Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news. Let's get some insights
Speaker 1: out of somebody who knows exactly how the NYPD operates.
Speaker 1: Former Commissioner Ray Kelly joining us right now. He was
Speaker 1: commissioner during the Dinkins administration. He was also a course
Speaker 1: commissioner during the administration of Michael R. Bloomberg, of course,
Speaker 1: who is the majority owner of the company that owns
Speaker 1: the network you're watching right now. Commissioner Kelly, great to
Speaker 1: have you here. Let's just talk about the basic sort
Speaker 1: of security measures that we typically see for these big
Speaker 1: events like the Times Square ball drop, where you have
Speaker 1: to corral hundreds of thousands, of not millions of people
Speaker 1: into one tight area and make sure that all those
Speaker 1: people get in safely and more importantly and get home
Speaker 1: safely as well.
Speaker 2: Right. It's a real challenge, no question that Viuder Bronse
Speaker 2: at NYPG has done it pretty well for many years,
Speaker 2: you know. And there's a core area that in order
Speaker 2: to get there, you've got to enter either on six
Speaker 2: or ath Ava, and that's where anyone going into that
Speaker 2: area will be subject to a search, and say banks
Speaker 2: would be searched, they'll be shifted to magnetomatave searches, that
Speaker 2: that sort of thing. And there's standard things that done
Speaker 2: I've done in the situations for instance, the manhold or
Speaker 2: are sealed, the mailboxes are taking away, those sorts of
Speaker 2: things which are pretty standard. And we say now that
Speaker 2: there's the counter terrorism overlight particularly we started doing that
Speaker 2: when the department started doing that since there adious events
Speaker 2: of nine to eleven. That means more police for specialized units,
Speaker 2: more UH ciphered teams, that that sort of thing, and
Speaker 2: as the committeer said yesterday, there's no credible threats that
Speaker 2: were where she also mentioned that drones will be increased.
Speaker 2: The Apartment has been using drones for the last few years,
Speaker 2: and I think that's it. That's a good thing. So
Speaker 2: a lot of cops, no question about it. It's manpower intensive.
Speaker 2: And I think another thing too to be aware of
Speaker 2: is that in the other four boroughs in New York
Speaker 2: City there are major New Year's Eve events that require
Speaker 2: a significant police presents as well. Well, you've done this before, yeah,
Speaker 2: that way.
Speaker 1: Well, that's a good point. And obviously for our viewers
Speaker 1: outside of New York five boroughs here, obviously the main
Speaker 1: celebration in Manhattan, But as the Commissioner points out, a
Speaker 1: lot of other festivities going on all around the city,
Speaker 1: and I know that keeps the cops busy on a
Speaker 1: day like tonight. Do you sort of in the past,
Speaker 1: do you get sort of get all the cops on
Speaker 1: the clock for a night like this or the majority
Speaker 1: of them if you will, or are you able to
Speaker 1: kind of do with your normal normal allocations that you
Speaker 1: would on a normal day.
Speaker 2: Well, that's the challenge. We have to please the rest
Speaker 2: of the city, and you know, eight point four million
Speaker 2: people of another you want to use. So most of
Speaker 2: the police that you'll see tonight are on overtime. It's
Speaker 2: not on their regular schedule tour of duty. It's an
Speaker 2: expensive proposition, but that's what the department has to do.
Speaker 2: There are some manpower concerns or as people leaving the department.
Speaker 2: So in order to release an event like tonight, do
Speaker 2: you use your event? You're going to have to pay
Speaker 2: a lot of overtime, but the rest of the city
Speaker 2: will be adequately policed.
Speaker 1: I am curious too, just about some of the recent events.
Speaker 1: I mean, obviously there are a lot of security measures
Speaker 1: that are to a certain sense static. I mean you
Speaker 1: can apply them this year, you can apply them ten
Speaker 1: years from now. We've had a couple of incidents in
Speaker 1: New York obviously, with the killing of the United Healthcare Executive,
Speaker 1: you've got a lot of I guess, political differentiation, if
Speaker 1: you will, for lack of a better word, and concerns
Speaker 1: about the security measures needed to protect those folks. How
Speaker 1: does the NYPD adapt kind of these sort of newer
Speaker 1: and more unique challenges that maybe puts me in danger.
Speaker 2: Yeah, there are no guarantees, but there are things that
Speaker 2: you can do. Obviously, you monitor social media closely. Usually, yes,
Speaker 2: there is some sort of political deministration, it's going to
Speaker 2: surface on the internet. We watch certain people's you know,
Speaker 2: people who have a record maybe of disruption and maybe
Speaker 2: have been hinting about coming to the event. We may
Speaker 2: surveil them, not necessarily in person, but denman whether or
Speaker 2: not you've got an analyte tickets. That's sort of thing. So,
Speaker 2: as I say, no guarantees, but the department is doing
Speaker 2: everything that reasonably can be done to protect the city tonight.
Speaker 1: I am curious though, if I can get your thoughts
Speaker 1: about the health of the Department of the NYPD. I mean,
Speaker 1: since Mayor Adams took over three years ago. We've gone
Speaker 1: through well three official commissioners and one acting, so basically
Speaker 1: four people holding that job. The current person who holds
Speaker 1: that just a tish. I believe you probably have some
Speaker 1: familiarity with her, given her experience and counter terrorism back
Speaker 1: in the early and the late arts. Here give us
Speaker 1: a sense here of what you know about her and
Speaker 1: her potential stewardship of the NYPD over the next year
Speaker 1: and maybe beyond, depending on how long she stays. Well.
Speaker 2: I know quite a bit about her. I hired her
Speaker 2: borders of the Police Department and she was there for
Speaker 2: twelve years. She has three degrees from a low degree,
Speaker 2: a business degree, and an undergraduate degree. She did an
Speaker 2: excellent job for me. She run two major New York
Speaker 2: City agencies do it, which is the Department for Technical
Speaker 2: Matters and the Sanitation Department and the reports. So will
Speaker 2: be very very positive. She is a decision maker, she
Speaker 2: very smart, and I think she will do and is
Speaker 2: doing an excellent job. So I think the police Department
Speaker 2: is in good hand absolutely here.
Speaker 1: And it doesn't matter at all this idea that she
Speaker 1: herself wasn't actually a cop herself does that matter to
Speaker 1: the rank and file.
Speaker 2: I don't think so. I think you get over it
Speaker 2: pretty quickly. We've had commissioners who have never been police office.
Speaker 2: As a matter of fact, the majority of police officers
Speaker 2: of police commencers through the history of the department have
Speaker 2: not been been police officers. The concept was always sort
Speaker 2: of a commission who watched the department and manage the department,
Speaker 2: and then it was reduced to more as to Teddy
Speaker 2: Roosevelt was on the commission. So I think she is
Speaker 2: the right choice at the right time.
Speaker 1: It gets your job done, all right, Commissioner Kelly, appreciates
Speaker 1: you taking time for us today, and of course all
Speaker 1: eyes right now focus on Times Square and all those
Speaker 1: NYPD officials hoping to keep everyone safe here for yet
Speaker 1: another New Year's Eve. Commissioner. Former NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly
Speaker 1: there served briefly under David Dinkins back in the nineties,
Speaker 1: and then did a relatively long stint under Mayor Michael
Speaker 1: Bloomberg back in the two thousands.