for them, if they have not been they will be doing exactly as we are doing – complying with the law.

Question: How are you going to address whatever happens or perhaps has already happened with Officer Pantaleo? What's going to be disclosed?

Commissioner Bratton: I'm not going to speak to that in terms of – basically the Mayor has made it clear in I think his comments to you yesterday, under 50-A that despite having ironically – if it were to go to a trial process [inaudible] if that is the course that it has taken – that technically the results of that trial would not be publicly disclosed. Would it eventually get out? Probably, but we would not be issuing a press statement to that effect. So that is the limitation. The irony that we would have an open trial, in many instances in the disciplinary manner, that the results of the decision of the judge would not be publicly available.

Question: [Inaudible]

Commissioner Bratton: I'm sorry?

Question: What do you think about that concept?

Commissioner Bratton: I feel personally that – I do not have any concerns about publishing disciplinary actions taken by the New York City Police Department against members of the Department who are in violation either of Department policy procedures or the law. It's been a position I've had in my now almost 40 years in policing.  However, I have to comply with the law much to the same that I complied with the law in Los Angeles, California and different laws in Massachusetts. Each state has different laws related to this issue. In this State there are significant limitations on what we can legally publish. If this goes into a legislative initiative up in Albany, my successor Chief O'Neill and the Mayor will have to basically take a position on it; myself personally, that I would be supportive of opening up the process more than we are now legally allowed to do.

Question: I wonder if you can describe what happened on the Long Island Expressway this morning. Who were the folks who were killed? What's the status of the investigation in the crash etcetera?

Commissioner Bratton: We can't give you anything more at this juncture than what's been out in the early morning reports. I haven't actually received a full briefing on that horrific tragedy this morning myself. So, we can get additional information to you subsequent to this press conference here this morning. I would like to bring Chief Boyce up for a moment – has additional information on the jogger murder, if you will, we will be once again seeking the public's help in attempting to locate a witness – an essential witness to the events of that tragedy that occurred earlier this month.

Bob?

Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce, NYPD: Good morning everyone.  Just – in regards to Karina Vetrano homicide in the 1-0-6. As we've stated long ago, we have kept you abreast of every little event that's happened in the investigation. We're putting out a flyer of a sketch of an individual who was seen in that area. Now, I will be very strong in telling you that he is not a subject – we do not believe he committed a homicide at this point right now. He is not even a POI. He was seen on the pathway of the Belt Parkway, which is in the north end of the park – of Spring Creek Park, that's why we're putting it out. We want to speak to this person because we feel that he was there. This sketch was prepared by a utility worker who was working in the area at the time and saw this individual near the top of the park – Spring Creek Park. So, we put this out today; it's this individual right here. It's out to DCPI and I will tell you he is described as a male black, 35 - 45. He's 5'10 with a medium build; he was wearing dark pants with a red t-shirt and if you notice a dark wool hat. Remember, the day was August 2 – it's a little unusual he's wearing a wool hat in the area there. We don't know who he is; we don't know if he is a fellow jogger; what he's doing. I said if you go westbound on the Belt Parkway you go into East New York, Brooklyn. We don't know if he went into East New York or he went into other parts of the 1-0-6 precinct – would be South Ozone Park. The reason we're doing this, we'd like to speak to him. Yesterday – two days ago Phil Vetrano put out an individual that was jogging in the park as well as a common jogger. So, we found him he self-identified, we spoke to him. He provided no clues to us. So, this is part of the investigation we had about ten days ago. We wanted to put that out and make sure – we have to speak to this person. That's the only reason we're putting it out.

Question: Can we talk about the – there's a DNA profile that [inaudible] what is that process?

Chief Boyce: DNA profile was combed from three parts of the crime scene from the phone that belonged to Karina that was found thrown from the crime scene. We also have touch DNA from her neck, as you know she was strangled. We also have DNA from her finger nails – the strongest we have. That was all from the same person. So, we have a DNA profile of that. We ran this through our [inaudible] system, both State and Federal and have no hits on that, as well as local DNA database that we maintain to identify pattern thieves – so, so far nothing on that. That has limitations. So, we're working outside those limitations right now to identify that person.

Question: How do you do that?  Do you ask other people for their DNA?

Chief Boyce: That's exactly what we do, [inaudible]. We arrest them and we ask them would they mind taking a DNA sample. It is not always so, we do have abandonment samples – we have for major criminals. Where we will take – we are allowed by law – to take an abandonment sample from them; a glass of water, whatever the case may be. So, those things are occurring right now. And those go into a local database. It does not go into [inaudible] because there is no conviction there.

Question: In terms of the DNA, can you and have you guys already gone out the neighborhood and voluntarily asked people to give DNA swabs?

Chief Boyce: It's an interesting question, Kimberly because that has happened elsewhere. However, we live in a metropolis. That's a small town issue, where one town, I believe, in England came in and all gave their DNA. So no we haven't done that because right now we're not sure where he went from the location.

Question: So, with the sketch and this gentleman you're saying – can you speak to the investigation in terms of how tough it is that at this point – it's not a sketch of a subject or a person of interest, but of a possible witness.

Chief Boyce: That's correct, I never want to tell you that he is wanted for this crime because he is not. We have no evidence to say that, so when you see someone like this you try to figure out where he came from and who else saw him over in that area. I spoke before about [inaudible] and the shopping center there, Gateway Mall – that he might have gone there from there or down into Fountain Avenue in the 7-5,, or to South Ozone Park. So, if you know this person – I think it is a little unusual to be walking around in August with a cap on. So if you saw this person anywhere I'm asking you to call the police.

Question: How long have you had that sketch? And why is it coming out now?

Chief Boyce: Initially, we had to do data – I'm sorry video searches in the area into 1-0-6. We have a lot of videos of persons going back into the 1-0-6 area, which is – excuse me – but the 1-0-6 precinct it is a residential area right there. So, we checked all that video. No one has emerged from that section from there. At this point we've shifted our investigation into the bicycle path where there is no video. So now we have to rely on witness I.D. That's why we held that until such time. Again, we're just looking at anybody on that path right now – joggers – we've been out there interviewing people – bicycle riders – each day to see if they've seen anybody like this.

Question: [inaudible]

Chief Boyce: About 10 days ago.

Question: What other tips or leads have you gotten in the last –

Chief Boyce: Right now about 85 tips have come in. I think we have nine active that we haven't vetted yet as we do each day. That's what we do.

Question: Is there anyone handling the investigation in the kayak ferry accident on the Hudson last night? Do you have anything on that?

Chief Boyce: I believe the Coast Guard will be doing that investigation, but apparently the ferry was backing up. The pilot was unable to see the kayakers behind him, and they were struck. One individual suffered very serious injuries. His arm was almost severed, and thank goodness for the quick response of our Harbor Unit. They got there in quick time and rendered aid to him. Looks like he's going to make it, but I believe the Coast Guard is going to look into that.

Question: Will there be any policy issues in relation to the accident from yesterday – any determination like no kayakers allowed on the water [inaudible]?

Chief Boyce: Again, I'm going to leave that up the Coast Guard. They'll do the investigation, and they'll come up with recommendations, but apparently a sun glare was a factor. It sets – as you know – West, and he was looking behind him and the sun kind of blocked his vision or impaired it.

Question: Commissioner Bratton, can you discuss security at the World Trade Center and how people can be kept safe there and feel safe there?

Commissioner Bratton: A lot of time energy and planning has gone into the evolution of that site to come back to the state that it's now in with many buildings open, a lot of the retail and commercial, a new transportation hub. We're very comfortable with the security arrangements, the protocols that have been worked out with the Port Authority Police Department, various federal agencies, TSA – I think, as you're aware – or Customs and Border Control will be opening some offices in those towers buildings early in September. I'll be attending those dedication ceremonies. A lot of federal agencies are in and about that area. So it is a constant evolving process where we're continually looking at threat assessments as well as making sure that we're not at odds with any other agency that has responsibility there.

Question: Just going back to the sketch. Is there any indication from the utility worker that has provided you information to get that sketch? If this person saw part of the attack, saw some of it, saw it and walked away, didn't know – anything?

Chief Boyce: No, he saw none of the attack. We just question anybody that was there that day. We found this individual. He provided us with this sketch of a person on the pathway. That's all we have. Because it's on top of the park that's the reason we're bearing down on this, as we go through each detail in the investigation.