Remarks as prepared for Police Commissioner James P. O'Neill at the Association for a Better New York (ABNY) Power Breakfast

September 19, 2019

Good morning, everyone. Over the past 3 years that I've been Police Commissioner, one of my main goals has been to make the NYPD even more open and accessible to the public, and to foster even greater collaboration and partnership between the police and all the communities we serve.

In my experience that's the single-most important ingredient in our main mission - which is to fight crime and keep people safe. Just look at where we are in 2019. The transformation over the last few decades is nothing short of miraculous. Being safe - and, just as important: feeling safe - are absolutely vital to the health of our city and to our nation.

The 74th session of the U.N. General Assembly kicked off this week and the first day of the high-level General Debate is on Tuesday - the day President Trump is scheduled to address the gathering. As we do every year, the NYPD will use many thousands of officers to safeguard the entire two-week event and to help maintain a sense of normalcy for New Yorkers. We're hosting heads of state and diplomats from 193 nations - the largest gathering of world leaders all right here. A couple of thousand NYPD vehicles are part of the 200-or-so escort convoys that will drive the rest of you crazy for a couple of weeks. And, of course, personnel and expertise from our many great law-enforcement partners at the federal level will be out there, too - people with whom we work so well in many areas. And while all of this is going on, of course our hardworking cops still have their daily business of 911 and 311 calls to answer - to the tune of about 400,000 calls a month.

I can tell you, no other city on Earth has made more of an investment in keeping the public and its cops safe. The results of all this work are well-documented. By reducing overall crime by more than 78 percent in the past 25 years, by reducing murders by more than 85 percent, we are serving people better using enforcement more intelligently and repairing and strengthening relationships inside and outside the department. Thanks at least in part to greater public safety, record numbers of tourists are flooding our streets, restaurants, parks, and Broadway shows. Construction cranes are everywhere and massive real estate investment has tracked the pathways of public safety from Manhattan to the outer boroughs. And what does this have to do with the NYPD? Well, growth like this happens when people are safe and when they feel safe, too. This is truly an important time for New York City and we're heading in the right direction.

So let's talk this morning about the facts and about how we can continue to improve on our record-setting reductions in crime. Over the past 5 years violent crime here has seen its steepest decline since the mid-1990s. As part of that, NYPD cops have seized about 28,000 illegally-possessed firearms - including many large stashes from interstate gun traffickers. I can tell you that your police continue to do their jobs better than any other police department in the world and they're doing it better than ever, too.

There are some people - and some groups, though - that would have you believe otherwise. And I'll be honest, I really don't understand their end-game - highlighting every incident on social media, trying to sow seeds of doubt in the minds of New Yorkers - trying to convince you that crime is out of control and that your police are afraid to do their jobs. That's insulting - it's insulting to your intelligence. It's insulting to me too but more importantly, it's insulting to all 55,000 members of the New York City Police Department. And it especially denigrates the courageous work of the 36,000 men and women who put on that uniform and who wear that shield every single day - all in service to New Yorkers.

Earlier this week, on Tuesday we had 4 Patrol cops from the 120th Precinct in Staten Island confront a man they knew had a history of violence. He was wanted for committing a domestic assault the day before and the police responded on Tuesday when his victim called 911 to say she just saw him walking around her neighborhood. These brave officers did their job - they moved in to make the arrest and he violently resisted. They Tasered him, to no avail. The man pulled out a gun. The officers grabbed his arms and forced the muzzle of the firearm away from everyone including innocent bystanders. The man was still able to fire his weapon twice, prompting an officer to return fire, killing him. In the exchange of gunfire, a 30-year-old police officer with just 3-and-a-half years on the job was shot through her hand. The suspect was a 39-year-old man with multiple prior arrests, mainly for assault and weapons charges. And he had previous been convicted of another shooting in Staten Island for which he served 5 years in prison. Clearly, he didn't want to go back to jail this week. Our officer, thankfully, is recovering from surgery on her hand and was released from the hospital yesterday. She is a police officer with a family that loves her. She didn't have to do this job - no one made her - didn't have to become a cop. But she wanted to and she made the decision to become a New York City police officer for the same reason most of us do: she wanted to make a difference in the lives of New Yorkers and she's doing exactly that every day. So, it really irks me when anyone questions the motivation or drive or fortitude of the men and women of our police department.

Some claim it was a better time for New York City about a decade ago - a time when "cops were cops," "leaders were leaders," and New Yorkers didn't have to barricade themselves inside their homes, petrified of criminals running rampant. Nothing could be further from the truth as we approach the year 2020. Let's do some comparisons: In 2010, there were 241 more murders than there were last year. In 2010, there were 719 more shootings. In 2010, there were 7,600 more robberies 7,000 more burglaries and nearly 5,000 more auto thefts. But what about 2019? Through last weekend overall crime was down another 3.1 percent, citywide - including a 3 percent drop in homicides and a nearly 12 percent drop in burglaries. As of this morning, however, we're up 35 shooting incidents from last year [580 vs. 545]. Shootings and homicides in New York City are disproportionately fueled by gang and crew violence and there's no denying that we're experiencing a spike there.

But between our patrol cops, our detectives, and our specialized units, we're working tirelessly, every day, to address the hotspots. Around the clock, 24 hours a day I get real-time information about every shooting, every murder, every rape, and every bank robbery in our city. I'm intimately aware of all the ups and downs and all the details of what's affecting our overall crime rate. And I also see the trends beyond a single day, a single weekend, or a single month. Spikes happen from time to time - which make headlines - but I can tell you that even being up in shootings - which is a very serious thing - that does not on its own reverse the very positive trends we're seeing. I remember a time when our city averaged about 6 murders every single day - this year we've averaged less than one homicide a day across the five boroughs - in a city of 8.6 million people.

In all of 1990 New York City saw 2,245 murders. Just think about where we'd be if that figure had gone unbridled for the next 3 decades - in the ballpark of 30,000 more people would have been killed. And the same number of other people - the killers - also would have had their lives ruined. And then there's the families and friends of the people on both sides of the crime, as well. It's fair to say that over the last 30 years tens of thousands of lives have been saved - both as victims and as perpetrators. And it's clear to me that the naysayers who claim that our city has reverted to the bad old days do not care even one little bit about strong police-community relations. But great street cops understand that a strong rapport with all the people we serve is absolutely vital to successful police work. That's why another set of metrics is worth noting. While crime was falling, so too were arrests, police firearms' use and, notably, civilian complaints. Compared to 10 years ago, arrests are down some 41 percent. We went from 47 police gun battles with adversaries in 2009, to 17 last year. Civilian complaints dropped by 38 percent, and force complaints by 55 percent. Combined with the massive crime declines, this illustrates the positive equilibrium that's emerged between assertive enforcement and community connection.

Now let's look beyond the numbers. Our most significant innovation of the past 5 years - Neighborhood Policing - is contributing greatly to our efforts to further reduce crime and disorder. Patrol officers have fostered strong relationships with the people who live and work in their neighborhoods and they're jumpstarting local crime investigations. They're swiftly gathering evidence while their community contacts are delivering a far-higher quality of local criminal intelligence than ever before - which aids our detective work. We're hitting crime from every angle - from patrol to long-term investigations - in a coordinated strategy that has reduced violence to historically low levels - whether the cynics want to accept that truth or not. So how do we keep things going in the right direction? Well, at the beginning of this year we identified 9 precincts where the violent-crime rate was more than double - and sometimes triple - the citywide average. Obviously, we're focusing more of our resources in those areas but we also immediately called for a series of community meetings - called by the NYPD but led by the people who live and work in those neighborhoods - to discuss how our city can work together to make every neighborhood as safe as our safest neighborhood already is.

And, I'll tell you: Some of the most insightful comments at those meetings came from young people. And all they want - all they need - are programs and resources. They want the opportunity to live the best lives they can. They said that could be in the form of afterschool activities but also job training and hands-on learning of a truly practical nature. So I wonder: Why don't we just get them what they need? And when I say "we" I'm talking about all of us - you, me, every company, every city agency, every community-based organization, and every elected official. We cannot allow this challenge to go unanswered - not when so many young lives are at stake. Together, we must figure out a way to get between our youth and the lethal message emanating from local gangs and crews and others who senselessly drive the violence in our city. According to some of our recent stats: There are more than 220 juveniles in New York City who have been arrested for felonies 8 or more times in the last 2 years. So who's waiting in the wings to join them? And why do we - as a society - allow this happen? The NYPD is the preeminent crime-fighting organization in the world. And we can be the preeminent prevention organization in the world, too. And the rest of New York City - in partnership with us - can show the world the way.

At the NYPD, we have a long-standing tradition of focusing on our city's young people. The Police Athletic League, created 105 years ago serves more than 30,000 New York City kids a year through various recreational, educational, cultural, and social activities. And Law Enforcement Exploring is a career-oriented program designed to educate and instill leadership and self-discipline. Each year, about 4,000 young people in New York City are enrolled as Explorers and complete more than 110,000 hours of community service. And our Police Cadet Corps is a form of paid internship with the NYPD that's open to young people enrolled in a 4-year college. About 11 years ago, the City Council proposed eliminating the Cadet Corps in order to save roughly a million dollars a year. Fortunately, that never occurred and thousands of city kids have since learned leadership skills and earned tuition assistance - and many of them went on to become police officers.

In addition, the NYPD and the New York City Police Foundation are working on an innovative approach called "Options." It is virtual-reality, scenario-based training that has already provided more than 3,000 young people with decision-making skills based on emotional intelligence and de-escalation tactics. As we expand this program we hope to connect the youth with life skills, career opportunities and, ultimately, jobs. The Police Foundation has already identified companies that are providing information on existing jobs and the skills needed to land those jobs. And we're establishing learning labs that will help train and guide young people into these career paths. I'd like to thank Crowne Castle, actually for taking a leadership role in this effort and I ask all of you to consider how you can get involved when the Police Foundation reaches out to you, too.

The larger point is: Our mission to help the youth of New York City avoid crime has never been a side project. It's long been understood that this is what the NYPD does - this is what cops do. But we need a greater buy-in from the rest of New York - it's about joining to help our city. When each of you arrived in this room this morning you saw on your seats a large photo depicting the NYPD patch and a statue of a uniformed police officer and a child. This larger-than-life bronze statue stands on a tall pedestal in our Hall of Heroes in the lobby of Police Headquarters. It was created in 1939 by noted Italian sculptor Attilio Piccirilli after Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia advocated for a monument honoring NYPD officers killed in the line of duty. Incidentally, Piccirilli - along with his brothers also carved the marble for the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. The cop used as our model was Patrolman Martin Gillen of the 20th Precinct and the boy was Mayor LaGuardia's 9-year-old adopted son, Eric. Both made trips to Piccirilli's Bronx studio to pose and helped produce what became a metaphor for what the NYPD is doing today, 80 years later: The boy clings to the stoic cop as if seeking comfort. He clutches the officer's arm seeming more vulnerable than scared.

And that's what the sculpture represents. We protect the vulnerable. So to keep decreasing crime we must keep looking to the future. And the future is our city's youth. They are just looking to be valued. And that's throughout the city - in every borough, in every precinct, in every neighborhood. The police are doing their part here - we have 36,000 cops, spread throughout the city. We have the same officers patrolling the same communities, building relationships, every day. Through Neighborhood Policing we have the delivery system. We just need the full and willing support of everyone here and everyone throughout the city. All of this is fully consistent with our overall mission of fighting crime and keeping people safe. But a huge part of fighting crime is preventing it in the first place.

And we can do that, together, by building trust and increasing opportunities for young people. We need to let young adults know that no matter where they grow up - they are valued, that we care about them, and that we want them to have a good future - a good life. And by leading that good life that adds up to the good direction our city continues to go in. It is now our goal to gain through partnership a new level of public support and public action that achieves our common mission of public safety.

The clear message is: We need every member of the public to help New York City - this is a shared responsibility. The police officers who are sworn to protect everyone who lives, works, and visits here do so, every day, courageously, conscientiously and with a continuing sense of urgency. But we don't underestimate the difference even one other person - or one corporation or one small business - can make and neither should you. So we see the task before us and we see an opportunity. And we can capitalize on that opportunity as one, unified city.

Thank you very much.

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