 Good afternoon everyone, and thank you for joining us for today's public safety briefing led by Chief of Operations for the Office of Public Safety Justin Meyers Following our last speaker We will take a few questions from the media followed by some questions that have been submitted by the public ahead of today's briefing I would now like to turn it over to Chief of Operations for the Office of Public Safety Justin Meyers Good afternoon. My name is Justin Meyers, and I'm the Chief of Operations for Public Safety the City of New York Welcome to our weekly public safety briefing I'm joined today by a number of my colleagues in government and leaders of various different departments and units throughout the New York City government We started these public safety briefings each week so that residents would have an opportunity to learn directly from Mayor Eric Adams Administration about important initiatives that the city government is rolling out And also pull back the curtain of government a little bit and give folks a direct opportunity to hear from our leaders in government our Various departments in government and to hear directly from the folks who are doing the work making the city of New York safe We also do this to teach folks about public safety and how they can make themselves safer Now that doesn't mean that you're facing some type of imminent threat when you leave your house in New York New York Still remains the safest big city in America But learned behavior is an important part of public safety the police fire departments They respond to emergencies, but the way that we protect cities as a whole is we each learn how to be safe None of us are born knowing that when we get to an intersection to look left and right But when we learn that learned behavior we become safer our community becomes safer and our city as a whole becomes safer So we talk a lot about various different initiatives being rolled out in a variety of different agencies throughout the city That help aim to educate New Yorkers on how to better protect themselves and how to be safer So we're going to talk about a lot of those different topics today We've got some really great guests on our show today We have FD&Y Chief Fire Marshal Daniel Flynn And he's here to talk about a new initiative to further prevent fires at bike shops and bike repair shops Shops caused by lithium-ion batteries. We also have the Department of Transportation Commissioner Yadonis Rodriguez who will highlight the DOT's efforts to increase safety for cyclists as we enter the summer season We also have NYPD Chief of Detective James Essek Who's here to talk about investigations handled by the Detective Bureau's Crimes Against Persons Unit and we have the Business Integrity Commission Commissioner Liz Crotty who'll be providing an overview of the commission's work and its efforts to protect public safety So Today we're going to kick off and start by talking to the FD&Y about an emerging issue that we're seeing here in the city of New York Lithium-ion batteries battery-powered bikes have become a ubiquitous form of transportation here in the city of New York An important piece of our transportation infrastructure But unfortunately, we're also seeing a rash of illegal Batteries that have hit the marketplace lithium-ion batteries Can be very dangerous under certain circumstances and so far in 2023 New York City has lost 13 lives to fires caused by lithium-ion batteries used in e-bikes and other Micromobility vehicles That makes it tied for first place as the leading cause of fire related deaths in New York City for this year For nearly a hundred years electrical fires were the leading cause of death in New York City And now lithium-ion batteries tie electricity as that leading cause of fire related death The most recent of these tragedies occurred just this last tuesday here in lower, Manhattan When four people tragically were killed in a fire that started an e-bike repair shop on the first floor of a building Mayor Adams the fdny and a number of other city agencies have taken numerous actions over the past year To stem the devastating effects of these fires and on wednesday mayor Adams took another step Joined by the fdny and new york city small business services to announce two more actions the city is taking to prevent these fires The first Encourages folks to report any potentially hazardous conditions involving lithium-ion batteries to fdny to 311 And we'll talk about how you identify those dangerous hazards How you report them and the actions that the fdny will take in order to Enforce the rules on lithium-ion batteries And the section second is a joint outreach and education campaign by fdny and small business services On the dangerous on the dangerous presented by lithium-ion batteries and best practices to avoid fires I'd like to turn it over now to fdny chief marshal daniel flinn We'll give us some more information and chief flinn is Really one of those incredible leaders throughout the city government that doesn't always get the limelight doesn't always Get the credit that he deserves but the chief has been serving the fdny for nearly 20 years He has numerous accolades both as a firefighter and as an investigator. He's now the chief Fire marshal has over 150 Investigators who report to him and fire marshals are actually law enforcement agents They go out and they investigate the causes of fire to determine whether any criminal activity Uh has taken place and chief flinn Leads that operation so chief. Thanks so much for being here today and talk to us a little bit about what the fdny is doing And and how we're responding to this rash of lithium-ion batteries here and issues related to them here in the city Sure. Thank you. Justin and uh, thanks for having me. Good afternoon As as you mentioned early Tuesday morning. We had a fire at 80 Madison street in Manhattan In an e-bike shop that was determined by our marshals to be caused by a lithium ion battery That fire claimed the lives of four people and critically injured two Fortunately, those people are still alive and expected to survive We've been talking about this problem for a long time now lithium ion batteries So far this year we've had 110 fires with 71 injuries and 13 fatalities Where the cause was determined to be a lithium ion battery Last year at this time we had two fatalities To put that into perspective In the entire year 2020 we had zero fatalities So this is a this is a new problem and it's a big problem as you mentioned It is uh tied right now with our leading cause of fire fatalities This week we announced the partnership with the city's small business services To continue educational outreach and to target bike and repair shops about the dangers of lithium ion batteries We we've focused the campaign on not only enforcement But education so we want to get the word out to everybody to understand Uh in these commercial establishment what are required of the owners To to maintain that safety Separately we're encouraging all new yorkers with concerns about batteries to call 311 Those calls will be turned over to our local fire companies for immediate response When fire companies do get a call related to lithium ion batteries We've instructed our members to respond forthwith If a unit is out on a fire, they'll respond as soon as possible Those complaints we pledge to everyone will be handled Addressed in some way in 12 hours. We pledge to get out to that scene to address your concerns within 12 hours Separately our fire prevention unit has conducted 10 inspections based off tips from the press City council members and other sources since wednesday Eight of those locations had already been inspected at some point two were reinspections of open violations Those inspections resulted in 11 old summits is issued Three violation orders and two criminal court summonses We want to hear from you Even if you think the issue is not a big deal We want to hear from you reach out to us let us determine whether it's a big deal or not New yorkers should call if they see things like batteries being charged less than three feet apart More than five batteries being charged at once using multiple extension courts to charge them Batteries that look like they've been tampered with and locations that look like they are not Properly licensed businesses Our fire safety education teams have also been out all over the city Reminding new yorkers of the dangers of these batteries and because we know these devices are already in people's homes on how to use them safely Do not block your exits Don't charge overnight. Don't charge unattended If you see a problem with the battery replace it. Don't try to fix it replace these batteries Uh, as I said, don't charge them overnight. Make sure that you have a plan a way out Have a small working smoke detector If you do have a fire in your house or apartment Like we've always said in the past make sure that you close the door close doors smoke detectors save lives Do not block your exits as I said our fire prevention teams have already conducted 222 inspections across the city related to lithium ion battery concerns at residential and commercial locations We've issued a total of 495 oath summonses these summonses can carry a between $1,000 and $5,000 in fines We have issued a 139 violations which which are issued for the more egregious hazardous violations We want to be clear that we support the use of these devices We are not trying to vilify in any way people that use them or sell them. We just want them to be used safely Thank you. Thank you. So Uh on this issue of Batteries and charging. Let's just real specifically for the folks for new yorkers at home watching What am I looking for as an everyday new yorker walking down the street? I see a bike shop. What am I looking for and what am I calling through and wanting to report if I see it? Uh As we mentioned, uh, uh, if you see many batteries charging in a location if you see a lot of batteries in the same area What's a lot more than uh, well, whatever you feel is a lot Yeah, but I don't want to give a number if if you feel within yourself that there's a dangerous condition Give us a call. Don't call us just about batteries. Also, we encourage new yorkers to call us with all their fire safety concerns And all of those will be addressed. We we promise that we will get out there and address them Expeditiously and we call by 311 311 unless you feel that the that the uh danger is imminent and in an imminent fire safety issue Then call 9-1-1 And also when you talk about in the event of a fire happening I think one of the most stark things that the average person doesn't realize Is how fast a fire really spreads and particularly these lithium ion battery fires how explosive Literally explosive this fire can happen You know, I've seen videos and no doubt you've been at many many scenes Where a fire starts off very very small and literally within seconds The entire house can be engulfed in flames and it's so critical for people to realize that people think Oh, there's a little bit of a fire. Maybe I can put it out Maybe I'll try to grab something from the house before I leave The key really is to get out of the house close the door get out as quickly as possible and call 9-1-1 Yes, uh, traditionally our fires we've encountered they start small and then they become large with these Particular fires they become large within seconds. Uh, so we're not getting that that initial stage of fire where where In the past you discard a cigarette and it gets small it smolders and then it becomes a larger fire with these fires It goes from zero to a hundred in a second. Uh, you can look at our Website and look at fdmy smart Where we could show you some videos of how just how violent and quickly these fires these fires spread and react And we encourage you to call if you do have a fire Immediately call 9-1-1 do not attempt to extinguish these fires on your own You will not be able to get us out there and let us let us take care of it. Excellent. Thanks very much chief This is a really important issue. Thank you so much for coming on and chat with us about it So next we have our dot commissioner, uh, commissioner yedonis rodriguez You know, I think a lot of people don't think of the department of transportation is necessarily a public safety Uh operation But the reality is is that the department of transportation has a lot of different work that they do and and commissioner Maybe you can give us a little bit of an overview on it But there's a huge component of public safety involved in transportation The dot decides what our roadways looks like It's our city advocate in albany to decide what our speed limits are what our road rules are What type of automated enforcement we deploy in the city of new york Where bike lanes are deployed where cars are allowed to drive There's really a lot of important impact on what it is that the dot does in terms of public safety and how folks Move around this city and commissioner rodriguez who was appointed by uh, mayor eric adams at the beginning of Mayor adams administration in january has been a tireless advocate for transportation issues for this city for Nearly 12 15 years now, I believe right you were a councilman before you were the commissioner of department of transportation You led the charge on a number of different types of legislation and advocacy for Roadway safety involving pedestrians and cyclists. You've been the chief uh person responsible for a number of automated enforcement rollout and uh Cyclist safety programs bike lane programs here in the city You've done so much for the city of new york in terms of pedestrian and cyclist safety And now you're the commissioner of the department of transportation where you're doing a lot of really important work Uh, you know last week on the show here We had deputy mayor banks who was joined by the nypd chief of transportation kim roister Who informed us that while traffic fatalities are slightly up year to date this year three percent That increase is being driven primarily by cyclist fatalities and many of which involve e-bikes So it's important to note that cyclist deaths here in the city are down dramatically over the last decade uh, the city's vision zero campaign, which is a A very simple concept of a campaign essentially and many cities across the country and world have adopted this campaign which is Utilizing department of transportation and city planning and other public safety resources And a goal of getting to zero deaths on our roadways, right? Traffic related fatalities is a massive issue in this country And one that i think oftentimes gets overlooked, but it is the second highest leading cause Of preventable deaths in the united states of america over 45 000 americans lose their lives on roadways every year And sure slowing down Wearing helmets taking safety precautions while you're driving or while you're riding a bike Those are important pieces of it But so much more of it is actually in how cities deploy resources and how cities do planning How we do capital projects to layout roadways pedestrian walkways Bicycle bike lanes And so our goal here in the city of new york is to stop that small uptick that we've seen in cycling related deaths this year And return to decreasing those deaths and one of the lead agencies involved is of course the dot so Very excited to have our friend of public safety department of transportation commissioner Edanus rodriguez on to talk about a new initiative The dot is working on to make cycling more safe here in the city of new york Well, first of all, thank you. Thanks to mayor eric adans and deprave a Mayor banks and all of you guys for you know working with this initiative connecting average new yorkers The city is doing to improve safety Across all agency and second. Thank you to mayor eric adans for as they move it avatar It says something. I see you to see also that someone like me Immigrants like iris and italy and say you is that can hear decades ago and the key who came in 1983 to watch This is and working at 55 water street working in this cafeteria doing sandwiches that I could be A commissioner now responsible to lead the most complex transportation system that we have in the whole in the whole in the whole work So I think that You know, there's a lot of work that we are doing today We're standing with mayor eric adans in deprave mayor yoshi we Reven cutting of you know our 25th 26 in and Broadway Well, we are reimagining how we were able to turn some of those black As paid for Pedestrian for cyclists for seating area. So the city is moving forward the city is in a good place but I can take credit for a lot of work that I have done it But most important one of the things that we had to celebrate in new york city is the value or continuity You know on the yanes silica and On mayor bloomberg. They were they built seven mile of bike lane Last year I built 27 But I would not be on 27 without we're starting with the seven So and this is like how we are looking summer street You know summer street was a big thing closing park avenue from brooklyn bridge to 70 93 Last year we took it up to 193 This year we're going to harland to 125th and starting island will not be a forgotten city Borrowed because we're going to a starting island with the summer street to brooklyn to queens to the bruns crossing Grand concourse from oscilo parkway to treatment in those spaces that's going to be dedicated for biking to So I feel that you know, there's a lot of work that we are responsible But one of the things that I want to you know in one minute to highlight it for people to ask some idea You know, what is into do t responsibility? a One a the city we had almost 6,000 Many women working at do t overseeing the most complex urban transportation network in the whole world New york city do t Manage a budget again, as you know 1.4 billion spends 30 billion capital, but we are responsible for 5300 mile or a street in high work Over 12,000 miles of sidewalk and an average of almost 800 bridges and tunnels including the east river and do t is also responsible for a 1 million street sign 13,250 signalized intersection and over 350,000 street light So yes cycling is part of the new way, but cycling is not new You know, I was born and raised in 1965 and the motor transportation My father had was dunking horses and a bike back in the caribbean What we've been told in generation is that biking was equal poverty and a car became a symbol of progress So we're working to reverse our culture What we have seen right now is that the cycling community in the city is more open class middle class Dozing Yorkers and visitors that they had they be at the master degree Now we are in conversation with the working class community and say I was riding bike with the minister's transportation of ironing And there's one information that everyone should know If you ride half an hour a bike every day, you are spending average of six years to your life So immediately it's a health benefit. It's good for the environment 2022 we had 200 million new yorkers and visitors using bike Now we have an average of 550,000 new yorkers and visitors riding a bike every day So what is the responsibility to understand that we have to share the street That the cyclists need to be safe as drivers and petitions And that's why we are working on one being sure that all of us protect the cycling We work with the tlc commissioner with the twig twig like amortize letting drivers know when we open the door Look to the back look to the front so that we protect the cyclists We also hardened in 10 miles of bike lane last last year We working we hardened in another 10 mile in knife avenue We for the first time in york city. We are riding in the bike lane So bike lane is the new motor transportation as people use buses as people use the train as people have car And walk we need to be sure that all new york can understand that we are not going backward That using a bike is good for the health people save money and it's good for the environment And therefore they have to be safe and that's why working with the fire department NYPD also do t with the leadership of major add-ins and the premier banks and yoshi We work every day to be sure that the streets is safe for petitions for cyclists and drivers They should know that they don't own the street that the street belongs to everyone and we have to share Absolutely, and and what about Uh, this campaign that the do t is running rolling out on helmets, right? So Folks don't realize how dangerous it is to ride a bicycle without helmet, right? It seems very easy You grab a bicycle. Maybe it's a rideshare. Maybe it's your own. You jump on you're just going a few blocks But people don't realize that the difference between again This is one of those small learn behaviors, right? If you just change your behavior slightly You can make yourself and your community much much safer If you are in an accident on a bicycle without a helmet You have a very very high chance of being severely injured or even being killed But with a bicycle helmet the chances of those injuries drop dramatically And so can you talk to us a little bit about what the do t Is looking to do in terms of educating riders and getting more folks out there wearing helmets here in the city of new york Yeah, and before that I want to have something as the first a conversation that you're having with our Partner agency and the fire departments on how also we a new york city do t We are working as part of the of the Money that was allocated by mayor eric adens to develop to develop a charge Save save ride that we are working with the private sector to develop a test Infrastructure that will make delivery workers job easier But also do t and this and edc though We also working in collaboration with the business incubator new lab to identify Test and evaluate the most promising public facing battery charging solution through the 2023 do t studio challenges So we are working with the private sector the academic institution And the tech community to develop a safer battery for those who use the lecture bike when it comes to You know the the whole question on that so on the department of transportation You have an annual challenge in which you go out to the private sector and talk to them about issues facing the city And see have a bit of a contest to see if folks can Deliver a new product in the private sector to address one of the public safety challenges that the city would be amazing And I think that this is something that probably one day we should go and walk and visit that that Gray incubator that we are working together with the private sector in the tech community in the in the navy jar Where you get to see how the working with collaboration and Financed by the money from major add-ons and also to t we are testing the new safer battery That we want to make accessible affordable to the to all cyclists who your lecture bike Especially the deliberate those who use the bike to go and work So yeah, we are working hard, but also we work with back new york Right, you know to be sure that also we go into the educational components on on on the bike One thing that we are doing in 2023 is also being sure that we educate everyone We had a campaign with the commission of the department of health That is in the social media that we are encouraging york to continue using more bike But also there's another piece of a few second 15 or 30 second video that I have in the social media That also one call for drivers to protect the cyclists But also call for cyclists to watch out for petitions And also and especially senior citizens and not to ride the bike in the sidewalk So we also are doing the educational component when it comes to the helmet It is not mandatory to watch the helmet if you are, you know, if you are not if you are on the 18 You have to use it if you are on the 18 if you are above 18 You don't have to use it, but I also want to highlight most of the We drivers are the one that has to protect the cyclists When you see all those data in the crashes that is happening in york city going on that A unfortunately in love cyclists or petitions lose their life or ending critical critical condition That happened in most cases because that minority group or drivers who are not the majority are reckless They're driving drunk. They drive. They are speeding. They drive will suspend the licenses So and this is a national trend that even though at the national level the number is going higher New york city is going through the it's a raw model on how we've been reducing those numbers but also we recognize that With the increase of population of money yorkers and visitors aside 20 200 millions in 2022 If 550,000 every day, it's a great number We want to see that number to keep growing but that also can be challenged So so we need to be sure that everyone Drivers protect the cyclists but also cyclists protect yourself and protect the the old petitions Especially the most vulnerable Senior citizens and don't ride your bike in the sidewalk Absolutely, and it may not be the law But I'll encourage every new yorker to wear a helmet because it does protect folks When you're in an accident if you struck if you're struck and it may not be by your own fault It may be a car door opening. It may be someone running into you Maybe someone stepping into a bike lane wearing a helmet can protect your life I tell everyone that I can remember that I can't I encourage folks to tell their friends at school Tell your family members at home Hold the public safety briefing and tell your colleague molly s from brooklyn to wear a helmet when you ride your bike to work Do it whenever you can tell folks to ride a help wear a helmet when riding a bike because if you do that You really will help us make new york city safer and you can protect your own life So next, uh, we're really fortunate to uh be joined here by chief of detectives of the nypd James esek Chief esek has been a stalwart leader in the nypd for over 40 years He's had more leadership positions in the nypd than I can count And he is now the three star chief in start in charge of the Detectives in the nypd. So he's the chief of detectives and the way the nypd works is you're a police officer You're a detective you or you're a police officer and you can be promoted to detective or sheriff. Uh, excuse me or, um Detective or sergeant. Thank you. Uh, you can also from there be promoted up to lieutenant Then captain then deputy inspector inspector then deputy chief assistant chief And then there are a couple of different star levels of chief. So one star two star three star There's a four star chief of department and then the commissioner is a five star So chief esek is a three star chief He's in charge of all investigations that take place in the nypd The chief of detectives the way the unit kind of works is you've got individual precincts And you've got detective squads in the precincts that are investigating crimes within particular communities But then there's a lot of other units that folks may not have been uh, have not heard of in the in in the past And so we wanted to have you on and highlight a couple of those units to talk about the work that they do So if you could tell us a little bit about kind of just the structure of the chief of detective's office And how that works throughout the nypd and then tell us about the crimes against persons investigation units No one wants to be a victim of crime and we certainly work every day to To prevent crime here in the city of new york But if in the event a crime does occur It's the nypd's job to make sure the incident is investigated thoroughly and that perpetrators are brought to justice And in the nypd certain types of these investigations such as robberies and larcenies are handled by the crimes against persons unit in the detective's bureau So if you could chief, please give us a little bit of an overview and share us share with us about the crimes against persons investigations Yeah, sure. Just thank you for having me. Good afternoon everybody Uh, just first I'd like to give you a brief overview of the detective bureau So the detective bureau consists of about 5500 uniform members of the service from the bureau chief myself All the way down to a detective or an investigator 3,800 investigators within the that's police officers trying to attain the rank of a detective and detectives We are divided into three distinct Divisions we have a citywide investigation division, which is your local detectives at the local precinct who handle local crime They are supported by the narcotics Personnel at the borough and our warrants personnel We also have a specialty investigation division which includes such units as our gun violence suppression division Uh, special victims division our auto crimes and our crimes against persons And then our final component or our third division is our federal task forces Which is our joint firearms task force, which is in charge of gun trafficking Uh, a drug enforcement task force which handles major case narcotics enforcement And uh, then we have commercial robberies and we also do financial crimes investigations But today I like to briefly just go over our crimes against persons Unit which prior to 2023 Uh, that unit was divided into two distinct units Which was our robbery squads and our grand loss in the units Under two separate investigators Central robbery investigations They did patterns That consisted of one or more in different boroughs or different distinct precincts Our grand larceny units did the same thing only doing grand larcenies We seen there was a close correlation between grand larcenies and our robberies a grand larceny using forces a robbery So earlier this year Uh, we determined it would be beneficial not only for staffing But for any investigations to combine these two units to the crimes against persons Under one leadership model So how we investigate robberies within the city of new york I just want to note that every robbery that occurs in city of new york our central robbery Division they will look at each individual robbery Uh, whichever unit is investigating So a single unit a single incident of robbery if there's a local precinct that local detective will do the investigation If there's multiple robberies in a precinct with the same group or individual doing those robberies It will be handled by that local precinct detective If we have multiple robberies occurring in different precincts Or different boroughs our our central robbery division now will handle that What we seen though earlier last year was a distinct change in this where we have Uh crews of robbery people or crew crews of people doing robberies Going they're very mobile and they're using scooters and or Cars and hitting multiple boroughs So for example, you'll have a crew of between three and eight any which time two or three or more will In essence shape up they'll hit places And they hit them very quickly They go to queen's north they go to queen south to hit the Bronx And then so they do three robberies We've changed the way we've do investigations after we've seen trends like that where we have each individual Robbery detective Investigate in their own borough the benefits of this is they they are familiar with the area They can deal with Each individual district attorney And it's a force multiplier on these patterns Multiple borough patterns, which sometimes grow Very large. It's a force multiplier. We have multiple detectives work in every angle some of the challenges we face in these Uh, these robberies and everybody you've seen them the masks Makes identification very difficult Every one of our robberies somebody has a mask on or a face cover that makes identification very difficult Also the use of electric scooters Moped cars where they change plates steel cars do multiple Uh robberies throughout the city and they hit very quickly sometimes three four five times every night So, uh, and da's discovery we're dealing with multiple da's on every Uh pattern robbery So those are some of the challenges we face But we've implemented the new ways how we do an investigation to this and we've had quite a few successes in taking down somebody's cruise Chief can you just share with folks? What's the difference between a robbery a burglary a larceny? Yeah, sure a robbery is forcibly taking or threatening the use of force to take property So you use a gun use a knife use physical force or you threaten it a grand larceny would be Taking somebody's properly without force very close. You're walking down the street Somebody pickpocks here. No force use grand larceny. Somebody punches here takes your wallet Robbery burglary is is committed against A property a home a commercial residence somebody goes into a house Steal some property in your house goes into a commercial establishment steal some property in your house And so if you're if you are In the unlikely event that you are walking down the street and you are a victim of a crime a burglary Excuse me a robbery or a larceny. What should you do immediately? What's what's the if in during the event? Yeah, what should you be doing and then immediately after the event? What should you? Yeah, uh Very hard because it's a traumatized and experienced somebody comes up Especially a robbery way to use in physical force as soon as you can get a good description And my new details mean a lot and investigation. There are cameras all over the city. That's how we solve crimes. We follow that The video of that perpetrator of that crime. Sometimes we go multiple burrows We're we attract somebody from Bronx to queens in the brooklyn and then we catch them without the mask without the face mask And we do pre and post video too So but if you could get a good description if there's vehicle or scooter involved Try and get the make model plate number of that description And by all means call 911 as quick as possible and get as much information. I know it's difficult It's traumatizing but if we could get that it gives our investigators a lead ahead start And when we talk about descriptions, I think oftentimes people think of just physical description But we also need to know if you notice they're wearing a particular shoe If they have a designer belt on and the color of their clothing Those are the types of things that you want to try to remember right when in when an event like this happens It's hard to tell how tall somebody is, right? Five eight to six two is not a great description when you're looking in a city of 10 million people But if they have a specific belt on a specific set of shoes on that you happen to be able to catch For you said make model a description of the vehicle that they're leaving in Those are the things that really give your investigators the tools they need and and even specific phrases words being used You know, these are pattern robberies or pattern pattern grand larcenies that we talk about so it's the same People doing them. So they they're using the same language. They're using some of the same cause they're using the same motive on how they're how they're doing it. So any any Particularly just pay attention to detail. It'll just help with our investigation And I want to congratulate you chief on your your 41st anniversary coming up with the nypd Cannot thank you enough for your service to the city the service to the department and and to the residents of the city No doubt safer for the work you've done over the last. Thank you. It's been a pleasure serving. Thank you And last but not least Really excited to have uh commissioner lis karate here. So there's you know, the city government is massive, right? It's it's people don't realize that new york city is actually larger than almost every government in this country The only governments in the united states larger than new york city is new york state california Texas and the federal government So there's a lot going on within city government and a lot of different units that aren't necessarily public facing all the time The business improved uh integrity commission is a really important arm of the public safety ecosystem And an important part of the business industry here in the city It's got a really kind of exciting and interesting Start and pass to it, right? There's there's a couple of different industries that Back in the 80s and 90s and before were plagued with some issues of corruption and organized crime And state local and federal leaders were able to work very diligently in the late 80s and early 90s to start to eradicate Uh organized crime from these industries And then the city took the necessary step of creating the business integrity commission To be able to step in and be an oversight arm of some of those industries that had historically had issues and so Liz crotty is our business integrity commission commissioner Liz has been a tireless advocate here in new york city on a number of different Criminal justice and public safety initiatives for many many years She has over 20 years of criminal trial experience And the city is so lucky to have a public servant like liz in this position doing really important work And so, you know, our often often our office often times uses the term public safety ecosystem As I said and because safety is not dependent on any one two or three agencies Every city agency has some part to play in keeping people safe And liz is doing a and her team is doing a tremendous amount of work in the business aspect of the city and the operation so We wanted to invite liz on to the show so the commissioner could give us an overview of what the business integrity commission is Introduce it to members of the city of new york residents of the city of new york And share with us how you work and how folks can interact with you and how Individual new yorkers might be able to assist your operations. Well, thank you so much for having me today Thanks to the public safety office and justin i'm excited to be here Again, I am the commissioner and chair of the business integrity commission Better known within the industry as the bick We I am the chair of the board on our board sits the nypd department of investigations department of sanitation department of consumer fair worker protection and small business services So we inherently work with all of those agencies. We were created by local law 42 in 1996 We were originally the trade waste commission We again as just in reference we were we came out of a district attorney of new york indictment in the late 90s in organized crime And so this is what was put in place. It was expanded in 2001 to include From sbs the public wholesale markets, which are primarily meat fish and produce up in hunts point And we regulate those markets as well And a small known fact we also regulate shipboard gambling As no one has applied for a license We don't do anything with that. But if anyone is interested in shipboard gambling We would be overseeing that as well The core mission of the business integrity commission is to eliminate corruption And criminality in a regulated industry Uh We want to provide a free and fair marketplace for consumers and businesses and the public in general We operate our standard that we review companies are good character honesty and integrity And we operate with the idea that integrity Uses to not pose a threat to public safety as with all things our mission has adapted over time And in 2016 we joined the vision zero task force This was codified in 2019 with local law 198 Where we were mandated with trade waste safety regulations We believe at beck that the key regulation is a key to not only criminal justice But to public safety As to what we're doing today. We have an investigative unit And we do about 200 truck stops a month working with department of sanitation and the nypd traffic unit Um, some of our initiatives are first was january 1 on january 1 of 2023 the uh, local law 56 of 2015 The side guard compliance came into effect. I'm happy to report. We're about 80 compliant We oversee um about just under 7 000 trucks And all those 7 000 trucks have to be outfitted with side guards Or with a waiver that we have worked with decast to develop the waiver And as they like to say safe, uh side guards save lives We work within the industry and closely within the carding industry to have Conversations within the industry on how better to have regulations in safety and in general Um, we had a recent town hall where we were discussing safety regulations, which were really convex mirrors Um, and our daily inspection safety reports We're happy to report that fatalities are significantly reduced this year And we hope that trend continues as with the dot commissioner. Um, we uh, we feel that unlicensed unregulated businesses Are really the biggest threat to public safety that big sees We regulate there's four different types. There are licensees, which is the participle waste They're the largest component. They're the private waste that takes away commercial waste Restaurants, um, medical waste just to name a few. We also regulate registrants, which are construction demolition trucks, um Which and then uh landscapers and lastly we added uh, micro haulers, which I think will become more important As composting becomes more and more prevalent um so in july of 2022 we had a A press conference and we had an arrest of three unlicensed unregistered companies that were working at jfk We worked with the queen's district attorney's office The inspector general of the port authority and nypd to get unlicensed unregistered Companies off of one of which had been previously denied by our commission. That's on our website To to really say no, this is a public service project and you have to be licensed and registered We have issued about 450 unlicensed violations so far in this year As noted, we do work with all five district attorney's offices when appropriate We are members of the Manhattan da's construction task force construction fraud task force And we work also with the various u.s. Attorney's offices when warranted um We do have a lot of public safety uh public safety quality of life concerns Most notably in 2023 we have 10 times the amount of commingling recyclable violations Working closely with department of sanitation. Uh, we are always working to help Maintain unsanitary conditions from private sanitation operations I'm happy to report on my block when I saw a bad Garbage situation. I not only took photos. I tracked it down With the decal because there's supposed to be decals on various garbages would make it easier For us to track down who the garbage company is to clean up the garbage On my block. So we we look to the public really for the most complaints The business integrity commission is here for you And that you can submit complaints either through 311 or directly we have a hotline at 212 437 0600 Or on our website, we do have a form nyc.gov backslash bick where you can put your Complaints in we do have an investigation unit that is responsive to all these complaints Anodotally this morning. I was talking to the fire marshal and I was telling him when we were looking at some our past complaints We had an improper Improper disposal of an ion battery mixed with commercial garbage, which was causing fires in the backs of garbage trucks So not only do you have to make sure that they are stored correctly and used correctly You also have to make sure they are disposed of correctly. So thanks so much and I appreciate being here today Absolutely. Thank you so much commissioner and thank you to everybody who joined us here for the weekly public safety briefing Now we'll shift back over to take some questions As I mentioned we we've get these calls and notifications from a variety of sources the media Neighbors people calling us directly just since Wednesday, we've we've received 10 referrals that that prompted inspections 10 referral 10 inspections and then I think you said you found two serious violations or three serious violations My question there is since we learned on Tuesday that The ftny was already familiar with issues at any madison street What do you do about these serious violations to avoid a similar situation where you know? There's a trouble spot and all they have now is a violation We're going out every day and and trying to identify these locations. They pop up every day They're throughout our city. So we're doing our best and we we encourage the The public help in identifying locations in your neighborhood that you feel are unsafe and help us To help you and locate these places and conduct inspections. We're going out every day as I said Conducting inspections and identifying locations writing summits is when when necessary and Conducting education when when necessary, which which is in every location. We want people to know How to how do to comply with the fire code and how to act safely and share with them things that we've learned up until this point That are endangering the lives of our citizens not just in commercials But also in residentials the majority of our fires are related to this issue are in are in residential buildings So we we want to address the commercial concerns But we want our citizens to understand how to use these things safely And just a point of clarity. We've received from 311 Six phone calls on this since the initiative started on four locations So we had three duplicate phone calls for the same location But additional opportunities for media for people walking into a fire department to report something that they're seeing But specifically from 311. We've had six calls and all of them have been investigated Uh, we have to check with uh, our folks and let you know if we can do that A safe battery one is looking to replace the one that and then you know, of course to dispose again. Uh, what makes a battery safe? Well, many batteries can start out safe and then become unsafe So they are our city is uh as harsh weather conditions So we're subjected subjecting these devices to a lot of wear and tear So we want also to encourage people to Monitor their battery inspect it take a look at it. Does it have an odd smell? Is it leaking? Is the is the casing broken? We don't want people to repair them We don't want people to replace them with uh with used cells The mayor signed a local law, uh, which takes effect in september which would require all batteries sold within the city to be Tested by a nationally tested laboratory. We think that's going to go a long way and uh, we encourage people to buy batteries From nationally tested laboratories and those batteries come with a sticker on them So if your battery has that national tested laboratory sticker on it, then it's an okay battery Uh, and as the chief said if a battery is damaged, there are any issues with it You need to dispose of it properly as well. You can't just throw it away, right? You have to go to fdny's website They have clear direction on how you dispose of these batteries and get them uh out of your house safely All right earlier this week the administration reached out to new yorkers asking them to submit questions for the officials that have joined us here today We will now get to as many of those as we can with the time that we have left Our court our first question comes from we actually received several of this question Um for the department of transportation which says what types of scooters or electronic vehicles are regulated or required to be registered First of all Any vehicle that that have a vi a vi n number Must be registered by the department of motor vehicle And and that's something that we take very seriously working with Of course with the leadership of majority guidance nypd fire departments And also the chair of new york city We all work Every day identifying any store that they sell any vehicle that they are not Supposed to do business a wave So it means that anyone who is selling any vehicle. They should know that if there's a vi n number They must be registered and what we are going to be sure do the educational part but also doing the enforcement part A That's you know, we know that because of the demand and how easy to make order online 80% of new yorkers are ordering online and 20% are ordering four times a week So it's very easy to order through amazon through ups So this is our time Therefore we work, you know to be sure that we do the education and we also been sending the message Very clear that we watching those individuals that they are using any type of electrical scooter or mapper that they They are not legal or that they are not registered and this coming summer we will be on the street one more time Our next question comes from peggy in the bronx for the office of public safety and the nypd Hello, how can I find out if there is a neighborhood watch group where I live in north river dale that I might join Well, there's a number. That's a great question and there's a number of community boards Every borough in new york city has a local community board That should have access to information about your specific community. You can find that just with a quick internet search You can also visit the nyc.gov community affairs website for a list of all community boards to find your own Community board in your local neighborhood and contact them or simply call three one one for your specific question You are in community board eight in the bronx and their phone number is seven one eight eight eight four three nine five nine And additionally every local nypd precinct has a community affairs officer Who has a list of all civilian groups within their precinct and I encourage everybody to engage with your local precinct Go to your local community precinct meetings Meet your community affairs offer the officer. They can be a great resource to you and your neighborhood Next question comes for the fdny from sanya in the bronx who asks Is it safe to keep e-bikes unplugged outside in a yard all year round or inside the home unplugged all year round? My home is made of wood mostly and i'm concerned about e-fires Uh, that's a great question sanya. Thank you. Uh, we we encourage people to charge and store these devices outside when possible, but We understand in our communities that that option is not available to most of our our neighbors That's why we've developed fire safety tips, which you can find on fdny smart on our website When it does apply to storing these and charging these indoors So ideally if we can keep them away from combustibles and monitor them like while charging We encourage people to do that. Uh, when you have to keep them inside Please follow our safety tips, which include do not block your primary means of egress Which means do not put them by your your exit have a have a safety plan if this does cause a fire Make sure you have access to your fire escape Have working smoke detectors and again if you do have a fire make sure you close the door behind you when you leave Thank you. And our final question comes from dina in the bronx for the nypd Who asks with the first official day of summer what additional measures are being put into place to curb violence? So in 2020 21 and in 2021 we've seen a substantial increase in violence throughout the city Last year we made some significant progress. We're making some significant progress again this year with our violence But in as terms of uh this summer We've identified summer zones Where we're redeploying 800 uniform offices into the most violent areas throughout the city In addition to that we have upstaffed just prior to the summer We have upstaffed our narcotics units throughout the city who will Do enforcement and or cases on entrenched narcotics locations in each borough throughout the city We also have our gun violence suppression division or violent crimes division Who do targeted long-term investigations and cases against individuals? Who are engaged in violence and or gangs or crews who do violence? We've seen many takedowns across the city just recently Last year into this year we've taken record numbers of guns off the city But it's not just taking the guns off the city We have firearms units who report under me who work with the atf Who are trying to stop the trafficking coming into gun trafficking from source state? Source states so that that's part of our plan and Also, we have deployment meetings on a daily basis Where if we see violence we can redeploy Resources in there to prevent the violence Now I would just note that the work that the summer deployment teams that the chief mentioned Is already having a great impact on our city streets Crime over the last 28 days since those deployments have been Sent out into those 64 zones that are identified based on historic crime numbers Crime overall crime the city is down and year to date as the chief said Shooting violence in the city is down dramatically 23% and so we're seeing an impact on that summer safety plan already And I know the nypd. You'll keep their foot foot on the pedal and make sure the city remains safe for the coming months With that that concludes our weekly public safety address Thank you all for joining us and if you'd like to stay informed about upcoming public safety briefings Please visit here from eric.com and sign up to receive emails directly from mayor eric adams On all the different things that the mayor and the city government is doing to protect city residents All year long. Thanks so much. Have a great day