 Good afternoon everyone, and thank you for joining us for today's public safety briefing led by deputy mayor for public safety fill banks 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 But I would now like to turn it over to deputy mayor fill banks. So good afternoon, and thank you for joining. I'm joined here today by two guests two co-workers two colleagues Inspector Frank the jocomo who's the commanding officer of the NYPD's technical assistance response unit Which is referred to as taru and he is going to be discussing how the NYPD The FD and why the Department of Parks and Recreation and other agencies are using technology to conduct sharks surveillance near our beaches And to keep our residents safe Unfortunately, there was an attack of a shark bite and rockery beach last week and though those attacks are statistically rare We just wanted to keep you informed of exactly what the city is doing To minimize to eliminate it happening again in the future And since we don't like to focus on statistics because they only tell a portion of exactly the element of public safety Statistically is rare, but if you're the one who got bit of your family member got bit It's not real. We just want to make sure we put some sensitivity and we certainly wish The victim of that attack a healthy recovery I'm also joined today by the commissioner of the Department of Youth and Community Development Keith Howard. Keith. How you doing? All right, how you doing? I'm doing well Keith on his leadership his agency is going to take a larger role in public safety and He's going to be here to tell you some of the efforts that his agencies are going to be doing and some multi-faceted approach What does that mean? We can wait till somebody shoots and arrest them We can go take the guns off the street But there's also in addition to that and some would argue Much much more important role to be able to find out the root causes of what's causing that So we can now jump on to that to stop it from happening in the first place So it's to eliminate the violence not to just be able to have the violence take place and to be able to capture the you know capture the bag out or the bag out so and this is this like Public gun violence is not just one agency's Responsibility and typically that's fall into police departments overall And we just want the city to know exactly like the critical role that you are playing as well So when we do see that we're having statistically and we're having a violence going in a proper direction New York City for this year You and your agency deserve a large large part of that particular credit We just want the city to know exactly what you do So for those of you tuning in here for the first time the goal of this public safety briefing is to really just to keep New Yorkers You can hear directly from the administration or what we're doing what we're trying to do to keep New York is safe We certainly want to hear from you. We cannot do this alone What we're doing good what we're doing bad what we need to be improvements on What questions that you have and we want to be as transparent as possible. We want you to hear directly from us And the takeaway today is real simple share the information if you hear a tip if you hear something that you think is worthwhile Share the information with your neighbor a loved one a parent a child Just grab a text simple. I heard this text it out to someone because knowledge is power Intel is very critical So as I mentioned, there was a very concerning tragic incident that occurred earlier this week where women were swimming in Rockway Beach and she wasn't swimming far Out she was in deep sea like the deep sea fishermen She was swimming in an area where people go to the beach swim and she was a victim of a a shark attack It was a very horrific attack and we're happy that she's recovering Relatively well and that can be a scary thing to hear right like when we swim we want to swim alone Or we want to swim with other swimmers other people. We don't want to be swimming Certainly with with with sharks, but even though our beaches remain safe for our families to enjoy There was a lot of work that we put in as a city to just to be able to make sure that we're monitoring in fact and to eliminate The possibility and the mayor is real clear about this just because we haven't had an attack in New York City in 1953 That is not to rest on anybody's laurels We want to make sure that we do not suffer any attacks like that So you need to let us know what we're doing and I understand that drones right has been a very big part of what we're looking to do And since you are the expert in my PD's expert of this and you've been working with the FDMI You've been working with the parks department So I want to turn over to you now and just let the the residents of the city know exactly what you've been doing and How's it look? First of all, I have to thank the mayor deputy mayor For their support with improving taroo with technology we have actually Since the administration started we have Excels leaps and bounds with technology We are looking at the latest than the best technology to help keep public safety and keep the public safe So like the deputy mayor said about the drone So we we are using drone deployment because a drone can get up there see things Extra eyes in the sky. We can get closer to the water So we also have our aviation unit our harbour units the parks department unit the fire department all Contributing to make New York is safer at the beach So we implemented that we're gonna have drone deployments at every beach. We're gonna be at Coney Island Rockway Beach Orchard Beach and Staten Island South Beach Drone deployments will be from 0900 to dusk obviously if they extend any hours or Make it, you know any changes Us as a police department will go with those changes stay as late as we need to just to make New York is safe. Like I said, we are using all resources. We're using the fire department. They're flying with us We also have the parks department personnel with us assigned to the drone unit Because we get a lot of questions. Well, what happens if you see a shock? So the first thing if we see a shock we notify the parks department the parks department takes that and automatically Notifies lifeguards the lifeguards will shut down the beach immediately Then we will make other notifications. We will wait and follow that shock See, you know where it's gonna go And then usually if the shock goes away it's usually an hour after deciding for a mile on each side of the location the shock was So then then we'll reassess and then they will open the park the swimming again Why we're doing this? We just want New York's a no the beach will always be open this if we see shocks and only pertains to the swimming so if You know, if we see a stock shot and we're not clothes in the whole beach We're just closing down the swim portion of the park and like I said any any sightings of like since we've been doing the first Patrol in all the beaches. We haven't seen any other shock sightings except for once after the Victim was bit and we assure everybody will be out there and the drones are a vital part Because they're just given extra eyes in the sky and we also can get lower to the ground Then obviously the aviation could so Inspector these drones are the tethered or untethered These drones are not tethered and I tell it. Yeah, because if the tethered drones are just usually drones that go straight up We want to be over the water So we're using our best drones to fly over the water to zoom in with the cameras and look for anything Abnormal out in the water. So before the beach opens right before the beach opens before you're allowed to go into the water I think it's 10 o'clock, but those those hours may change We're up the drones are up there looking right before we allow people going to the beach to be able to see an absolute We're up at 0900 with the fire department with the parks department. We're out there scanning the water Also our aviation the harbor out there to making sure it's safe before they open the beaches, right? And so what we need to get the word out to is that sometimes we haven't had it So I just want to that you have sometimes When we either have to shut the beach or during the off hours unauthorized swimmers out there So no go you're not swimming out there alone, right? You could be swimming out there with the shark and if the beach is authorized hours a lot of people out there you under that Attack you're only by yourself. So, you know, we need you to follow those particular rules, right? The the hours of the beach are it's enough time if you don't go out there enjoy yourself But if you're going out there doing this or not the rise of hours you put yourself at a greater risk and You certainly put undue resources on the city because we still have to go out there to help you So please try to comply with these rules as much as possible. They shouldn't be difficult there hours We just need to comply of with them If you certainly on the beach and you see somebody in the waters during a time which they're not supposed to be Please give 311 a call or if you certainly see someone who was in danger to give 9-1-1 a call As much as you possibly can and I just really want to reiterate the inspector. It's like The public doesn't want to hear a good job, right? They just want the services of the city, right? They don't want to hear the man put money into this They just want to make sure that the services are done So I'm gonna break a rule you really really that coordination between the NYPD the FDY and a parks apartment. It's really It's really been pleasant to see because for years you just did not see the coordination that was taken place Between those agencies and the mayor has always said it's like it's all a taxpayer money It's all for the residents of the city, right? It's just we all work for new york city. The patch is also in new york city So I'm certainly very pleased. I think he's very happy about the coordination how we seamlessly working together And I just want to be able to just go on the record to be able to say thank that But in addition we get a lot of compliance from the residents, right people have been compliant They've been asking questions. They've been sending in a lot of good suggestions We have been speaking to and identifying like shock experts Throughout the the city and certainly we're going to be looking to take some trips to be able to determine since this is a Rare situation for new york city. We want to make sure that we're not behind You know the eight ball on this that we are we're getting ahead of that And as far as the drone technology We could put a lot of resources into the drone But the commitment that you do have and your members have and you know, you've given me multiple multiple presentations I see you have some of the members of your team here The city is a lot safer from the efforts that are taking place. I just want to say thank you for that. Thank you boss So everybody knows that one of the administration's top priorities is to end gun violence the mayor he ran on it He stated it all throughout his campaign And it is we have to be safe. We have to be safe. We have to be safe And one of the staples of being safe is gun violence, but let's go off This is not a like a radar. They don't necessarily go for the intended target And even if they were that still would be not good, but they fly and everybody's at risk so We have our good commissioner here And he has done a lot of work on the back end to stem the violence How do we keep the guns out of the Of the people who would be firing them? How do we change the mindsets of people to realize that? That is not the answer to any problem that you're looking to To solve and Though we statistically are doing a great job with gun violence with 274 Fewer people have been shot this year's campaign the last year 275 people right how many people are live because of what we're doing and that's fine Doesn't help if you're the victim of a gun violence and that's why I never like to overly go with statistics But the mayor always says about an upstream way, right? There's always an upstream way to do it Last week the mayor released his blueprint for community safety, which includes Almost 500 million dollars in investments to create safer communities And uh, he dumped a lot of it on your lap big guy, right? So can you let us know What you're working on your ministration is working on absolutely deputy mayor So I just want to first start off by You know just basically saying i'm proud that dycd Uh serves everyone from kenny garden to older new yorkers We like to say that we are a small agency with a large footprint dycd is integrating Violence intervention programming into our portfolio This means More coordinated services for new yorkers at risk of gun violence Why dycd deputy mayor? Our agency has a proven track record of community programming and connecting participants To services throughout the city We also have A long-standing relationship with nypd. As you know, um our saturday night lights programs uh, some of youth employment program which nypd In an amazing way stepped up this year and had a thousand young people in some of youth employment programs participants this year Last year was 813. They've increased dramatically record number We have a robust agency data collection and A demonstrated capacity to pay out Contracts expeditiously to our community-based partners I want to thank mayor adams for entrusting dycd And taking on these vital responsibility As you heard the deputy mayor say And if you also heard the the mayor say intervention and prevention are key to public safety dycd Helps address crime and violence by integrating upstream solutions into our programs including beacon programs That are running at our schools Our cornerstone programs, which are community centers that we partner with nitra Our compass and sonic after-school programs The summit youth employment program. I just spoke about that our work-loaning grow program Which deals with paid internship year-round for in school youth Our fatherhood initiative We also Contract and have amazing community-based organizations run our food pantry programs And our runaway and homeless youth Program We also are zero zeroing in deputy mayor on the top six precincts That represents 27 percent Of all of the shooting incidents citywide This includes the four oh the four two The four four and the four seven precinct in bronze And the seven three and seven five precinct in brooklyn As an agency We are prioritizing these communities throughout our programs In addition As I mentioned before our work-loaning grow program Based upon the mayor's funding has been extended to provide Seven thousand high-need students with meaningful paid Work and career exploration opportunities year-round We've also expanded our workforce programs To serve even more out of school out of work young people Now new to uh, dycd this year Is the office of neighborhood safety and the precision employment initiative this includes Atlas an evidence-based violence prevention model to serve people at high risk for Rearrest The mayor's action plan for neighborhood safety, which we call map Which targets public housing development that face the highest rate of violent crime The precision employment initiative which offers paid training career readiness and job opportunities for at-risk new yorkers And the crisis management system a network of programs and partners That promote peace community and healing in neighborhoods Most impacted by gun violence The crisis management system includes the cure violence groups A public health model which interrupts the spread of violence By engaging the high the highest risk individual and changing social norms These efforts are located in specific areas determined by a nypd data Want to give chief laboratory? A nice shout out for being so responsive to us And of course it also helps with the community providing input dycd Is laser focus on public safety? And ensuring that everyone especially our youth Has an opportunity to thrive We look forward to making every neighborhood safer For all new yorkers So an upstream prevention approach That's what the mayor wanted and that's where the funding Actually provided the additional funding that you that you mentioned and also What the gun violence task force Has laid out for dycd So you get somebody and he's involved or she's involved in the shooting and they uh, I picked 17 years of age and you ask yourself You know, I mean we can say how the person get the gun Um, and you know who gave him the gun and what was the dispute about but then it's just like the mind said Why did this particular individual feel as though this is something that was going to solve whatever issue that they had? And that's the stuff that we have to really be able to as a as a city continue to invest in Right because if you if you change the mindset and change the opportunities, you know, people don't look For that venue to solve any issues that they have but a couple things you said I want to go back on Just go into detail. What is the work on the gold program? What exactly is that program? How does it operate? So the work loan and grow program We provide slots throughout network of providers and these young kids actually work at Business and corporate and sometimes in nonprofit organizations And it's like a co-op program one week. They go to school One week they work and it targets juniors and seniors In high school. Yep Now because we're going to have uh, we're going to start to have in future Weeks members of the cure violence Network on to explain can you give her just a real quick briefing? To uh, our viewers on the cure violence program the concept behind it and how do you feel it's going? So the cure violence, uh through the crisis manager system Is 40 plus organizations Where they have real credible messengers That are out there on the streets Talking with community talking with the young people Where the goal is to try to interrupt Any type of retaliation that's going on that may happen in our communities Uh, they have already have relationships in those communities and they're able to talk to the young people to Perhaps get them to Not pick up a gun because as the mayor often said by the time that young person picks up a gun We've already lost So it's the relationship in the community is the relationship building That is key to the gobu peace model A model that originated out of chicago that came Into new york city in the past 10 years And now the mayor is looking how we can build it out provide more resources to the cure violence groups To be able to do more In those communities and fund them so that they can do more And you know just and we're going to learn more as a city about what cure violence does they are Many people refer to them as one of the unsung heroes Um of new york city and certainly when i speak about 274 few people being shot. Um, they certainly played a factor into that particular Reduction Solving these problems of public safety is not all right will not and will ever Solely or should not be the responsibility of just people just wear uniform Vital and critical is important But it's also important for those residents who live in those particular neighborhoods for us to arm them with information For us to treat them like they that we like we care for them And for give them a pathway to be able to contribute to public safety as well And I would argue that all of the success that i've seen in my time working for this city becomes a public violence That the residents of new york city Has been the unsung hero and I just want to say thank you to out there But we need to continue because this is a fight that just never ends We just have to continue to get better and better and better and better at it as we develop Into really having a city of a safety So like never ending we're going to continue to do it and we're going to get some successes We're going to get some blips down the road, but overall if we realize is that we have the same goal and work together We could do quite well and that particularly every day as well So with that i'm going to kick it to you Derek Thank you deputy mayor. We have one question Chris somerville from the daily news has his hand raised chris. You can now unmute your line I just remind her we're only taking on topic questions at this time Hello, can you hear me? We can Okay, perfect. Um, thanks for doing this. Let's just had some Um specific questions about the drones that are going to be deployed for a shark monitoring Did I understand it correctly that these drones will be flying? Seven days a week between 9 a.m. And and dusk and if so How many drones are we actually talking about that will be out there between those hours and lastly what type of cost? Will will come with that type of monitoring So we will be flying seven days a week. Um, we will be using our drone technology to to fly The cost is is that i'm using taro personnel to do it the goal eventually is So we're partnering up with the fire department and us and the pox department is our notification uh Means when we're doing it, uh, eventually the pox department will Learn to fly their own drones, but that's going to take a little Time because the fly drone obviously you have to have Certain qualifications and you have to go through some uh some training So by next hopefully by next summer The pox department will have their own drones out there, but until that happens We will be flying the rest of the summer seven days a week From 9 a.m. Till dusk Thank you 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 amount of time that we have left Our first question comes from stew in brooklyn about shark surveillance who asks How does drone shark monitoring work? Does someone have to be watching a live feed constantly? So yes, we we are Doing drone detection. I we have our pilots doing a live feed And they actually can make the term termination live on the spot And like like I said the notification is the most important thing So having a pox department person with communication with the life god is the most vital thing So having a live pilot watching a monitor seeing what's out there That's our goal to have instant response and keep the you know the public safe The next question comes from david in the bronx for commissioner howard who asks Can you speak more about ways our young people can connect with the cms programs? And deepen relationships to keep guns out of our schools and off of our streets Thank you for the question The community the q of islands groups that are out there doing the incredible work in our communities They have and part of their base Model is to do community convenings your see Some of the groups out doing Barbecuing and some of the groups will actually be out Having sporting events some groups Will do community concerts So it's a variety of different ways to connect with those groups in those communities in those districts they can Anyone who has a question on where is the nearest? Cure violence groups in their particular neighborhood. They can send me an email at dycd Connect and I can direct them to exactly what groups are in their neighborhood and what convenies they're doing And what is an email again that they should use they can use dycd connect Thank you very much. Next question is from seheath and queens about sharks surveillance who says Is the increase in shark sightings just the result of more surveillance? Well, that's actually true Um, the more we look for them shocks has always been out there. So we are actually looking for them But finding him is not a bad thing. It's all about safety. So when we find the shocks, we want swimmers to feel safe Be safe. So the more shocks we find Like like we said, it's just a question, you know, they don't You know, we don't go by numbers, but we want new york because it feels safe when we're at the beaches So we will find more shocks But with the protocols the parks department have in hand. It should make uh, you know a safe summer Next question is from kevin and yonkers for commissioner howard who asks What do you find as a leading reason for children getting involved in gangs and gun violence nowadays? So the deputy mayor can can also of course, uh, co-sign off of this Uh, what we found is that uh, uh, the young people are feeling to some degree unsafe, right? Unsafe comes from different Publications that they may have in school that spills out into local neighborhoods If you ask a young person, why are they carrying a gun majority of the time they will tell you that they feel targeted They feel unsafe And that's the reasons why one of the reasons why the other reasons why it can be anywhere from Food food insecurities to a whole assortment of different issues that actually trigger a young person to pick up a gun Thank you next our last question comes from francis in tautonville about shark surveillance who asks Through surveillance. Are there other concerns at the that beachgoers should know about is there anything else you were looking for? Well, like the deputy mayor say the biggest thing is, um, unauthorized swimming, uh, swimming without the lifeguards We want to try to get new yorkers to you know, if you see we shut down the beach to stay out of the waters until it's safe So they can get back into you know, uh safe area and uh You know, it's it's right now, you know, we we we did see some like stingrays and other other things in the water But that's part of nature. They're out there. Um But safety-wise, I mean, I think the beaches are safe and we will continue to try to keep the beaches safe Thank you and inspector We just have one follow-up question from chris sommerfeld from the daily news who asks Have nypd drones already been flying seven days at city beaches Or is this a new initiative in light of the rockaway beach attack and also asks how many drones are being utilized to do surveillance So right now we are flying one drone as nypd if fd has their own drone um, and then we also have um Many other resources used we have aviation in the air. We have harbor in the waters. We have, uh, people patrolling on the ground. We have the lifeguards. We have, um Many resources out there. So it's not just the drones being out there We have all the agencies working together to make short new york safe And this is not a new initiative. This is already been ongoing. We we we did expand to Uh, few beaches that we weren't flying out so so we can cover all beaches and make new york safer But we were only flying at a couple of uh, two beaches Um, and we will continue like I said, we will continue to fly at all the beaches for the rest of the summer Thank you very much on behalf of the adams administration I would like to thank everyone for tuning in to today's briefing. We look forward to seeing you all at our next one Have a great day