Wednesday, September 16, 2026, 1 p.m. (New York City time), Council Chambers - City Hall
Committee: Committee on Public Safety
0:10 For your cooperation. Good
0:10 afternoon. Good afternoon.
0:12 Welcome to New York City
0:12 council hearing on the
0:13 committee on public safety at
0:15 this time, please. Sounds
0:16 electronics and do not
0:18 approach the days at this time
0:19 you are testifying today. Make
0:20 sure you ensure that you have
0:21 filled out a slip at the back
0:22 of the room. Any other
0:24 questions or concerns, please
0:25 reach a sergeant at arms.
0:26 Thank you for cooperation
0:27 chair. We're ready to begin.
0:32 Thank you. Good afternoon,
0:32 everyone. I'm Council Member
0:34 Oswald Feliz, of the committee
0:35 on public safety. I want t
0:38 owelcome everyone to this
0:39 hearing on nypd crime
0:41 statistics. I also want to
0:43 welcome committee members who
0:44 have joined, including council
0:46 hank's Banks, Nurse areola
0:49 wang. I also want to welcome
0:50 our public advocate to money
0:54 Williams the public safety
0:54 committee is holding to this
0:55 hearing to take
0:56 acomprehensive look at the
0:58 areas of public safety that
0:58 have seen progress. We've made
1:00 a lot of progress these past
1:01 few years, including on the
1:02 issue of shootings and murders
1:06 there currently at historic
1:06 lows. This is something that
1:07 we have to celebrate and
1:11 recognize adrienne examined
1:11 the areas that have seen
1:12 progress. We also want to take
1:13 a look at crime categories
1:15 that require attention. We've
1:18 a gun made a lot of progress
1:19 on issues related related t
1:20 oshootings and murders. But
1:21 when we look at the crime
1:22 statistics from 20 19, the pre
1:25 pandemic years it is clear,
1:26 there's still room for
1:30 significant progress. This is
1:31 true for many crime categorie
1:31 s, including and especially
1:32 following your salt voting
1:34 results are drastically up
1:35 compared to the pre pandemic
1:37 years 20 17 20 1820 19 if my
1:41 math is correct. We of my
1:42 reading of the constitution
1:44 constant report is correct
1:45 .we've had so far felony
1:48 assaults this year year to
1:50 date versus about 15021.5
1:54 versus 15000 years to date in
1:58 20 19
1:58 . The same is true for many
1:59 other crime categories
1:59 ,including grand larceny
2:00 involving a vehicle.
2:02 We want to better understand
2:03 the challenges and discuss
2:04 challenges effectively
2:10 . And of course, our goal is
2:10 to have a hearing like this
2:11 before that end of every year.
2:12 Look at the areas that we've
2:14 made progress but also think
2:16 about the challenges that w
2:17 ehave and think about ways and
2:18 steps that we can take to help
2:19 resolve those challenges.
2:24 We are thankful for the work
2:24 and sacrifices of police
2:26 officers. The work and
2:27 sacrifices that I make every
2:28 single day to keep our City
2:30 safe public safety is a shared
2:32 responsibility, we achieve it
2:33 with good schools, good jobs,
2:34 ads, strong communities
2:38 ,police officers play an
2:38 important role in this issue,
2:40 they help ensure that
2:40 residents can engage in these
2:43 activities work school.
2:44 Opportunity without having
2:46 to worry about their safety
2:46 and we are thankful for that
2:49 their dedication and
2:50 commitment to the City does
2:50 not go unnoticed
2:54 . I want to thank members of
2:54 the nypd and all stakeholders
2:55 of are testifying today.
2:56 Welcome back to City City hal
2:58 l, the people's house. I would
3:00 like to thank my staff and
3:01 committee staff of their hard
3:02 work, josh king sleeves senior
3:04 counsel to the committee, chad
3:06 njambein, policy analyst. My
3:08 chief of staff has to go in on
3:10 my legislative director and
3:12 many others who have joined,
3:13 including I see nini from my
3:16 team, I look forward to
3:17 productive discussion on
3:17 what's going well but also the
3:19 challenges of remain in steps
3:20 that we can take to help her
3:22 these china just thank you.
3:23 Now I to brief you pass it on
3:25 to our very own public
3:25 advocate to monty Williams.
3:30 Thank you so much and this is
3:32 an extremely important hearing
3:33 , I think the public is very
3:36 concerned about public safety
3:38 and media is not helpful that
3:39 they often warped what's going
3:42 on to doomsday scenario
3:43 unnecessarily so. Data from
3:45 the nypd is really, really
3:46 important for the public to
3:48 see as I mentioned my name is
3:49 germany Williams public alvin
3:50 for the City of New York again
3:51 . Thank you, chef elise and
3:51 members of committee on public
3:53 safety for home. It's
3:54 important hearing and for the
3:55 administration for being here
3:57 ,ma'am. I'm donna, nypd
3:59 commissioner jessica tisch
4:00 reported that New York City
4:00 had as safe as someone record
4:01 for shootings and murders
4:04 .that is an absolute applause
4:05 line that is.
4:06 Awesome, according to
4:08 recently released data major
4:09 crime is down 6.2% year to
4:11 date or about 55000 fuel
4:13 crimes have proposed citywide.
4:16 Additionally, there were no
4:16 reported murders in the subway
4:17 nature developments in the
4:19 time period reported. This.
4:20 Is consistent with a larger
4:21 trend that we have seen since
4:22 the pandemic are a spike in
4:23 crime most major crimes hav
4:26 efallen have continued to fal
4:27 lsince 20 20 and New York City
4:30 is still and has been one o
4:31 fthe safest large cities in the
4:32 u. S. This is something t
4:35 ocelebrate. At the same time,
4:36 this is not captured a full
4:37 picture of crime in the City
4:38 is often difficult to arguably
4:40 to accurately report crime
4:41 statistics because how crimes
4:43 or describing how people
4:46 report them change frequently
4:46 an assault or shooting could,
4:47 for example, become a homicide
4:49 days or weeks later. If the
4:50 victim dies, a reported
4:51 burglary could turn out to be
4:53 misunderstanding in 20 24 New
4:55 York state expanded its
4:56 definition of rape, which
4:58 likely contribute to arise in
5:01 reported rapes, certain crimes
5:01 like rape or chronically under
5:03 reported, so do not present a
5:05 full picture. It is important
5:06 to remember that the
5:07 announcements are falling
5:08 crime rates capture the
5:09 numbers in that moment and the
5:12 decline decrease or even
5:12 reverse once department artist
5:13 them in the foot that follows
5:16 more concern. Only we
5:18 understand ttha those reports
5:19 not be updated with the New
5:21 numbers if they are like to
5:22 hear that they are
5:25 . It's also important t
5:26 oremember that policing tactics
5:27 purported to achieve these
5:28 declining reported crime rates
5:30 can disproportionately home
5:31 the most vulnerable New
5:32 yorkers under the previous
5:33 Mayor, the nypd cracking down
5:34 on low level quality of life
5:36 crimes such as taking up more
5:37 than one seat on the subwa
5:38 yand drinking in public. This
5:41 has continued under the
5:42 mundane administration and has
5:44 been criticized as a
5:45 resurgence are broken windows
5:47 policing at least broken
5:49 windows adjacent broken
5:50 windows. Policing is a
5:51 debunked theory that strict
5:54 law enforcement on low, strict
5:55 enforcement, low level crimes
5:56 will deter more serious crimes
5:57 later last year court cases on
6:00 top charges of taking up more
6:01 than one seat on the subway
6:02 increased 3000% compared to
6:05 the previous year in the first
6:07 three months of 20 26 criminal
6:08 summonses jumped 29% a recent
6:11 analysis of the data by
6:12 gothamist found that almost
6:13 half of civil summonses are
6:15 tossed by oath, largely
6:15 attributed to the practice of
6:16 issuing handwritten tickets,
6:19 though they are not criminal
6:20 summonses. These raises
6:21 questions about it. Efficiency
6:22 of this crackdown on the level
6:24 of at a time when any contact
6:25 with the courts put a non
6:27 citizen at risk of detention,
6:29 criminal summonses for
6:30 cyclists were especially
6:31 harmful with 91% of those them
6:32 were people of more color. I
6:36 am glad that mean Amanda
6:37 administration has announced
6:37 applying to end criminal
6:39 enforcement against the bikes,
6:39 writers and cyclist for low
6:41 level traffic offenses. I want
6:41 to make sure that doesn't mean
6:42 there suldnho't be any
6:43 accountability for infractions
6:47 . Additionally political
6:47 reported that the office of
6:48 community safety met with
6:50 bronze selected officials
6:51 about rising murders and
6:51 shootings in the bronx north
6:53 and New patrol, which
6:54 encompasses half of the
6:55 borough compared to the same
6:55 time last year, the northern
6:58 command has seen in nearly 20%
6:59 increase in shootings and a 6
7:00 %rise in murders. However,
7:03 these crime rates are falling
7:04 in bronx south crime in the
7:05 bar as a whole is training
7:07 downward. This underscores the
7:08 way we report crimes matters,
7:10 crime rates matters and can
7:12 sometimes appear neighbors
7:13 they need more tension than
7:14 this department came.
7:15 Provide. We must ensure that
7:16 we are not sweeping people
7:19 into the into the criminal
7:20 legal system when they clearly
7:22 need or need or the direct
7:23 connection to services and
7:24 support the stabilization
7:26 officers have discretion t
7:27 oissue people summonses instead
7:28 of taking them into custody
7:30 ,but there are many cases we've
7:31 seen where they are not using
7:34 it in a pregnant woman was
7:35 taken into custody for drug
7:36 possession and trespassing and
7:37 ended up giving birth in a
7:39 courtroom, witnesses stated a
7:39 tthe gave birth in handcuffs,
7:41 which is obviously
7:43 unacceptable that important
7:43 people to not only be safe,
7:44 but to feel safe. We cannot
7:48 just simply try to punish our
7:49 way of to safety, we know
7:50 arrests alone and not solved
7:52 long entrenched in equities
7:53 .how the department approaches
7:54 collaboration. Excuse me has a
7:55 direct impact on our ability
7:56 achieve a citywide level of
7:57 safety that we can all be
7:58 proud of, I do believe what
8:00 we're doing on gun violence is
8:02 a joint effort we're seeing a
8:02 lot of fruits there. I love t
8:04 osee some kind of joint hip
8:05 .it's on the other things as
8:08 well, and I'm hoping we don't
8:08 hear about bail and raised age
8:10 because there are other
8:11 counties that actually see
8:12 declines are using the same
8:14 laws are, and there are other
8:16 spaces in the country where
8:17 even seen larger declines with
8:19 similar laws, so looking
8:20 forward to a robus
8:20 tconversation. Thank you again
8:25 .thank you. Thank you so much
8:25 public advocate just want t
8:26 obriefly emphasize a point made
8:27 by our public advocate. The
8:30 bronx has obviously been
8:31 historically a challenging
8:32 burrow in our City on the
8:34 issue of crime and for that
8:36 reason we can't talk about
8:37 public safety and crime in our
8:39 City without putting an
8:40 emphasis on the bronx and if
8:41 my reading of the conflict
8:42 pumps that number is correct.
8:45 40% Of the shootings and 40%
8:47 of the shooting victims and
8:49 40% of the shooting incidents.
8:53 Have been in the bronx out
8:54 of all the incidents that
8:54 we've covered it's murders,
8:55 shooting incidents and victims
8:57 about 40% of each of those
8:58 have been in the bronx. So we
9:00 look forward to, uh, a talking
9:04 about steps we could take t
9:06 sto recognize council. Kabbani,
9:10 who has joined the zoom and
9:11 want to welcome michael garbe
9:13 r, deputy commissioner of legal
9:15 matters of the police
9:15 department and also inspector
9:18 william helt, commanding
9:19 officer of the office of a
9:21 crime control, other
9:22 strategies, and I'll pass it
9:22 to the committee counsel for
9:26 the old mmm. Thank you. Chair?
9:29 Can you just affirm to tell
9:29 the truth, the whole truth and
9:30 nothing but the truth and to
9:31 answer honestly, the council
9:35 over questions. You go ahead
9:35 .thank you so much good
9:43 afrnooten. Jeopardy's and
9:44 members of the council. My
9:44 name is inspector william how
9:46 and.
9:46 The commanding officer of
9:47 the nypd officer crime control
9:51 strategies. I am joined here
9:52 today by deputy commissioner
9:53 of legal matters, michael
9:53 gerber
9:54 . On behalf of police
9:55 commissioner jessica tisch.
9:56 Thank you for the opportunity
9:59 to testify today, the office
10:00 of crime control strategies
10:01 ,tracks and analyzes crime
10:02 across the City using data
10:04 driven approach we develop
10:05 strategies to reduce crime and
10:06 enhance public safety
10:10 . Through the end of we have
10:10 seen the fewest year to date
10:12 murders, shooting incidents
10:13 and shooting victims in New
10:14 York City since we started
10:16 systematically tracking the
10:17 data over 30 years ago, we've
10:20 had a 24.1% in murders from
10:23 last year, 18 fewer murders in
10:24 the previous record low
10:27 . And we are on track to
10:27 shatter the record lows of gun
10:28 violence that we sat just last
10:30 year here today shootin
10:32 gincidents have decreased 9.6%
10:35 and shooting victims by 11.9%.
10:38 That means 46 fewer shootings
10:40 and 73 fewer people shot. It
10:43 can be easy to get lost in the
10:44 statistics and percentages
10:45 ,but we can now forget these
10:48 numbers represent real life
10:50 saved.
10:50 Major crime across the City
10:51 has decreased 6.2% compared t
10:56 olast year. This includes a 1
10:57 28 decrease in auto theft and
11:01 11.9 robbery a 13.9 decrease
11:02 in burglary and a 5% decreas
11:04 ein grand larceny. I want to
11:08 highlight this reason someone
11:11 months, there was an
11:11 unprecedented series of high
11:12 profile events.
11:13 Including the finals, the
11:15 world cup 250 and the largest
11:17 fourth of celebration in the
11:20 nation. All of which, for a
11:20 tremendous demands on the nyp
11:24 dwhat we kept our focus on
11:24 fighting crime and the results
11:25 speak for themselves, whether
11:33 measured by shooting incidents
11:34 shooting victims or murders.
11:34 This was the safest summer for
11:36 gun violence in New York
11:38 city's recorded history from
11:40 June 1 to August 31, there
11:41 were 195 shooting incidents
11:43 . 32 Fewer from the previous
11:44 record low sent in 20 25 24
11:48 9shooting victims 44 fewer than
11:50 the previous record low set in
11:54 20 1866 murders 12
11:54 . Fewer than the previous
11:55 record low set in 20 17
11:59 . We achieved this success