Transcript: Mayor de Blasio and Police Commissioner Bratton Hold Media Availibility

September 5, 2016

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Every year, hundreds and hundreds of thousands of people come out to participate in this celebration of Caribbean culture. Typically, at J'Ouvert almost a quarter of a million people, including last night at the parade – often over a million people. The vast, vast majority celebrate peacefully. They represent their culture proudly. And it's a moment where every year, people look forward to celebrating their heritage as all New Yorkers do for their own heritages. And we are very clear about honoring and uplifting that celebration of heritage. But at the same time, our hearts are heavy today. We never accept violence in our midst. Last night, there was violence that is fundamentally unacceptable that we will continue to address more forcefully. Last night, a very few people violated that spirit of pride and celebration and caused pain for so many others.

The NYPD, I want to say at the outset, did an extraordinary job last night – the strongest NYPD presence in memory – the addition of hundreds of light towers and other measures to make J'Ouvert safe. There was an extraordinary planning process with community leaders, some of whom are here today. But we do not accept what happened last night. We are fundamentally angry and focused on those who undermined the safety of the many. And as you know, the NYPD will find these individuals and will ensure that they are brought to justice. The context we're working in – we never minimize the problems – and I want to remind people, in addition to those extraordinary preparations, the NYPD has continued to succeed this year with more and more gun seizures, more and more gang takedowns. We understand that so much of the problem is getting to crews – more and more energy is being focused on them with more success. That work will deepen. And that is work we will continue to do every day. And I want to acknowledge the challenge and the pain that we are feeling today. But at the same time, I want to put very clearly my faith in the NYPD because they continue to succeed in stamping out violence and they will do even more going forward. A few words in Spanish.

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish.]

With that, I want to turn to our Police Commissioner Bill Bratton.

Police Commissioner William Bratton: Good morning. I'm joined at the podium by members of the police leadership of the Department that we're focused over this past year on the events of last evening and today – Caribbean Day celebration – Chief of Department James O'Neill, my successor as Police Commissioner; Chief of Patrol Carlos Gomez, who is Chief O'Neill's successor as Chief of Department; Chief Steve Powers, Commanding Officer of Brooklyn South, the entity most associated with the J'Ouvert and the Caribbean Day Parade festival; and Chief Maddrey from Brooklyn North; Chief of Detectives of this area, Pat Conry, who is also here. Chief of this South Bureau will give effectively a summary of resources committed to last night's event, as well as today. Chief Conry will give a summary of the criminal incidents that we're investigating from last night that resulted in the death of several individuals along this parade route.

In planning these events, and we plan for a lot of them – no city does more of them than the City of New York – we always, there's a expression I think you've all heard – plan for the worst, and hope for the best. In terms of hopes for this year's festival – for a peaceful, successful event – were very high following the tragedies of the two murders at the event last year. Throughout the course of this year, the political leadership of the city – the Mayor's Office, Borough President, Public Advocate's Office, City Council members representing this area – met repeatedly during the course of the year with the organizers of J'Ouvert, organizers of the Caribbean Day event – met with the community leaders, religious leaders, business leaders in unprecedented effort to attempt to ensure a safe event for today, as well as the Caribbean Day festival. Unfortunately, despite those high hopes and all the work that went into the event, last night as Chief Conry will relay, we had unfortunate tragedy once again affect this event. That will not deter us, from as we go out today, to once again take a look at what we put into the event and what we might do differently next year in our continuing efforts to try and bring a safety that so far has alluded us to this event, and particularly J'Ouvert.

With that, I'd like to bring up Chief Steve Powers who will give you a quick summary of resources committed – unprecedented resources – based on the cooperation, collaboration of the community business leaders, the J'Ouvert leaders over the past year that we really went all out. Unfortunately, despite our best efforts, the tragedies the Mayor referenced that Chief Conway will describe to you with detail did in fact occur. Chief Powers.

Brooklyn South Commander, Assistant Chief Steven Powers, NYPD: As the Commissioner said, after last year's events, I took a look at everything that we did last year. And we went over everything and tried to flesh out [inaudible]. Bearing that in mind, last year, there were 1,700 officers assigned to this parade and the festivities associated with J'Ouvert which primarily take place in the 6-7 and the 7-1 precincts. Last year, there were 1,700. This year, we're well over 3,400 officers. So we doubled the size of the detail. We set up 45 cameras along the route of the parade and other trouble spots that we had in prior years. We deployed over 250 light towers to try to give some semblance of light in our most troubled areas based on the history of violence associated with this event. We utilized violence interrupters to try to talk to the gangs. We had clergy members talk to the gangs. We used social media to try to reach out. J'Ouvert International got the message out through their people. We organized a gun buyback in the 6-7 Precinct which collected 59 guns just last Saturday. And we did a gang takedown Friday – this past Friday, leading up to the event. So we did a lot of measures that we would hope would have a positive influence on this event. I'd like to pass the mic right now to Chief Conry who will go over the actual incidents.

Chief of Brooklyn Detectives Patrick Conry, NYPD: Good morning. Like Chief Powers said – in the early morning hours associated with J'Ouvert, we had three shooting incidents involving four individuals who were shot. Two of those individuals are deceased. I will give you a little bit of a summary of each of the three incidents.

Approximately 03:45 hours at Empire in Flatbush, we had two individuals shot – a female 72-year-old who was shot and it's not likely, and a male 18-year-old who is deceased. We believe at this point, one if not both of those individuals are unintended targets. We did recover some shell casings that leads us to believe there was a crossfire.

Second incident happens at 4:15 am – Franklin and Empire, which is about a block away. We have a female, 22 years old, shot in the head. She's also deceased. We believe she was an unintended target at this time, absent any additional information.

Third incident happened at 6:45 am. We had a male, 20-year-old, shot in the leg. Two groups crossing paths had a verbal dispute which turned physical. Apparently, a male stepped out from the crowd – fired one round from a 9 millimeter firearm, striking him. He's not likely.

So to recap – three shooting incidents – four people shot; two deceased.

Mayor: Let me also thank the elected officials who have been working with us for months to ensure greater safety at this event. That work, as I said, will continue. I want to acknowledge and thank our Public Advocate Tish James. And I want to welcome to the podium, Borough President of Brooklyn Eric Adams.

[...]

Mayor: Thank you very much, Borough President. We're going to take questions about the J'Ouvert incident.

Question: Question that everyone's wondering – you guys put up more cameras, more lights, more security, officers, you even put signs up – so how does this still happen?

Mayor: Well, I'll start and then turn to my police colleagues. I think a lot of important work was done. And as the Borough President said, the work even before the event – the gang takedowns, the gun seizures – we're just going to have to deepen that work. We have more to do. We have more to do. It's as simple as that. We don't accept any violence. So, some of what was done did take guns off the street in preparation for this event. The police presence was outstanding. But it proves to us we have more to do.

Commissioner Bratton: Just briefly on that question, that comment. Unfortunately, there are still criminals in our midst – not only at this event, but in the city, in this country. And in this city, we have been able to reduce serious violence, as I think you all are very familiar, by a [inaudible] percent over the years – murders, robberies, rapes – and we continue to try and reduce them even further. Similarly in this event, as the Borough President's referenced, we will work very hard, and I'm very confident as we did with the murder of Mr. Gabay last year, we will find those who committed those murders today. But we cannot basically account for the behavior of every person in this city. Unfortunately, there are still criminals who, despite society and our best effort to control their behavior, insist on breaking the law and in this case, committing murder. We will, with the tools of justice available to us seek to bring [inaudible] to justice.

Mayor: Yes, sir.

Question: Mr. Mayor, Commissioner – just a follow-up to that question – in this particular area where the shootings happened – can you characterize, in terms of manpower, how many officers were in that area at that time? Was it being monitored? Was it being watched?

Chief Powers: Okay, at the scene of the first shooting – six light towers and 48 police officers assigned to that area who were present at the time of the shooting. But you got to realize – enormous congestion in the crowds coming through and it makes it very hard to discern who actually fired the shot. Because the minute the shot goes off, everybody runs, not just the shooter. So that's the problems that we're dealing with. Picture a large, large crowd and one guy firing a few shots. Even though you have 48 officers there and it was basically almost broad daylight, due to the light towers in that vicinity. It still took a bold guy to do it, but he did it.

Question: Chief, any indication that these might be connected to [inaudible]?

Chief Powers: We don't know that.

Mayor: Anyone else?

Question: You said we have more to do. What is that going to mean exactly? If what was already done – doubling the amount of officers in addition to all these other measures – did not prevent this, is there anything that can?

Mayor: We have to work, both with the NYPD and the community, to find additional measures. It's as simple as that. The – what the Borough President said has to be remembered. A quarter-million people came out and didn't participate in violence [inaudible] four people who did. And what this causes me to do is be resolute – we're going to redouble our efforts. I think some of what we did clearly helped – the additional light towers helped, the additional police presence helped. But we have to find many other measures that will help and we have to do [inaudible].

Go ahead.

Question: Commissioner Bratton – does it make sense for the City to continue to encourage an event that seems to be this difficult to police and leads to killings basically every year?

Commissioner Bratton: I'm sorry?

Question: Does it make sense for the city to encourage and support an event that seems to be this difficult for the guys to police and leads to violence every year?

Commissioner Bratton: Well I think what will happen in subsequent, as we always do, similar to what we did last year – we'll take a very close look at how the events of last night, or the events of today, would go. And we'll adjust for that next year in our planning. As Chief Powers referenced, after the events of last year, we one – working with the political leadership of the city, and the communities, and religious leadership – we had probably the most concerted effort ever to have an organized event [inaudible]. And to that end, J'Ouvert for the first time got a permit. Well through the course of the events of last night, they complied – the organizers, and the vast, vast majority of those at the parade, at the event itself, abide with the terms of that permit. We put significant, double the number of police officers, light towers, ShotSpotter, and prioritized putting ShotSpotter technology into this area because of what happened last year. So we will continue to do everything we can with the event going forward. The issue is that there are still individuals who made the concerted effort to [inaudible] a lot of gang members who we have warrants for and investigations that have been conducted. As I think you're all aware of this year, we've had an unprecedented, focused effort on gang takedowns. We've been doing a couple a week, every week. And we're trying to concentrate on this area. So, we will take a look and see what – if there is anything different that we could have done that could have prevented these certain individuals who took advantage of the crowds. Many of you were covering this event. It is a very confusing event in terms of the sheer number of people. It is not a controlled event in the sense that people stream coming into the event. So there are elements of it that we do not have a full control over, if you will in a sense. It's not like the times at an event where everyone goes through metal detectors. It's not like many of the other events that are in a fixed location. It's spread over quite a lengthy area of space. So we will continue to try to figure out with the community [inaudible].

Question: [Inaudible]

Mayor: Let me add to that – just one second. Let me add to it that, again, we're going to look at this event. We're going to evaluate everything we learned from last night. If we decide what changes we have to make [inaudible]. But I want to remind you of what Commissioner Bratton spoke a lot, in the last few months, about [inaudible]. It was not that long ago that the St. Patrick's Parade [inaudible], the Puerto Rican Parade was plagued by violence. The parade during the day – the West Indian Parade was plagued by violence. The NYPD has successfully, each year, improved those situations. We do not associate, now, the St. Patrick's Parade with violence or the Puerto Rican Parade with violence. We don't associate this parade, that's about to start now, with the kind of violence we did in the past. Those were systematic efforts. We attempted a very systematic effort over this last year. I want to thank Commissioner, Chief O'Neill – all the elected officials. People really put their heart and soul to figure out what would be the next step. I think the simple point here, all of those previously violent events were brought under control. We will find a way to bring this one under control.

Question: If you do all the things the Commissioner says the Department has done – more power, more light towers, [inaudible]. Next year does it just keep going on?

Mayor: It's not about hypotheticals. Now, we have to go back to the drawing board and figure out additional steps. Every idea will be on the table, every option will be on the table. But my point is, we systematically had to change uncontrolled situations in those past instances, and I guarantee you, sadly, they were uncontrolled environments. I saw them with my own eyes. They were – we found a way to bring control to them. We will do it here as well.

Question: [Inaudible] invited to do the J'Ouvert. Would any of the elected officials be willing to actually go to J'Ouvert in the future – to prevent the violence?

Mayor: I did not go last night. Did either of you go?

Borough President Eric Adams: I was out last night. I was out last night in several of the areas and hotspots. My clergy liaison was out all night also – went to the hospital as well. And it is clear, it is about showing the presence of that – you know if I'm willing to go that's how much faith I have in the New York City Police Department. They are there to provide safety. 246,000 people went home last night because of the NYPD and we can't miss that number – 246,000. Four of those 246,000 did something wrong and that is not an indictment on this borough or this community. Overwhelmingly, people are doing the right thing.

Mayor: Anyone who has not [inaudible]? Yes?

Question: In spite of these instances, how does the pre-parade violence compare to the past [inaudible]?

Mayor: Who can speak – Chief Powers?

Chief Powers: Okay, so we looked back over the last 20 years. And just going from 10 pm to 10 am, okay. We had 21 events involving shootings or homicides.

Mayor: [Inaudible] just to clarify that. We're talking about this year or we [inaudible]?

Chief Powers: No, that's ten years – ten years' worth – we're at 21 instances in the past ten years. Last year, it was the same. We had two people killed last year – one stabbing, one shooting. This year, same thing – two people killed; the same number of shootings last year as this year. So, just to put it a little bit of perspective.

Mayor: Yes?

Question: Can you explain what exactly is the route that is sanctioned for this event?

Chief Powers: Sure. Okay, the actual route for the parade goes from Grand Army Plaza – it's what we call the formation area – Grand Army Plaza to Flatbush and Empire. From there the parade weaves, goes straight up Empire Boulevard. It goes eastbound on Empire Boulevard and then makes a right turn on Nostrand and goes southbound on Nostrand to around Midwood Street. The events that took place – two of the shootings happened right on the route of the parade, one was off the route, but in one of our target areas.

Question: Why can't the police just have areas where people are checked before they actually come in?

Chief Powers: Like the Mayor said, everything is on the table for next year as far as what we will do for next year.

Mayor: Anyone who has not asked yet? Yes?

Question: Can we get your opinion on that as far as having everybody checked?

Mayor: We're going to do an after action review. There's going to be a decision made with the professionals, the NYPD, and with the community. But all options are on the table.

Okay. Who is – you had another one?

Question: So, follow-up to this gentleman's question earlier. Is there any talk about changing the overnight portion of J'Ouvert – because that is where all the [inaudible] has happened over the years?

Mayor: Again, what's crucial to recognize here is this is a community event that has gone on for a long time, just like all the other events I named. We're going to work with the community to determine the future of the event and what will make it safe. Again, all options are on the table, but this is a discussion that has to be done with the police professionals and with the community. As the Borough President said, that conversation will begin, literally – immediately after last year's parade and it will begin again starting this coming week.

Last call, anybody else?

Question: [Inaudible]

Mayor: Again, I don't want – I don't want to offer [inaudible]. It is important that there be a very careful after action review done by the NYPD; that we work with community leaders who put a lot of time and energy into this in the last year and we think [inaudible]. There will be a thorough review – all options will be on the table and then we'll come back with a vision for the future.

Question: And just so we can understand for next year, is the goal to completely have no shootings, no violence or deaths?

Mayor: It's always – always, seriously, the goal is always, at any event.

Question: Because for some large events, when you have thousands of people there's always going to be something to happen. I just want to be able to define what you consider a successful [inaudible].

Mayor: The goal is no shootings, no deaths at the event like with any event that the NYPD is on.

Question: [Inaudible] in the middle of the night in neighborhoods where gang violence is a problem?

Mayor: It's the same point – we're going to look at the situation. As I said, there will be a full review.

Last call.

Question: The location of that last incident [inaudible]?

Chief Conry: Classon and Rogers – a couple of blocks off the parade route, but within the zone.

Mayor: Last call.

Question: Just to clarify, all options on the table. Is the cancellation of the event on the table?

Mayor: I'm not going to go into detail until we do a full review. I'm just making a broad strategic statement; all options are on the table. But we're going to look at the whole situation with the NYPD and the community.

Last call, if there is any different – very last one. Go ahead.

Question: [Inaudible] was there an overconfidence in this plan?

Mayor: There was no overconfidence. I'm very saddened by what happened, but I'm also resolute that it just means we have to do more. I think the planning was extraordinary. And obviously, you just heard it, doubling of NYPD resources and 200 light towers. These are exactly the right things to do, but we didn't get the result we wanted. So, we have to work harder.

Thanks, everyone.