Transcript: Mayor Adams Mayor Adams, NYPD Commissioner Tisch, DDC Commissioner Foley Open New 116th Precinct Station House In Southeast Queens

December 18, 2024

Lieutenant Jack Conway, Ceremonial Unit, NYPD: Ladies and gentlemen, please be seated. I'd just like to take a moment and introduce the members of our dais. I ask that you please hold your applause until all have been introduced. Standing on my right, the commanding officer of Patrol Borough, Queen South, Assistant Chief Kevin Williams, the chief of detectives, Joseph Kenny, deputy commissioner of Operations, Kaz Daughtry, chief of department, Jeffrey Maddrey, first deputy commissioner, Tania Kinsella, the police commissioner of the City of New York, the Honorable Jessica S. Tisch, the mayor of the City of New York, the honorable Eric Adams, commissioner of Department of Design and Construction, the honorable Thomas Foley, the commanding officer of the 116th Precinct, Captain Sonny Beauvoir, Queensborough President Donovan Richards, State Senator Leroy Comrie, state assemblywoman representing the 29th District, Alicia Hyndman, City Councilmember Selvena Brooks-Powers, and State Senator James Sanders, Jr. Ladies and gentlemen, this is our dais, and we thank them for being here today. And now it's my pleasure to introduce the mayor of the City of New York, the honorable Eric Adams. 

Mayor Eric Adams: Thank you. As I was listening to the National Anthem, I couldn't help but to see you as you were singing. This community here in Queens, the community I grew up in, it's a level of patriotism and love for the city and love for the country is often overlooked. These are hard-working, working-class people, and they believe in public safety. People often get it overlooked, but this is a community that, you don't hear them running through the streets saying disband and defund their police. They want their police to do their job, but they support the law enforcement, and this opening of the precinct is a symbol of how long you have advocated for it to make sure that your children and families are safe.  

And this is such an important moment that both the police commissioner and I are proud to be here with a team of crime fighters that watched crime drop from the start of this administration to now continue to ensure our subways are safe. 70,000 illegal ghost vehicles removed off the streets, 70,000 removed off the streets, 20,000 hand illegal guns removed off the streets, robberies on our subway system is the lowest in recorded history, the month of August shootings in the city was the lowest in recorded history.  

We're not only doing things that are reactive to public safety, but we're proactive to public safety. Everything from dyslexia screening so our children don't sit in jail because they have learning disabilities to summer youth employment, internships for our summer youth, up in Washington Heights the other day opening an indoor baseball field so our summer youth employment, summer young people could have a place to go. The summer rising program, over 100,000 young people participated, Saturday night lights, making sure our school buildings are not closed so our children can go inside and participate, ensuring that this city is a safe place. We know the prerequisite to prosperity is public safety, and you know that better. You're not the choir, you wrote the song, and you know the lyrics so well, and you have shown that for so many years.  

This is a significant moment when we open precincts, but not only just a building or structure but a place where the community can feel safe. To see this audience, it's filled with community residents. Your advocacy brought this about. You asked for it, we heard you, it was delivered, and the topping off ceremony was significant for all of us, and we really want to thank DDC Commissioner Foley, for what he has continued to do to get these operations done and move forward. Job well done once again for what you have accomplished.  

The 116th Precinct Station House is the first new command established by the city since 2013, and the second precinct to ever house a community event space in the NYPD facility. If we want people to believe part of the public safety apparatus, then they need to feel free about coming inside the precincts. So many of us who have grew up, we thought a precinct was a place that only bad people were in, and we were afraid and intimidated. We would walk by and feel as though it was an occupying existence in our community. We want to change that. The police precinct is a safe space for those who want to participate in the public safety in our city.  

$105 million, this station will host a community room and will do so many other things to allow events and places so people can come together. This neighborhood is now getting its own precinct, and that caters to the needs of this community. The new command will reduce NYPD response times to emergencies and other calls for service, increase visibility of police officers throughout Southeast Queens, and deepen the bond between the NYPD and the community, which is so important. It's at the top of the list of Police Commissioner Tisch's agenda. This is how we meet the community where they are, by putting government spending back into the pockets of the people of the City of New York and the things that they believe are important.  

And I want to thank this entire team here, particularly Bess DeBetham, a longtime advocate for the building of a new precinct, and it is those local advocates that stay consistent and constant to educate and compel government to deliver the things that community needs, not dictate to the community, but hear in response. She has been with us every step of the way at meetings and walkthroughs, a true community partner, and you should show her some love by giving her a hand clap.  

This administration, in January 1st, 2022, we started a pathway of saying that this city is not a place where any and everything goes. You may not even acknowledge it, but when we came here, we had encampments on the sides of highways. People were sleeping in the streets, shooting themselves up with drugs on your doorsteps, illegal scooters and dirt bikes moving around the city. There was an atmosphere that ghost cars could go without registration, without insurance, no plates on them. We zeroed down, and under the leadership of Chief Maddrey and the team, focused on the quality of life issues, and that is how we continued to drive down crime over and over again.  

We know that we can have this city be a safe place where we can raise healthy children and families. And we are the safest big city in America. And a new precinct will continue that journey. When we came into office three years ago, the mission was clear. Build a safer, more affordable city for working class people, and this new station house is an example of that.  

Last week was our crime safety week, where we show over and over again what we have done to reduce the issues around crime and the lack of quality of life, from our Every Block Counts initiatives to other initiatives. This precinct will continue to ensure that this community is a safe community, and I say it over and over again, public safety is a prerequisite to prosperity. If we can't go to school safely, if we can't go to our houses of worship, to our place of employment, to visit our family members and loved ones, if you have to stay up at night worrying about your children on the subway station or violence inside the school, then you are not living the life that you should live in this city. We must be safe, and that's why we were able to drive down crime in the city 5.7 percent in November, 1.9 percent in the overall of this year. And last month alone, we saw decreases in murders, robbery, burglaries, and grand larceny, as well as drops in transit crime and car theft. We shut down 1,300 illegal smoke shops that were in our city with the collaboration of the Sheriff's Department and the New York City Police Department.  

We're going to do everything that's possible to continue that our city is a safe city, and the new station house would be part of the deepening bonds, because you not only must be safe based on the stats, you must feel safe in your city. I'm not going to quote stats to you when you don't feel safe. The combination of feeling safe and being safe is what we are moving towards. So congratulations to all. I cannot thank my elected officials who are here. They've been very clear about how imperative it is for us to have a safe Queens and throughout the entire city in general, but specifically for encouraging the opening of this precinct. Job well done. Let's continue to make this city not only the safest big city in America, but the safest city in America. Thank you very much. 

Lieutenant Conway: Thank you, Mayor Adams. It's now my pleasure to introduce the Police Commissioner of the City of New York, the honorable Jessica S. Tisch. 

Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch: Thank you. Good afternoon, and thank you all for joining us on this historic day for the NYPD, and of course for this community. Today is the culmination of years of advocacy by Southeast Queens residents, business owners, and commuters. And it's a fulfillment of a promise this city made to improve service, increase public safety, and enhance everyone's quality of life here. 

From the very beginning of this process, the local community has been working with us to plan, build, and to staff this new precinct. And the people it now serves are at the very center of its purpose and its design. For too long, because of logistics out of their control, these neighborhoods felt disconnected from their police. They didn't feel that their needs and concerns were being addressed, and they didn't believe they had a precinct of their own. Today, all that changes.  

The 116th Station House is a state-of-the-art facility with dedicated space for the community to better connect with their police officers. It's being led by Captain Beauvoir who knows this area very well after serving as both the XO and CO of the 105. But most importantly for the people here, this new precinct will improve service, decrease response times, and further reduce crime. The needs of this community now come first, with more cops, more resources, increased public safety, and a higher quality of life. That's what the residents and businesses here fought for, and that's exactly what you're getting.  

I thank Mayor Adams for his leadership, the Department of Design and Construction for their guidance and their support, everyone at the NYPD's Facilities Management Division for their years of work on this project, and the elected officials and community groups who never stopped advocating for this day to come. Most of all, thank you to the incoming NYPD personnel, both uniformed and civilian, who now call the 116 home. This community is more than ready for you to get to work, so welcome to the neighborhood, welcome to your new house, and stay safe. Thank you. 

Lieutenant Conway: And thank you, Commissioner Tisch. And now, the person I guess responsible for really pushing for this for decades I'm hearing, it's my pleasure to introduce the community leader, Bess Debetham. 

Bess DeBetham, Community Representative: Wow. Thank you so much. Good afternoon. My name is Bess DeBetham, and I am honored to be here with you this evening. For those who know me, I have been active in this community since 1972. I love this community. I am among the first members of the Federated Blocks of Laurelton, and a longtime member of Community Board 13. Through decades, it has been clear to us that our community deserved, I'll put emphasis on that, deserved our own police precinct.  

We are a family-oriented community with deep ties to one another, but for too long, we experienced slow response time and other issues. I am so happy and extremely proud to say that we worked as a team and advocated on behalf of our community. The result is this brand new, beautiful 116th Police Precinct. That's what working together is all about. I thank Mayor Adams for his support and making it happen. I thank all of the elected officials who are here this afternoon, and those who have been a part of this journey, including Congressman Gregory W. Meeks and our own Queensborough President Donovan Richards. I can't wait to see the good that will be done by bringing this new precinct and these resources to southeastern Queens. I am the happiest person in the world. We have our own precinct. Thank you for your time, and thank you for listening. 

Lieutenant Conway: And thank you, Ms. DeBetham. And now it's my pleasure to introduce the State Senator, James Sanders. 

State Senator James Sanders: A long time coming. What you see, these glass and concrete and all these beautiful things, is but part of what we're looking at. What you're really seeing is the people of this community coming together. The people have been advocating this since the days of Edward Koch, Mayor Edward Koch. We have seen many mayors come and many mayors go, but now this mayor has taken us across the finish line. Thank you, Mr. Mayor, to our commissioner, to our borough president, to all the electeds, to the officers, to all of you here.  

This is the result of all those petitions that you wrote. This is the result of you being out there in the cold. Day after day, coming together in your little work groups, advocating, when people laughed and said it would never happen, where we would have to just deal with one police precinct covering half the entire length of Manhattan. The precinct before this one had to cover 13 miles, half the length of Manhattan.  

Under those conditions, I am certainly glad to be here and to see this, because this is your day. This is just a testament of what you can do when you come together, but it's also a testament of what happens when government listens, when government gets it. Now we have this beautiful building. Now we need to have all of the new attitudes that need to go along with the building. 

The new ideas of policing, the new ideas of communities working together, because if you only have a beautiful new building, but you bring old ideas, then you have achieved very little, but with the new ideas and the new precinct and the community working together, we can do amazing things. So I'm glad to be here. I am glad to have been out there in the cold with you, and it was cold out there too. Should have did this in the summer. We could walk in the summer. This is your day. Celebrate it. Let it strengthen you so that you can get ready for the next battle that we have to do for this gorgeous community. Thank you again. Thank you all.  

Lieutenant Conway: And thank you, Senator Sanders. And now it's my pleasure to introduce State Senator Leroy Comrie. 

State Senator Leroy Comrie: Good afternoon, everyone. I'm really pleased to be here. I want to thank the mayor and Commissioner Tisch and Commissioner Foley for making this happen. I'm Leroy Comrie. I'm honored to be State Senator for the 14th District. And as Senator Sanders has said, Bess DeBetham has been working on this since the Ed Koch administration, since Juanita Watkins, since Morty Poppins, since Archie Spigner. And to the community, the Laurelton and Cambria Heights community, the fight that you had every year was on the top of Community Board 13's budget request, capital request every year. See, Brian Block is here from the president of Community Board 13. Stand, Brian, wave. Everybody should know you in the room.  

And I really want to thank our elected officials in the City Council, Councilmember Donovan Richards, who first got the money under our past mayor, who then tried to take the money. We got to mention that. You don't know if you're going to mention that, but he tried to take the money back. And once he found out about that, we all stood up. Councilmembers Adrienne Adams and also Daneek Miller backed him up, and Donovan called all of us, and we got on the phone, said, you can't take that money. That money belongs here at this precinct. 

And I want to really thank the mayor again for making this happen. It was one of the main things he heard about when he was running. He made sure it happened. And Commissioner Foley from DDC, I want to give him– I've been able as an elected official to give him more tools through getting design bills passed on a statewide level, also progressive design bills we got passed. And recently, alternative delivery, which gives the DDC more powers to do projects in a more efficient way, eliminating middlemen, creating savings where we saved over billions of dollars so we could do more projects. And the more projects that we can get done is a better quality of life for the city. But I just really want to end and say thank you to Donovan, thank you to Adrienne Adams, thank you to Daneek Miller for empowering all of us to fight for what this community deserves. Thank you all.  

Lieutenant Conway: And thank you, Senator Comrie. And now it's my pleasure to introduce Assemblymember Alicia Hyndman. Thank you.  

Assemblymember Alicia Hyndman: So almost everything has been said, but not everyone has said it. So I am Assemblymember Alicia Hyndman and in my first term, I remember standing outside the satellite with then Councilman Richards and State Senator James Sanders. I think [the] chief of department was O'Neill then. And it was snowing, and Bess, you were there. We were talking about the new precinct, and that was almost 10 years ago. That's how long I've been in office. So it only took, during my time, 10 years. 

But to all of us here, to this community, when we talk about policing, this shows you that we want police protection, too. This is not about any of the divisive language that's out there. We want to make sure our brothers and sisters come home every night, too. And so this precinct, it's not just a brick and mortar to steal in the glass. It's about the people that will be working in this building. It's about the welcome feeling that they have coming in here. Because I have to tell you this, mayor. A lot of my constituents tell me when they walk into our precincts, they don't feel victimized. They feel safe. They feel welcomed. And you need to hear that from me, that that's how a lot of our constituents feel when they walk into these buildings. So I'm going to pass this on to the next speaker.  

But let's say this to Captain Beauvoir. We support you. You are the first person to be the captain in this building, the CO, right, Kayla? The CO. And so you have our support. You did an excellent job at the 105. Now here at the 116, we are proud and happy to have you. And you have all of these people in the room who are going to support you. I just want to shout out my chief of Queen's South, Mr. Williams over there. He's doing a great job. I just have to say that. Thank you. 

Lieutenant Conway: And thank you, Assemblymember Hyndman. It's now my pleasure to introduce the Queens Borough President, Donovan Richards. 

Queens Borough President Donovan Richards: Wow. I'll just start with the words, promise made, promise kept. Vision is the art of seeing what is invisible to others. And 40 years ago, some visionary leaders came together to fight for this very moment we've arrived at this afternoon. That vision was based on the reality that Southeast Queens deserves the same response during an emergency as someone who resides in Park Slope. 

And let us be clear that the people of Southeast Queens pay some of the highest taxes in this city. And as a Rosedale resident, I can attest to that, which means we deserve the same quality services as any other neighborhood. But today, we turn the page on that deliberate disinvestment that made our communities less safe and the very police officers who protect us as well and serve us as well. Because you can't build trust and achieve true neighborhood policing when you're servicing 400 lane miles. While you can distance date someone in Boston, because that's how far, how much you cover, and if that house is being burglarized, your response time will be challenging in an emergency, Mr. Mayor. And that stands true for the police department. And that is why we have had one of the most egregious response times in our city.  

Furthermore, it is why we couldn't build the necessary trust with the department that we know would only make our communities safer. Because we want to make it home safe, Mr. Mayor, police commissioner. And we want our officers to make it home safely as well. And in May 2020, that debate played out as people marched to protest the murder of George Floyd. Just as I said during those protests, there is no contradiction in asking for safer streets and quality and better policing. And that's why when we negotiated the terms of this precinct, we included a food pantry, a community room, and a beautiful plaza that will truly bridge the gap between the police and our community. And yes, our officers who come to work every day and sacrifice much of their time away from their families deserve quality police stations to work out of, like the 116th precinct station house, period.  

However, we also know that a police precinct is not the magic bullet to making communities safer, because you can't incarcerate your way out of poverty. True public safety is predicated on having stable housing, jobs, education, libraries, and oasis like the new one that we will break ground on next year. And thank you, Mr. Mayor, for adding an additional almost $40 million. We can clap to that.  

As our mayor says, we need to have [inaudible] the new Jim Crow, which is mass incarceration. If this city can spend $500,000 a year to house one individual on Rikers Island per year, then we can surely invest in more human capital to prevent them from landing there in the first place. A wise philosopher once said an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.  

In closing, may the 116th precinct truly be a blueprint for what community policing looks like in the 21st century, especially for communities of color. May our young folks first experience in here, breaking bread with officers and not being in here because they broke the law. I know Inspector Beauvoir, who needs to become Inspector Beauvoir, by the way, police commissioner and mayor. Just putting that out there. And by the way, that community room needs to be named after Bess DeBetham. But I'm just putting those requests in today. We'll just end there today.  

But I want to thank Inspector Beauvoir, I'm talking it into existence, who has done a phenomenal job in leading the 105th precinct, and now will lead the 116th precinct, history first here. I know he will continue to lead with empathy, fairness, and hold those accountable who endanger our communities. I know he believes in this mission and lives by it every day.  

Now let me wrap up by just saying a few thank yous. Lord, Bill de Blasio, I had hair when we started this process. But I do, for those of you who know the back story, you know the back story. Thank you, Senator Comrie, for putting it out there graciously. But thank you, Bill de Blasio. I want to thank Mayor Adams for coming in and finishing up and making sure that shovels were in the ground and that we got it done. To Commissioner Jessica Tisch, she just got here, and look, she's just magically opened a precinct in like one week. To former Police Commissioner Dermot Shea and O'Neill, thank you for your partnership. DDC, Tom Foley. Give it up for them. They worked during the pandemic.  

To all the men and women who worked on this building, you can see it's a labor of love. To Bess DeBetham, thank you. I know you wanted to give up—there were times you lost faith in the process, but you kept on going. And I want to thank you for your strength, for your brilliance, for your partnership, for your love of the community. Thank you. To the Rosedale Civic Association, Federated Blocks of Laurelton, Community Board 13, where we blew out a candle and a cake, and then de Blasio—anyway, but we're back. We're going to get a new cake next time. All right, we got a new cake coming. He got that joke. To my colleagues, thank you, because this is can only be done through true partnership. And I especially want to thank Congressmember Gregory Meeks, who started the 116th Precinct Task Force before I was born, technically, but whatever. But I want to thank him for his partnership when it got hard, because it got hard at one point. He had my back. And most importantly, congratulations to the entire neighborhood. Congratulations. Queens leads, baby. Queens get the money. 

Lieutenant Conway: Thank you, Borough President Richards. And now it's my pleasure to introduce the New York City Councilmember, Selvena Brooks-Powers.  

City Councilmember, Selvena Brooks-Powers: Good afternoon, everyone. It is truly an honor to stand here with you all to mark the opening of the new 116th Precinct Station House right here in Southeast Queens. This is a momentous milestone for our community, and it represents a culmination of years of advocacy, collaboration, and commitment to ensuring that the neighborhoods of Rosedale, Springfield Gardens, Brookville, and Laurelton receive the resources that we deserve.  

For far too long, our community faced challenges with response times and the strain on our local precincts. The establishment of the 116th Precinct is more than just the construction of a building. It is a critical investment in the safety, well-being, and future of our community. The Station House will provide law enforcement with the tools and infrastructure needed to serve our residents effectively and strengthen the bond of trust between the community and the NYPD.  

The Station House also represents more than just public safety. With a dedicated space for community events and programming, it offers an opportunity to strengthen relationships between law enforcement and the neighborhoods they serve. It's a place where collaboration can thrive, fostering trust and mutual understanding. I would like to extend my deepest gratitude to Mayor Adams, Commissioner Tisch, and Commissioner Foley for their leadership and commitment in ensuring the completion of the 116th Precinct. In the words of State Senator James Sanders, success has many fathers and failures often. Is that how it goes? The success of this took so much. So the members of the 116th Precinct Community Council, can you please stand? That are in the room.  

We stand on your shoulders for your tireless effort, for your grit, and for the fight that you have showed us all to do in Southeast Queens. And we thank you for that. I also want to thank Mayor Bill de Blasio, who even though he took the money in the beginning, he definitely restored the money within the first few months I was in office. And I thank him for that and I do want to acknowledge him for his partnership. And as we look ahead, I'm confident that this 116th Precinct will play an essential role in fostering safer neighborhoods and stronger community partnerships for generations to come. And I just want to say to the NYPD leadership, in terms of picking Captain Beauvoir, you picked right. And we thank you for that. He has built trust here and he is around the clock even when he's not on shift. And I thank you for that, for seeing and hearing our community. Thank you. 

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