Public Safety

• Expanding resources to combat sex trafficking
  The City expanded its resources to combat sex trafficking in New York City by creating a hotline that will allow victims and those who suspect others of being trafficked to call and report the crime. The NYPD has also dedicated 25 new detectives to focus on investigating sex trafficking. Additional training will be provided for police officers in patrol to help the Department combat human trafficking, and the NYPD is also placing a greater emphasis on pimps and johns to develop long term cases against those who buy and sell people for sex.

• Reading the Stanford rape survivor's letter by members of the NYC Mayor's Office

• Completion of a $3.1 million safety-lighting project at NYCHA's Stapleton Houses on Staten Island, including 358 new lighting fixtures - all part of the Mayor's Action Plan for Neighborhood Safety (MAP). MAP aims to reduce violence and increase neighborhood safety at the 15 NYCHA sites that accounted for 20% of all violence crime in public housing in 2014. The City is making tremendous strides in increasing NYCHA safety, from security cameras to lighting and more.

• Court approves use of electronic signature of victim in domestic violence cases.
  This policy eliminates both the need for the victims to travel around the city to sign documents via pen and will also allow victims to sign the documents they need before their batterers are released from jail and attempt to contact them.

• Releasing pioneering study on how outdoor lighting reduces crime.
  The study on outdoor lighting was the first in the country to rigorously examine the effect of different lighting installation strategies on crime reduction, including sexual violence.



• Installation of safety lighting at Boulevard Houses and Brooklyn's Bushwick Houses.
  The Administration completed installation of 1,000 new lights to improve public safety.



• Establishing a historic partnership with UN Women and becoming the first American city to join the United Nation's Safe Cities Initiative

 

• Signing new amendments to the Human Rights Law, including Intro 832, which protects victims of domestic violence from housing discrimination

 

• Making unprecedented investments in domestic violence response and education through the Mayor's Office to Combat Domestic Violence–57 percent of our FJC clients are foreign-born. Among the many services, the FJCs have dedicated city-funded civil legal immigration attorneys and staff. In 2014, over 4,500 clients were assisted with immigration legal needs

 

• Establishing the City's Commission on Human Rights as the first human rights agency in any major U.S. city to certify U and T visas for immigrant victims of crime and human trafficking, which allow undocumented immigrant victims of crime and human trafficking to remain in the U.S. during an investigation and provides a pathway to legal permanent residence

 

• Investing in domestic violence resources for Department of Homeless Services clients, including: increasing space by 50 percent to serve over 13,000 homeless children and adults per year, adding 700 units and emergency beds, and providing LINC rental assistance

 

• Working to end street harassment and subway "grinding" by adding 150 NYPD officers assigned to transit to respond to street/subway harassment

 

• Signing legislation mandating City facilities provide bathroom access to people consistent with their gender identity.