Today is a good news day. Today we have some
wonderful appointments to announce and also
some extraordinary progress to announce in
terms of safety for our city. Let me start
by thanking some of the folks who helped to
get us to this day in terms of bringing these
extraordinarily talented people into our administration
– obviously, our First Deputy Mayor Tony
Shorris and my Chief of Staff Laura Santucci.
I want to thank them for all of their help
and all of their leadership. We have two special
guests – I see one, Mike Jacobson, an old
friend, now a CUNY –- former commissioner
of probations and corrections – you just
had to do more, didn’t you, Mike? And is
Jeremy here? Jeremy Travis, President of John
Jay College, dear friend.
Thank you so much for being here. Both were
extremely helpful in our process of finding
the best and the brightest to come into the
administration for this extraordinary effort
to make our city safe. You know, the appointments
speak once again to our values. I’ve talked
about creating an administration that is progressive,
that is effective, that is diverse, that represents
people of lots of different backgrounds but
all united by extraordinary capacity. And
everyone standing with me today is deeply
committed to making this a safe and livable
city for the long run. And we know that real
consistent lasting public safety involves
vigorous law enforcement, aggressive law enforcement,
but also respectful law enforcement. We believe
in law enforcement that’s both tough and
fair.
Under Commissioner Bratton’s leadership,
the NYPD has shown that it is able to keep
reducing crime while dialing back the tensions
that have too-long marred the relationship
between police and community. And during the
first 10 weeks of 2014, the NYPD has driven
down already historically low levels of crime.
Overall, major crime has gone down 2 percent
in the first 10 weeks of 2014 compared to
where the levels stood a year ago. That’s
overall – that’s all major crime categories
– a 2 percent decline. But let’s talk
about homicides. Homicides are down nearly
21 percent from this time a year ago. Shooting
incidents down more than 14 percent from this
time a year ago. This is extraordinary progress.
It is not surprising to me, given that we
have the finest police force in the world,
that this progress is made. It’s not surprising
to me, given that we have the finest police
leader in the world, that this progress has
been made. Some nay-sayers suggested that
you couldn’t bring down crime while bringing
police and community back together. I think
these last 10 weeks show – yes, you can
and yes, we will. And I just want to thank
Commissioner Bratton and all the men and women
of the NYPD for their extraordinary efforts.
This is real evidence of what they can achieve
and will continue to achieve. And with that,
I’d love Commissioner Bratton to share his
thoughts.
Commissioner Bill Bratton, Police: Thank you,
Mr. Mayor. Pleasure to be here today with
the mayor and the new appointees that really
flesh out the criminal justice team that I’ll
have the privilege of working with and collaborating
with. And I think that theme of collaboration
is certainly one I hope that you have seen
these last two months as, within the department
and all the entities we seek to deal with,
the idea is to work with them. And I am looking
forward to working with the new appointees
that are being announced here today. The mayor
talked about the successes of the last couple
of months, that we are working with very low
crime numbers – doesn’t take too much
to go up or down a few percentage points.
But the reality is that the department has
had some significant success over these last
couple of months. The number of homicides
as of midnight last night – that we’ve
had 13 fewer homicides so far this year – we’ve
had 46 versus 59 at the same point in time
last year. And shootings are also down as
the mayor has indicated. We’ve had 141 versus
166 – that’s shootings with victims. In
fact, on March 5th, we had a 24-hour period
in this city of 8.5 million people, that has
3 million visitors on an average day – on
that day, there were no murders, there were
no shooting victims, there were no stabbing
victims, there were no slashing victims. We
can’t find a day like that in the history
of the department since we’ve been keeping
records. And, in February, that we also had
the benefit of a 10-day period of time in
which there were no murders in the city. We
also can’t find a period of time that went
that long without a murder in the city, again,
of 8.5 million people. So we’re working
very hard, and I think the collaboration that
the mayor has talked about, both within the
department, as we continue our reorganization
of the department, but in trying to also improve
our relationships with the communities we
police, and the organizations that we collaborate
with, that there’s some early on indicators
of success that we will work very hard to
continue expanding on. Thank you.
Thank you so much. I just want to just amplify
– 10 days straight in New York City in which
there was not a single murder is an extraordinary
achievement for the NYPD. I feel, as someone
who cares so deeply for the neighborhoods
of this city, that March 5th is a day I hope
we will celebrate for a long time. March 5th,
as the commissioner said, not a single murder,
not a single shooting, not a single stabbing
- that is a portent of what could be possible
in this city, of how far we can continue to
go. To think that all of these efforts over
all these years have led to the fact that
we could have a day where no act of that kind
of violence happened. That’s so encouraging.
And, again, kudos to you, Commissioner. I
think the spirit of collaboration that has
been the hallmark of your career is part of
why we’re seeing this great success already.
And obviously to all the men and women of
the NYPD.
That philosophy of collaboration, as Commissioner
Bratton indicated, it also clearly describes
the relationship between police and community.
And that’s what we’re so focused on. And
that will be true in all of the areas of law
enforcement – working evermore closely with
communities building yup that communication,
that partnership. And it’s something we
know will work, has been working at the NYPD
already, will work in all of the criminal
justice agencies. Today, we’re appointing
four outstanding justice professionals to
key positions in this city. And we know that
they are going to make sure – they will
make sure – the laws of this city are enforced,
and they’re enforced effectively, and they’re
enforced fairly. And they’ll use city resources
in a very efficient manner because if you
look at the careers of each of these individuals,
they understand the bottom line. They know
how to get a lot done with the resources they
have. They’ll focus on keeping first time
offenders from becoming career criminals.
And that, of course, in particular, focuses
us on the work of the Department of Corrections.
Now, the Department of Corrections in this
city is larger in both budget and in head-count
than similar departments in most states. And
yet, over the years, it has sadly lagged behind
many corrections systems in terms of updating
some of its practices and procedures. And
that’s why I am thrilled that we are bringing
on board an outstanding new corrections commissioner,
one who has tremendous experience in turning
corrections systems around and making them
better. Now, we know that is a tough job by
definition – the work of corrections is
tough, any cultural or institutional turnaround
is tough. Well, it takes a tough man and I
think that this veteran of the US Marines
is exactly the kind of man that we need for
the job. Joseph Ponte has garnered a national
reputation for the reforms he has instituted
as commissioner for the Maine Department of
Corrections. And under his watch, solitary
confinement rates were reduced by two thirds.
And during more than 40 years of work as a
corrections leader, he’s been the warden
of jails and prisons in half a dozen states
including in New Jersey, Massachusetts, Florida.
And he brings with him to our department of
corrections and unparalleled energy in favor
of reform and efficiency. His career is filled
with achievements and he knows – because
he started out as a corrections officer himself
– he knows that we have to institute these
reforms while always focusing on keeping our
officers safe. He knows how to make jails
safer for officers and inmates alike. He knows
we have to reduce inmate violence and he has
achieved that progress in other systems. He
knows that we have to reduce the use of force
by officers in every possible way. He knows
that we have to reform the treatment of mentally
ill prisoners. And we have to facilitate inmate
reentry into society. He has a tremendous
reputation for being a diligent manager and
someone who focuses on cost-effectiveness.
And let me tell you, with our fiscal situation,
Commissioner, I’m really glad about that.
We’re confident that he will improve our
jail system and our city’s public safety,
and all along work in that kind of spirit
of collaboration that Commissioner Bratton
talks about. I know that Commissioner Ponte
will win the respect of the incredibly hard-working
men and women of the corrections department.
I want to say they don’t get the credit
they deserve for the hard work they do. We
believe in what they do. We respect and appreciate
what they do. We want to keep them safe. We
want to keep reforming our system and we know
we can do those things together. I’d like
to welcome Commissioner Joseph Ponte.
[Applause]
Good afternoon everyone, and Mayor, thank
you very much for the respect you’ve given
me and the responsibility I’ll share with
my counterparts who are being appointed today.
What you’re seeing in corrections across
the country – not just here in New York
but in Maine, in Mississippi, in Colorado
– is really a debate on how we do business.
For those who came into corrections years
ago the kinds of strategies – the use of
isolation, segregation, solitary confinement
– are what we taught people. That’s how
I was taught to do corrections when I came
to work. You know, the leadership across the
country is really been moving in a direction
that we’ve proven ourselves wrong. There’s
enough data and research out there to say
some of our practices really conflict with
our mission. So if we’re truly trying to
make people better, long term segregation
is not the answer. But we still need to keep
our places safe, we still need to keep our
staff safe, and we need to treat the offenders
so they’re better on the way out than when
they came in. I do have a history of moving
around the country and working in troubled
facilities and one of the things I learned
through changing jobs – when I went to Shelby
County, Tennessee, a fairly large jail system
there – they had a plan. The plan was written
out on all the things that they were going
to do to fix the jail. They were going to
get rid of most of the staff, they were going
to hire all new staff at a tremendous cost
to the county. At the end of the day, what
we ended up doing was laying off all the new
staff and really collaborating with the staff
that were already there to put a plan together
that works. Here in New York, we will do that.
We will talk to everybody and bring everybody
to the table to make a plan that works for
New York – not just from where – from
a central office point of view, but for the
officer that works that line every day, that’s
important to him and his safety. I think that
if there’s anything I bring after 40 plus
years is I understand I do not know it all
and the people out there working these posts
everyday know much more than me. And I’ll
be seeking their guidance – and the union’s
guidance – as we move New York forward.
So, again, Mayor, thank you for the opportunity.
I look forward to the challenge.
Thank you very, very much. Welcome aboard.
And I just want to say, the work of corrections
is really tough, as I mentioned. And I want
to thank the man who’s been our acting commissioner
over these last months, Mark Cranston, who’s
done an excellent job of keeping the corrections
department working well. He’s a great leader,
and I’m thrilled to say he’ll be continuing
with us as first deputy commissioner. Mark,
thank you for all you’ve done, and look
forward to working with you as we go forward.
Let’s thank Mark for all that he’s done.
Now, let’s move to probation. And I have
to tell you, this is a particularly moving
moment for me because I’m – I’m sorry,
I’m turning to camera left – I’m turning
to camera right – because we’re appointing
Ana Bermúdez as our commissioner for the
Department of Probation. And she is someone
I have admired for a long time and have gotten
to know personally and have just tremendous
respect for the work she does.
The mission of the probations department is
not well known, I have to be honest. And the
work it does is so important, because the
idea is to prevent recidivism. It’s such
a foundational mission – stop more crime
from happening by taking folks who have gone
down the wrong path and not turn back to crime.
And folks who work in probation don’t get
the credit they deserve, they don’t get
the attention they deserve, but it’s such
an important part of the puzzle.
Ana Bermúdez has an extraordinary record
of achievement in this difficult and demanding
field. Since 2010, she’s been the deputy
commissioner for our city’s Department of
Probation, the deputy commissioner for juvenile
operations. And during her tenure, the annual
rate of re-incarceration among juvenile justice
probation clients has dropped by 25 percent,
which is really extraordinary. Before joining
the Probation Department, she directed juvenile
justice programs at the Children’s Aid Society.
She began her legal career as a staff attorney
at the Legal Aid Society. She is a proud native
of Puerto Rico who couldn’t get into a good
college or law school, so she went to Brown
University and Yale University Law School
– something she still feels bad about that
she couldn’t get into someplace better.
She is a longtime resident of Brooklyn, and
Ana and I served together on the District
15 school board in Brooklyn. And I got to
see up close both her incredible compassion
for students and parents, and her incredible
work ethic and devotion. She – you know,
school boards are places where you find out
who people really are. And there’s plenty
of – plenty of challenges, but through it
all, Ana was one of the people who won respect
from everyone involved. And in terms of challenges,
there are few things more difficult than something
that Ana and I actually did around the same
time and sometimes did together, which is
coaching little league. You know, I don’t
know any more unruly group than a little league
players. I had a tough time trying to get
them to pay attention to the drills that I
was trying to work on them with. But Ana was
substantially more effective, I want to say.
But I – I think of your many qualifications,
Ana, that has to be high on the list as well.
I’d like to welcome Ana Bermúdez as our
new commissioner of probations.
Do you want this step? Yeah, let’s do the
step. I think the step might be –
I’m breaking the step in today. Okay. So
I’m very honored to be here today, and I
feel very fortunate to be taking over a department
of probation that is strong and able to move
this administration’s vision forward. And
I owe this honor in great part to Vinny Schiraldi,
who’s here and he’s our outgoing commissioner.
I learned so much from you, Vinny, and will
carry on whatever we started so that outcomes
are better for the people who are involved
in the justice system. It’s also a bit of
a coming back home with Bill de Blasio and
others in this administration, so it feels
particularly good and positive and all those
good things.
Now, our department is committed to having
our clients thrive, not just survive. The
justice system right now is more known for
creating barriers rather than opportunities
for success – and in particular, for young
men of color. But we have started changing
that by investing in our teenage and young
adult clients and by developing a wide array
of community-based alternatives, through which
our clients can develop the skills and competencies
they’ll need to exit the system permanently.
That is the goal here. In this way, we’ll
continue to contribute to Mayor de Blasio’s
quest to reduce the burdensome impact the
justice system can have on our citizens. Moving
forward, we need to work in partnership, as
has been said, with other city and state agencies
to form a network of support and resources
so that fewer and fewer of our youth are entangled
in the juvenile and criminal justice system.
As I told the mayor last week, I’d love
to be out of a job for the right reasons.
A la ciudadanía latina, les quiero asegurar
que voy a continuar el trabajo que ya hemos
comenzado en el departamento de probatoria.
Para ayudar a las personas envueltas en el
sistema de justicia a superar ese experiencia,
y a obtener las oportunidades y destrezas
necesarias para poder tener un futuro exitoso.
Last but never least, I would like to thank
my family – my wife Jackie, who is my soul
mate and my anchor, my children Max and Jessie,
and my parents, who are in Puerto Rico. Without
you, my life would not be complete and I would
definitely not be standing here. Thank you
for this great opportunity, and I look forward
to serving the great people of New York City
and working with all of you. [inaudible] Thank
you.
Muchas gracias. You like that, Rafael, huh?
Now, bringing all the strands together. You’ve
heard the challenges of some of the particular
pieces of our criminal justice system. It’s
a particular challenge to make all of those
pieces come together in a common strategy,
to build that collaboration that Commissioner
Bratton so consistently talks about. We want
that to be the hallmark of this administration
– extraordinary leaders of effective agencies
all working together for common goals. And
the next appointee is tasked with nothing
less than achieving that synergy across all
of our law enforcement efforts including with
agencies that are not part of this administration
that are other parts of government that we
want to work evermore closely with. And she
has just an outstanding reputation and I could
say, Liz, I just have to say, having reviewed
your resume, I think at this point we can
effectively say you’ve done it all. So,
this is the last thing left, okay? You’ve
done it all. Liz Glazer has had an outstanding
career and well known as a tough federal and
state prosecutor. She’s known as a criminal
justice innovator and reformer, from the work
she did both in Albany and here in our city.
And I’m so pleased that Liz Glazer will
be serving as the Director for the Mayor’s
Office of Criminal Justice. She will be a
senior advisor on criminal justice policy
to both me and the First Deputy Mayor Tony
Shorris. And she will also coordinate our
criminal justice policy efforts across all
city agencies. She’ll be our primary representative
as well to our city’s five district attorneys,
to the court system, and to the state’s
criminal justice agencies.
Liz joins us after distinguished service to
the state of New York as Governor Cuomo’s
Deputy Secretary for Public Safety. In that
role she managed and oversaw eight state agencies.
She helped to implement one of the – really,
I think – one of the exceptional reforms
we’ve had in recent years – the Close
to Home Initiative. Close to Home has given
New York City local supervision of low-level
juvenile offenders. She’s helped to end
the practice of sending our young people to
remote, often dysfunctional, and definitely
very expensive detention facilities upstate.
And, while working for Governor Cuomo, she
co-chaired the Governor’s Work for Success
initiative, which promoted job-readiness and
post-incarceration employment services for
state prison inmates. She helped to engineer
the consolidation of the state’s corrections
and parole services. And if I were to keep
going through Liz Glazer’s resume, it would
take all afternoon. So Liz, I’m going to
have to summarize. Couple other quick highlights
– she held a number of senior leadership
positions at the US Attorney’s Office for
the southern district. She’s been the first
Deputy Commissioner for the City’s Department
of Investigations. Worked for the city’s
Department of Juvenile Justice as well. Also,
sadly Liz, I’m going to have to tell the
hard truth here – she could not get into
a good school. It plagued her. She had to
go to Harvard University and Columbia Law
School. And she’s still very regretful.
And then she wanted to clerk for a judge and
no one would take her except Ruth Bader Ginsberg
who, at the time, was the judge on the US
Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.
So, I think we can safely say that Liz has
extraordinary experience, extraordinary range,
and I’m so glad that she’ll be the Director
of our Office of Criminal Justice. Liz, welcome
to the great frontier. If you’ve done it
all now, this going to be the next great step.
Welcome aboard. The next great frontier.
Well, thank you so much, Mr. Mayor, first
for the opportunity to be able to serve this
city and to be able to serve it with such
an incredibly talented team that you’ve
assembled here. I am particularly excited
to be in this position because I think we
have this really historical opportunity in
New York City in criminal justice. We’re
at a point where public opinion has caught
up with the science and we know that we can
get more safety and less incarceration. We
know that we can get more public safety with
fewer boots on the ground, because crime control
is really about changing behavior. And we
know a lot now about how to change behavior
for the better. Offenders stop returning to
prison when they’re matched to the right
jobs or training. My friend Mindy Tarlow who
co-chaired Work for Success with me knows
that well.
Doesn’t she work here?
Oh, I think she does, Mr. Mayor.
That would be Director of Operations Mindy
Tarlow.
Very high class. The mentally ill and kids
who act up in schools atom churning through
the criminal justice system when professionals
can break the behavioral cycle – something
that Ana talked a little bit about. Thieves
stop taking smart phones if kill-switches
make them useless, something that Commissioner
Bratton, I know, has been a strong champion
of. But to achieve all of these changes by
changing behavior we really need to do two
things. The first is to be absolutely intentional
about applying solutions that work to the
problems that we face. And the second is to
make sure that this whole ecosystem of people
that are involved in the solutions operate
seamlessly, because it’s not just the police,
it’s Apple and cell phone carriers. It’s
not just the DA’s, defense lawyers, and
judges, it’s employers and non-profits.
It’s not just the criminal justice system,
it’s health housing and education systems
that will help reduce crime. And that’s
why I feel so incredibly privileged to accept
your invitation to lead the Mayor’s Office
of Criminal Justice, because our commission
is to work with our partners to find those
solutions and to bring all these moving parts
together, as the mayor said, so we can reach
our common goals of justice and safety. And
so, I just wanted to make one last note because
no criminal justice gathering would be complete
without a shout-out to New York exceptionalism,
which is well-deserved.
That’s true.
Isn’t that true? But New York City has made
and will continue to make, as Commissioner
Bratton noted just in the past, the record
of the last two months, will make history
in reducing crime even further. When Bill
Bratton was here on his first tour of duty,
he and the late Jack Maple did something really
amazing. They discovered this incredible thing
that we now take for granted which is that
crime isn’t inevitable. Crime can be controlled.
And they did control it. And it didn’t go
someplace else. It simply disappeared. There
is some crimes that are now virtually extinct,
like car thefts, which went down 93 percent.
And others dropped to these incredibly low
levels – murders down 83 percent. And I
think that this effort ignited a kind of virtuous
cycle of fewer and fewer crimes that transformed
this city. But I think we’re also on the
brink of a second transformation. And that
is that you can drive crime even lower by
seizing an opportunity, not just at arrest,
but well before and well after arrest. And
I am very much looking forward to being part
of that work that will bring this city to
the next level and that will bend the arc
of history towards justice.
Last but not least, I want to talk about Vinny
Schiraldi, and I have to tell you, I had mentioned
to Vinny earlier, his fan club is large. I
keep hearing nice things about you, man, that
must mean you're doing something right, brother.
So, I want to thank Vinny for all he has done.
He has done really transformative work, Ana
referenced it, that he's done as our City
Commissioner of Probation over the last four
years. He's overseen some extraordinary innovations
and reforms in that agency. He's nationally
renowned for being an outside-of-the-box thinker,
and for reducing recidivism and increasing
community engagement, and applying creative
solutions. Now, that includes the creation
of 14 "neons" – and these are neighborhood-based
probation offices, bringing the services closer
to the community. He played a key role in
the Close to Home initiative. And I thought,
having judged these extraordinary efforts,
that it was important for Vinny to be able
to continue a lot of his great work.
Now he'll be continuing on, and joining the
administration, working closely with Liz Glazer
as her senior advisor for the Mayor's Office
for Criminal Justice. Vinny's going to focus
on two top priorities in particular. First,
I'm asking Vinny to collaborate with both
the Department of Education and the NYPD,
among other agencies, to create more effective
school discipline policies. Let me say, as
a public school parent – I think I've noted
to many of you, I've been a public school
parent for 14 years – nothing is more important
than the safety of our children. Nothing else
is possible unless our kids are safe. But
at the same time, our discipline structures
have created some problems that we have to
address, and here's an astounding statistic
that makes the point: New York City public
schools suspended more than 53,000 students
last year. And, amongst those children, African-American
children were four times more likely to be
suspended than white students. Look, that's
not an acceptable state of affairs, and we
have to do something about it. I know Vinny
is someone who can help to make a big impact
and help to improve the situation. We can
have safe schools and fewer arrests and suspensions.
I also know Vinny is the right person to lead
a second effort. He'll work with Liz to make
New York City a leader in comprehensively
addressing the unique needs of young adults
who are caught up in the justice system. I've
got another pretty astounding fact for you
– almost half of all arrests for violent
offenses in New York City are of people in
the 16-24 year-old age range. Once arrested,
these young people are three times as likely
to be rearrested for violent felonies as older
defendants are. So in the interest of public
safety, we cannot ignore that crucial eight-year
stretch in the lives of our citizens. We have
to get ahead of this. We have to address it.
And with his histories, both an advocate for
justice-involved youth, and as someone who's
been an effective administrator of a juvenile
justice system, in this case, in Washington
DC, Vinny is uniquely qualified to take on
that challenge as well. So, we're thrilled
that Vinny will be continuing in city government.
I'd like to welcome him to say a few words
and congratulate him.
I want to thank Mayor de Blasio and his team,
particular First Deputy Anthony Shorris, and
Director Liz Glazer. I'm just really, sort
of, in some ways overwhelmed and honored to
be on a panel with the terrific folks that
are being announced today. It's going to be
a blast. I grew up in Greenpoint. I now live
in Williamsburg. On a really good day, if
the wind was right, and my arm was better,
and gravity wasn't what it is, I could probably
hit my house with a baseball from my roof.
And so it's really terrific to be back in
New York City, and to be part of your team
moving forward, Mr. Mayor. It's a great honor.
I've had a lot of respect for you from afar,
and I look forward to working closer with
you now.
As Mayor de Blasio said, you know, one of
the things that I got to sort of grasp, as
probation commissioner here – because I
had run a juvenile justice system before this
– is how different our juvenile and adult
systems are. Because probation has both juveniles
and adults on our case load: 24,000 adults,
2,000 juveniles. And the juvenile court system
is not a perfect system, but they are really
trying hard to rehabilitate young people,
to have programs for them, to have an environment
that's developmentally-appropriate for them
when they come to court. And then when people
turn 16 in New York, they just drop off a
cliff. The programs aren't readily available
for them. That doesn't mean some people are
working hard to do programs, but systemically,
we really do not reach out to try to help
turn these young people's lives around, anywhere
near the way we ought to. And there is an
increasing – both brain science and neurobiology,
and developmental psychology, that shows that
young people don't fully mature until their
mid-20s. Far later than what we used to think.
And so, I really look forward to this opportunity,
Mr. Mayor, to sort of wrap my arms with Director
Glazer, around this issue, and really try
to make New York City the first place in the
country that truly addresses the needs for
16 to 24 year-olds. And then, as the mayor
pointed out, the rates of suspension are far
too high in our schools. The racial disparities
are terrible, and, every suspension makes
the next suspension more likely, every suspension
makes a dropout more likely, every suspension
makes attachment to the juvenile justice system
more likely. We can do better in both these
areas. It's not a dichotomy. We can have both
– more decent treatment for young people
and better public safety and better school
safety, and that's the job that they've asked
me to help do. And I intend to do it. And
my lovely wife Grace is here, who would do
bad things to me if I didn’t acknowledge
how fantastic she has absolutely been. And
deeply in a way where the people on Probation,
they know my wife, when I ran that juvenile
justice system, she used to have the kids
do plays that she and my daughter helped arrange.
Really a deep involvement, not just support
at home, but support right on the job in a
very personal and meaningful way. So thank
you, Grace. I love you.
[Applause]
So you see before you a dream team. There
could not be a more experienced group of leaders
to ensure that this city will be safe. There
could not be a more progressive group of leaders,
reforming our efforts, ever improving them.
This is an extraordinary group and the people
of New York City are going to be very, very
well served. So let’s take questions about
this announcement, and then we’ll go to
off-topic questions. This announcement first,
on this announcement.
[Reporter] Thank you, I’m wondering if Commissioner
Bratton can say little more on the crime statistics.
How significant are they today and what do
you attribute to the reduction?
Well first off, the good news is they’re
continuing to go in the right direction, which
is down. And we’re working against historically
low crime numbers, as you know. We’re now
into our 24th year of continuous crime decline.
So we really don’t know where the bottom
is and the bottom is zero. We’ll continue
trying to go in that direction. At the same
time it doesn’t take too many incidents
to give us a spike but the good news is, as
has been referenced, one of the things that
we began to do back in 1994 was embrace the
concept that crime can be controlled, it can
be reduced. And it can done in a way that’s
reflected in the group that stands in front
of you. Not only the idea of reducing crime
but trying to find ways to prevent it from
reoccurring. And since crime is caused by
individuals, it’s influenced certainly by
a lot of elements, but it’s primarily about
individuals who are committing crime, and
so much of what this group represents is the
idea, how do we work with people to keep them
out of a life of crime in the first place
but once they start going down that path how
do we basically divert them much more quickly
than we have been in the past. So, it was
music to my ears hearing all four of them
talk about this - the mayor talked about their
experiences - but how think they of how to
deal with crime. I think with this group you’re
going to see not only the ability of a - when
you ask well why is crime down, principally
because we have a great police department
with a lot of cops who are working very hard
to do that, but they’re also working within
a system that the Mayor is intending to reinforce--that
we are working collectively and collaboratively
and I think you’re going to see a lot of
good things, a lot of great ideas, a lot of
great programs coming in the months and years
ahead.
One other point I’d like to make is - I’ve
literally read Commissioner Bratton’s book
on collaboration and I think you hear in everyone’s
world view that sense of partnership. This
is not a turf kind of crowd. This is a crowd
that believes in partnership and collaboration.
And that’s going to unlock a lot of energies
and capacity to keep driving down crime and
keep deepening our connection to the community.
The commissioner has done a fantastic job
already of reaching out to other elements
of the law enforcement community including
our federal agencies. And giving them a clear
understanding of the kind of partnership that
we need to have. I know Liz Glazer’s going
to do an extraordinary job and really has
the respect of people throughout the criminal
justice system, at the local level, the state,
the federal government. This is going to really
deepen our efforts and I’m excited to see
what we’re going to be able to achieve.
On topic. On topic. Yes.
[Reporter] Commissioner Ponte can you say
what your top priorities are for when you
come in to head city jails?
I think it’d be to truly identify the issues.
I mean, you read in the newspaper some of
the issues but those aren’t really the causes.
I think we need to boil these issues down
to a reality and what are causing the behaviors
that we need to go after and correct. And
as some have already said, it starts in the
community. What can we do in the community
to avoid these things? You know, the pipeline
from schools to juvenile corrections - in
Maine, they’ve done a great job. Prior to
me - I’m not taking credit for it - but
they divert 96, 97 percent of their kids never
come to the juvenile system. But looking at
what’s causing the behaviors - the schools,
the expulsions, low tolerance policies, and
putting kids out where their only good tie
to the community was the school and that was
a pipeline that’s been identified nationally.
But I think as we look at adult corrections
here in New York, we want to boil it down
to what are the causes - what are the causes
of the violence, what’s going on these facilities
- so we can write a plan. I’d be - I wouldn’t
attempt to give you an answer on how to address
that. I would ask that the unions and the
fine staff be at the table when we make a
plan.
Thank you. On topic. Yes.
[Reporter] The focus on reaching out to younger
people - 16 to 24 - I was wondering if you
could address how your administration will
look to tackle the prescription drug epidemic
that’s winding a lot of these younger people
in contact with the criminal justice system
whether it’s through prescription drugs
or moving on to heroin [inaudible]?
Well, let me offer just a broad point about
our view of how we give kids hope and how
we give them opportunity and then I’d welcome
Commissioner Bratton or any other of our leaders
here to jump in. I don’t think you can - I’m
not a criminal justice expert, everyone around
me is, but I’m going to speak from common
sense - I don’t think you can minimize an
issue like drugs down to one factor only but
I think we can certainly say that a kid who’s
getting a good education, a kid who has hope,
a kid who has positive alternatives in their
life, that we have a better chance of keeping
that kid away from drugs. And, you know, I’ve
talked about reaching our children earlier
with pre-K. I’ve talked about that effect
that after-school programs can have in giving
kids positive alternatives. Helping them do
better in school, which is very important,
of course, for their self-esteem and their
sense of possibility and hope. Giving them
recreation options, cultural options - a lot
of things that I think help kids to keep their
lives on the right track. By the way, keeping
kids - afterschool is so powerful because
it keeps kids away from bad influences too,
from gangs and crews and so many other bad
influences. We also want to move in the direction
of community schools. This is something I’ve
pledged to create: a hundred community schools
in the first term. It’s a model started
by the Children’s Aid Society here in the
city. It spread around the country. Cincinnati
is now the great exemplar – every one of
their schools is a community school, meaning
there’s physical health options available
in the school, mental health services available
in the school, an open invitation for parents
to come into the school and participate in
a lot of ways. I think there’s a lot of
research that shows if you address both physical
and mental health issues earlier you also
have a better chance of helping to keep a
young child on the right path and helping
to keep them away from drugs. So that’s
my layman’s explanation. Let’s see if
some of the experts would like to jump in.
On the issue of drugs, your basic question
that – let’s face it, drugs are really
at the heart of so much of what we’re all
dealing with, in the sense of drug addition,
behavior that’s shaped by addiction, sale
of drugs, purchase of drugs, abuse of drugs.
And the collaboration that will be necessary
to deal with that use, which is ongoing – it
spiked back in the ‘80s, we had crack. Now
we have different types of drugs that folks
are on. That involves not only this group
but it goes into the hospitals and into the
schools. And we learn from our past. And in
this city, in the 1980’s, we at that time
celebrated the Rockefeller drug laws that
twenty years later, we came to understand
that we really went down the wrong road. And
incarceration was appropriate for some but
not for the thousands who ended up in jails
unnecessarily. Money would have been better
spent on treatment. So I think the foundation
we’re working from this time is that we
start from the base of learning from the mistakes
of the past, and understand that is it all
about controlling behavior. And that controlling
behavior is not just about putting them in
jail, but many other options that are now
open to us.
Rafael?
[Reporter] Commissioner, what is your stance
on decriminalizing marijuana and using it
for medical purposes?
We’re drifting a little off subject. But
very quickly, I’ve always been very supportive
of the use of marijuana for medical purposes.
I’m not supportive of legalizing it for
other than that purpose. I’m very supportive
of some of the efforts that are being made
in this state to approach the reality of how
drugs are used here and the idea of not trying
to criminalize everybody who does use it.
But I think it would be a terrible mistake
to legalize it for everybody. I think those
states that have done that are going to have
significant problems going forward. But for
medical purposes, I’m a long champion of
that, going back to when it was not a popular
position to take.
On this topic, yes?
[Reporter] For the Mayor and for Commissioner
Ponte, you talk about it when you named him
– the size of the corrections departments
between Maine and the City of New York are
vastly different. I’m curious to know how
Commissioner Ponte, you’re going to start
wrapping your arms around all the issues across
the five boroughs? And to you, Mayor de Blasio,
why was it important to look to someone outside
of the City of New York for that position?
Because Commissioner Ponte has an extraordinary
reputation and a body of achievement in terms
of reform and in terms of effective leadership.
You know, I appreciate people who have come
up through the grassroots and understand the
whole perspective of any agency that they
run. There’s a lot of things you think about
when you make an appointment, but this is
one of the things I value. I deeply appreciate
that Bill Bratton started out as a beat cop.
I deeply appreciate that Carmen Fariña started
out as a teacher at PS 29. I think Joe Ponte,
having started out as a corrections officer,
worked his way up to warden, and then became
the head of major systems around the country,
including state level systems. I think he
has that experience, of course, he has that
grassroots understanding but he also knows
what’s happening all over the country. He
understands reforms that are working, he understands
how to innovate. He is well known as a guy
who stretches every dollar and makes things
happen. That’s a pretty rare combination.
I thought it was important to – given the
challenges that Corrections faces – to get
someone who had that kind of experience. Commissioner?
I would only say corrections is corrections.
I’ve been in the business all over the country,
working in prisons and jails. I really don’t
find the difference in the – you know, it’s
almost like when you work with line staff
in New York City or Maine or Shelby County,
Tennessee, Nevada – you know, people who
work in corrections are kind of alike. It’s
kind of like you can always pick personalities
that I’ve worked with in other places. You
know, the system is designed because it’s
a big system. So in Maine, I take all emergency
calls personally. I won’t do that in New
York City –
[Laughter]
Commissioner Ponte: Because I’m sure we
have a system to do that. So the system’s
already there, so identifying the issues and
how to resolve them within the system that
currently exists would be my priority.
[Reporter] Let me ask Commissioner Bratton
if there’s any update on finding the murderers
of Max Stark. It has been a long time, and
[inaudible] the NYPD [inaudible]
This is the man that was tragically killed
in Nassau County, yes? Same case?
That investigation is still very active. I
was briefed this morning on that case, it
is still very actively under investigation
and we fully expect that it will be successfully
concluded.
[Reporter] Question for Commissioner Ponte
and perhaps Commissioner Bratton. One of your
predecessors in the Bloomberg administration,
one of the higher Corrections Commissioners,
was at odds with Commissioner Kelly with the
subject of what you call ‘frequent flyers’,
which were people who’d come in and out
of Riker’s again and again, for short periods
of time for low level offenses. And it didn’t
really seem like being in jail made any difference
in their recidivism. He thought there needed
to be something else done. The Police Commissioner
felt like you have to send them to jail or
there’s no deterrent from committing these
crimes. Where do you stand on this issue?
And do you think that cycle needs to be broken?
Before the Commissioner comes up, I want to
say: I think you’re hearing from all these
leaders that we want to address the recidivism
issue head on. We think there’s a lot of
ways to do it, particularly with our young
people. So there’s something powerful when
you know what your philosophy is and you can
express it publicly. You’ve heard it here.
It’s seamless across all five people. So
we are going to go at that issue with a lot
of tools, and we’re going to go at it from
the grassroots up. Commissioner?
[Reporter] [inaudible]
But I would argue the community focused approach
is also applicable for older people. I mean
obviously the single biggest problem is the
young people. But I think the same concept
that we’re bonding all of these agencies
to communities, and we’re working in a proactive
way – we think that’s going to make a
huge difference.
The answer is ‘frequent flyers’ are something
that we call in the jail system in Memphis,
Tennessee – which was a big city – they
would be back in hours. I mean, in hours.
And the answer was that the police officer
on the beat, that’s getting the call from
the citizens saying, ‘I’m being annoyed
by this individual.’ His option was arrest
him or put him in jail. So we had to look
at what options were we giving the officer
on the beat – some of it was training and
education – but there was nowhere to bring
them. The jail has been – across the country
– the default to the mental health system
in a lot of places that’s really falling
apart. So as we look at outcomes, and if that’s
an issues – and I think collectively look
at how do we get better outcomes. Because
putting them in jail, I don’t think anybody
here would say that’s a good idea. But what
options does the officer on the beat have?
But just on the mental health point – very,
very powerful point. So many of our fellow
citizens who suffer from mental illness end
up in the corrections system. There’s a
lot we can do better, but again I say, it
starts with reaching our young people as early
as possible. And we know we can do that – even
with existing resources – we can do that
more effectively. And we’re going to do
that through the community schools model.
On topic, yes?
[Reporter] Commissioner Bratton, may I try
you again on the significance of the low crime?
Is it an anomaly, is it the norm going forward?
Does weather play a role?
We’ve always talked about in policing, going
back to my days, when I was freezing my rear
end off directing traffic in 1970 on a very
bad winter, that Jack Frost is the best friend
of a police officer. No, I think that the
weather certainly made—it might be one of
those influences that we talk about, much
the same as the economy and demographics.
But no, I think the numbers we’re seeing
are just reflective that this has become an
incredibly safe city. Speaking of Riker’s,
Riker’s, back in 1994-95 had a population
of what 22,000? We were actually opening the
barges to house because we had so many people
to put there. Population now, I think on a
daily basis, 11 to 12,000. So that idea of
controlling behavior that you prevent crime
is the focus, and that’s going to be continued
to be the focus going forward. So the crime
declines, I think the ways that were found
to control crime, and what we’re continuing
to try to do, is find even better and more
humane and more successful ways to do it.
I am not a statistician. I have never claimed
to be. But I think we can say when homicides
are down 21 percent, shootings are down 14
percent; that is a trend. That is something
powerful. And we’re going to deepen that.
Last call on this. Yes? Where, where am I
looking? I’m looking. I’m looking. I’m
looking. Last call. Anything on these announcements?
Now to general topics. Yes.
[Reporter] Any update on your search for a
parks commissioner?
We’re going to be acting on that very quickly.
We’ve got some great names before us, and
I’m going to start interviews in the coming
days.
[Reporter] The Central Labor Council and a
[inaudible] of prominent labor unions wrote
a letter to—asking you to reconsider the
horse carriage ban. I mean, obviously these
are very prominent allies of yours. Have you
reconsidered it at all? I mean, what do you
think about that letter?
No I haven’t reconsidered. I respect those
organizations. They’re friends. They’re
people I respect, and—but they know where
I stand. I’ve told them many, many times
where I stand. We’re going to work with
that industry on the transition. We’re going
to take every effort to make sure folks working
in that industry have new options, but I know
where I stand. Yes, Sally.
[Reporter] The City Comptroller put out his
report today on your budget, and one of the
things people focused on was the structural
deficit for out here. I was wondering if you
have any, any thoughts beyond the labor contracts
that go unresolved on how you can solve those
[inaudible] deficits [inaudible] and the fact
that there is a structural deficit in the
budget?
Hire a bunch of great managers who know how
to save money. Check, we did that. Okay, that
was good. You know, we do know—I’ve talked
about it at the budget presentation—we have
a structural deficit, really this fiscal year,
next fiscal year, and the one after fiscal
’16, so we understand that is the reality
before you even talk about the labor contracts.
Labor contracts will put additional stress.
That’s why every time I say the words ‘labor
contracts’ I say the words ‘cost savings,’
because it’s the only way to achieve balance
going forward. But we’re going to constantly
look for ways to save money. We’re going
to constantly look for ways – look for ways
to make government more efficient. We think
a lot of the proactive strategies save money
in the long run. Keeping people out of our
jails saves money. We can help to make people
who might not have been law-abiding citizens
into law-abiding citizens. That also saves
money. We can keep folks who would have been
homeless from going into our shelter system.
That saves money. So we’re very much believers
in proactive strategies and preventative strategies,
and we think that will add up over the coming
years. So – and by the way, there’s some
other areas I’ve said we’re going to reevaluate.
There’s, for example, the Department of
Education. Definitely been some initiatives
of the previous administration that I think
were not cost effective. We’ll be looking
at those. So a lot of different pieces. Michael.
[Reporter] Mr. Mayor, you’ll be addressing
a group of very wealthy New Yorkers tonight
at a Democratic fundraiser. Do you—
They needed a token non-wealthy person. So
I was there. They called me in. Yes.
[Reporter] Do you plan to promote your tax
for pre-kindergarten and after-school, and
what sort of reception do you expect to receive
at the event?
If I say anything it’s only going to be
informal. It’s a gathering with President
Obama. But from my point-of-view, one that’s
very important to the future of New York City
and New York State, because it will have something
to say with whether the U.S. Senate continues
to be in the hands of the Democratic Party.
And I think in terms of our two senators,
Senator Schumer and Senator Gillibrand, they’re
incredibly effective. And they need to be
in the majority to do all they can for New
York City. So that’s why I’m going to
that event. If I’m speaking it will simply
be in support of that idea.
[Reporter] I ‘m not sure if you saw last
night, there was an editorial on channel 5
attacking you, and something they had was
‘de Blasio time’. What do you think about
the meaning of them attacking you?
The media, the media is, is doing its job
and I’ve told you my view of Jeffersonian
democracy and that I believe in a vigorous
media and it’s part of what provides a check
and balance in a democracy. Nothing is happening
that is surprising to me. And I, you know,
it’s, we’re, we’re a free-wheeling city.
So it’s all good. Yes.
[Reporter] Do you have intention of asking
Albany to change the formulas for property
taxation, of co-ops, condos, single family,
double family, triple family housing? The
inequities and consequence of some of some
of these tax formulations with who are very
wealthy. I think are very tiny percentage.
Our property tax system needs a real hard
look, and it’s very complicated, it will
not happen overnight, but there are obvious
inequities. There are obvious areas where
there’s a lack of clarity and transparency.
There’s a lot to do. I want to work with
a variety of stakeholders to figure out a
way forward. I am not comfortable with the
status quo. But I also have to tell you that
I am sane enough to know it’s an exceedingly
complicated endeavor where all the pieces
interconnect so if you start to make reform,
you have to account for all the pieces of
the equation. So we’re going to give it
a hard look, but that’s going to take some
time.
[Reporter] On specialized high schools, there
was very low number of black and Hispanic
students who got into those. I know that this
is an issue you’ve spoken out in the past.
I’m wondering if you are planning on taking
any concrete steps to address that annual
disparity?
Over time, we are going to have a series of
steps we take. Look, a lot of people have
said, ‘Can we do a better job of making
sure that test prep is available to a wider
range of kids, including a lot of Black and
Latino kids who have not had as much opportunity
to get into specialized schools?’ There
may be some real ways that we can do that.
I think ultimately we need to reform the admission
system. That’s something we have to do with
Albany. These schools are the jewels and the
crown for our public school system. They produce
extraordinary leaders who will be part of
the leadership of the city going forward.
This is a city blessed with such diversity.
Our schools, especially our particularly exceptional
schools, need to reflect that diversity, and
I think there’s ways we can go about that
with Albany. I mean, look at our Attorney
General Eric Holder, who is proud graduate
of Stuyvesant High School. He had that opportunity,
I think grew up in the Bronx, if I remember
correctly. He had that opportunity. We want
to make sure a whole range of young people
have that opportunity so we have leadership
from every community going forward. Thanks
everyone.
