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Transcript: Mayor de Blasio Holds Media Availability with Commissioner Bratton

November 2, 2014

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good afternoon, everyone. I want to talk about the big picture for a moment here, when it comes to keeping the people of this city safe.

I’ve said it many, many times, the New York City Police Department is the world’s finest. We see it over and over again, every day. We saw it today with a safe marathon – the biggest marathon in the world. And everything that was done, in the way of security preparation, was outstanding and the execution was flawless – another example of what the NYPD is capable of, another example of the leadership of Commissioner Bratton. And I think the NYPD, at this moment, is the best it’s ever been. And I think it’s on the pathway to even higher heights, to even greater accomplishments.

New Yorkers see this every day as we go about our lives. Crime is at historic lows. Extraordinary things are happening. In August and September of this year, the fewest shootings since the city started compiling data in 1993 – fewest shootings in the month of August and fewest shootings in the month of September in over 20 years.

You can see clearly, so many important areas of improvement – robberies, over 2,000 fewer robberies this year, at this point, than last year. That means a lot to the everyday lives of New Yorkers.

And so importantly – at the end of October – we have 20 fewer homicides this year than at the same point last year.

These are extraordinary accomplishments. The credit goes to Commissioner Bratton and his team, and the hardworking men and women of the NYPD. These are facts. These are facts that’ve played out over the last ten months.

At the same time, the NYPD has been putting real reforms in place. You know, when I ran for office, the question always was – could you keep the city safe and make reforms, and bring police and community closer together? I said, time and again, we could do both. Over these ten months, you’ve seen it with your own eyes under the leadership of Commissioner Bratton in keeping crime low and the reforms are moving forward.

The commissioner has instituted a program to retrain literally every officer at the NYPD to help them work more closely with communities, to help them improve their approach to the invaluable work they do, and to build bridges between community residents and members of the police force.

You know, so many elements go into these improvements, these changes, and they keep coming one after another. A few weeks back, it was the announcement of retraining the entire force. Just days ago, the announcement that we would add new cutting-edge technology to our force – literally every man and woman of the NYPD being given handheld technology that would allow them to improve their work, to have the latest information in seconds, to play a frontline role in the battle against crime and terror every day more effectively, because they would have this information at their fingertips.

I have absolute confidence in Commissioner Bratton and his leadership team – absolute confidence in the direction they are taking the department. We consult constantly. We share a vision. He is implementing this vision in an extraordinary fashion. And that’s nothing new for Commissioner Bratton. We’ve seen him do it over and over again over the last 20 plus years. And he believes, profoundly, in bringing police and community together, and like me, believes in a police leadership that reflects the great diversity of this city.

I came into office with a pledge to New Yorkers that again, we would do two things at the same time – keep crime low and institute profound reforms. We would keep New York City the safest city in America – the safest big city in America. We would improve upon the record with each and every year in a whole variety of ways, while bringing police and community closer together. I’m proud of what’s happened the last ten months and it’s a great platform for many improvements to come.            

Now, those are the facts. That’s the reality. That’s what we’ve all lived these last ten months.

I want to say a few words about some of the falsehoods that have been reported in the last few days – accounts that could not have been more wrong about the facts. And I want to make it very plain. Some of the reporting – we’ve seen unnamed sources who make up entire conversations in their heads and tell flat-out lies.

And that doesn’t help any of us. That misinformation doesn’t help any of us move forward. It does not help or support the mission of the NYPD. It doesn’t help the rank–and–file officers who protect us every single day. It doesn’t help the work of bringing police and community closer together.

Those falsehoods don’t take us forward. They attempt to take us backwards. But I am not going to be distracted. Commissioner Bratton is not going to be distracted. The NYPD is not going to be distracted. We have a clear sense of mission. And we’re continuing on that mission.

This is the greatest police force in the world. It will get even better, and I’m proud to work closely with Commissioner Bratton on that mission.

Quick moment in Spanish.

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish] 

With that, I’d like to welcome Commissioner Bratton to say a few words.

Police Commissioner Bill Bratton: Thank you, Mr. Mayor, It’s unfortunate that some of the reporting of the some of the events of the department the last couple of days have distracted, temporarily, from, one, all the good that the mayor has indicated that has been occurring in the city since his election – since my appointment as police commissioner. The department is moving forward.

There are those, including many in your world – the world of media – that predicted doom and gloom upon his election and the change in leadership in the city – the Mayor’s Office and Police Commissioner’s Office.

It hasn’t happened. The city has gotten safer and is continuing to get safer and will continue to get safer – assisted significantly by one – as the mayor has pointed out – the $150 million dollars in technology that was recently approved by him and Cy Vance, that will allow officers in this department to have state-of-the-art technology.

Two, for the last ten months that you have reported on this – many of you in this room – the department has been engaged in a massive reengineering effort in which we have conducted extensive citywide polling of thousands of New York residents. We have surveyed out own personnel – thousands, tens of thousands of them have responded to those surveys. We have conducted hundreds upon hundreds of focus groups to get an understanding of what they feel their needs are.

And we are now in a position to build on that laying out, if you will, of a blueprint. And to implement that blueprint, this week, I will be announcing – some of those announcements have already been made – leadership changes in the NYPD to ensure that the continuation of the crime reduction, the continuation of the improvement of the technological skills of this department, the continuation of the counterterrorism capabilities, and maybe most importantly, the repair of damaged relationships that many of you have reported on – that have been significant, and it’s unfortunate that they exist, but they do. The reality is, that in many of our communities of this city, there has been a loss of trust in the NYPD – a lot of it around the stop-question-and-frisk controversy.

We are moving forward. And to move forward, and to ensure that we continue to improve, a new leadership team is being put into place.

It’s unfortunate that there’s so much attention being focused on the fact that out of all of the changes of leadership that are occurring in the NYPD, many of which will occur tomorrow at the promotional ceremonies where many very talented individuals are being promoted into new positions of responsibility, where I’m putting my team into place – that one individual decided that the change in assignment did not suite his personal, professional needs at this time. That individual, Chief Banks, who I’ve spoken about on Friday, as in terms of my impressions of him, which are universally very good impressions – that we worked well over the last ten months. And I had looked forward to working with him in a more significant leadership capacity in the reorganized NYPD.

A decision was made by him – and it was his – that he was going to step aside. I’ve already indicated, because of the great depth of talent I have at the NYPD, that on Wednesday, I will announce his replacement. And we will move forward with those changes. The NYPD is more than just one person, and that’s a good thing, because I have so many talents of people to choose from.

Would my preference have been to have had Chief Banks as my number two? It certainly would have been. Again, that’s not my choice. It was his and we’ll move forward.

As to the reporting that has occurred around this event – I hesitate to use the word “reporting” in some respects – in that the fabrications – the sourcing, if you will – is nothing short of outrageous. The idea of personal conversations in which only two people were part of those conversations – whether it’s between the mayor and I or whether it’s between Mr. Banks and I – are being reported as facts by people who weren’t there. Where are your journalistic ethics in the sense of how you’re presenting this story to the public?

There are so many good things happening in the city, and to have these unnecessary distractions created for whatever purpose, on the parts of some of the pundits in the city – I don’t get it. Why are you trying to damage the image of this city – the extraordinary work of the men and woman of this department – and make something out of nothing?

One individual is leaving the NYPD. There are 50,000 people. They have cops like Officer Healey, who is in the hospital, mending from the hatchet attack. I have cops that were engaged in a shootout last night – the 6-7 Precinct. I have cops today who did an extraordinary job policing this city, keeping it safe, managing one of the largest events that the city handles every year.

And to be spending time dealing with the rumors, the innuendos, the distractions that are being presented as fact – well I’m here to say they are not fact. They are, for whatever reason, being advanced by some of the pundits in this city as fact. They are not. They are falsehoods. They are fabrications. They are intentionally intended to harm, and I regret that that’s the case, because I have the greatest of respect for the media in this city – for you. And I would hope you would have the same thing for us. But apparently you don’t.  Because otherwise, why are all the falsehoods, why are all of the misrepresentations – why make this a much bigger story than it should be?

A person is leaving the NYPD – a person who has served this department very ably for many, many years. He should be allowed to leave in peace – his choice – celebrate his accomplishments, and the department moves on.

Instead, we have this. Unfortunate, but I should reiterate, as I reiterated to the mayor – and I should point out, I’ve worked for eight mayors during my time as a leader in American policing – this is the best one I’ve ever worked for. The best – and I’ve worked for some strong mayors and accomplished mayors, some very successful mayors. The relationship we have is extraordinary – the trust we have in each other, the confidence he has placed in me, the confidence he has placed in the team of people around me.

The misrepresentation in the last several days in some of the news media outlets of this city – it’s disgraceful. It really is. It is not the reality of the relationship that we share. And it’s a relationship that this city benefits from, because a mayor and a police commissioner – and I have worked when those tensions have existed. You’ve reported on them. It works better when those tensions don’t exist. And one of the reasons why it’s working so well now is that there are no tensions.

I have great latitude in the management and the running of the NYPD, including the selection of its leadership. I report to the mayor, and I brief him on who I’m looking at, who I’m selecting. He nods his head and says, go for it. Go get it done.

And my commitment also to this city -- a very diverse city, one of the world’s most diverse cities – is that I will attempt to make the upper-level ranks of the NYPD reflect what this city looks like.

However, the first requisite to leadership in the NYPD always has to be the ability and capability to do the assignment. And then if I have the ability to have a person of color – male versus female, female versus male – then that factors in also. And if I luck out, I get both. But at this time, I think I can feel quite proud – as I think this mayor does – of the diversity that we have brought to the leadership ranks of the NYPD, including the promotions tomorrow.

Somewhat overlooked in some of the reporting of what’s been going on here, is that tomorrow, the leadership of this department will probably be more diverse than it’s been in quite some time. And it is also leadership that will function as a team because it’s necessary that the people that work for me get along with each other, that they do function as a team, and they will. And though we’ve lost a very valued member of that team – like any team – we have depth, we bring somebody up – else up and move them in.

Then on Wednesday, I’ll make that selection and then we’ll move on. And I hope those of you in the media basically move on also.

There’s just better things to report on. Actually, a very good story today that the NYPD Runners Club, for the first time, won the Mayor’s Cup – since 2002. So, after 11 years, its back and it will be in my front office tomorrow morning, proudly displayed. So there’s a good news story.

Good news story yesterday – we had 150 young people from all over the city in my police auditorium, with 50 volunteer officers who came in on their day off to play chess – to spend the day building relationships with each other. Channel 2, Channel 1 – NY1 covered that story yesterday. Daily News had a nice little piece on it today. I wish more of you had been there, because that’s what’s happening in New York City – a police department that’s working very hard to be a part of the community, to work to undo some of the damage that unfortunately – not intentionally – was done over the last several years.

So, we will get that done and we’ll deal with the distractions, like we’re dealing with it right now -- but we move forward. And to this mayor, I say thank you for the opportunity to meet these challenges, to address crises, and make a challenge out of them and move forward. It’s an opportunity that I could not pass up and I’ll look forward to working with the mayor for years to come.

And I would emphasize that, as Mark Twain, and I’ll paraphrase – reports of our demise are greatly exaggerated – that, if anything, we’re just beginning a relationship. I feel kind of like the last scene of Casablanca in some respects, as we walk across the airport to carry on the fight and we shall. So, excuse my long-windedness but I think certain things needed to be addressed at this table today.

Mayor: Amen. Thank you, commissioner. We welcome your questions. We want to keep it to this topic only. Yes –

Question: There have been many reports, as you know, about a problem with the first lady and you, that you two don't get along. And that she said to her husband, "we can't trust him," meaning you. Where does the first lady play in this extraordinary relationship, as you say, [inaudible]?

Mayor: Sure. Well, let's start at the beginning.

Chirlane's my best friend, my partner in everything I do, my number one advisor. She was a strong supporter of the selection of Bill Bratton as commissioner. She thinks he's doing an outstanding job. I think he's doing an outstanding job.

It's obvious. Anyone with eyes to see can see what's being achieved here. And, you know, in the vein the commissioner spoke about, of fabricated dialogue, and such a level of falsehood – literally, conversations that never happened, conversations that are the exact opposite of the feelings of the people involved.

I mean, you know, I am proud, as the commissioner does, to make myself available to the media. It's part of what we do in a democracy. If anyone wants to know my view, they can ask. If they want to know her view, they can ask, but to literally come up with whole – from whole cloth – ideas that never were expressed.

Now, I can tell you one thing – the first lady shares my absolute faith in this commissioner, and the pride we feel in the progress that's being made. And on Wednesday, you're going to see a full leadership team for this department that's going to help us take the next step forward, and that's going to be a good day for New York City. 

Commissioner Bratton: I could speak to that for a moment.

Like the mayor, I'm blessed to have a wife that is also my strongest confidante and advisor, and like his, a beautiful woman, and we have enjoyed double dating, and we're in the process of trying to arrange the next double date, but with our respect to schedules, it's been taking us a little longer. Because we have enjoyed those opportunities to socialize, and we look forward to doing them in the future.

Question: Why does [inaudible] of a news conference at Gracie Mansion on a Sunday? Are you worried those reports would snowball, or what's the concern?

Mayor: No, it's a great question, I appreciate it because the amazing thing is, a lot of good people, a lot of decent people, see something in a newspaper, and take it as fact, even when it's wholly fabricated. And I think – to echo the commissioner's point – I know a number of you, for a long time. I think you have a pretty sacred responsibility to the people of this city, to portray the truth and to make sure it is carefully sourced. When literal and entire fabrications are put forward, it can only cause pain to people. It can only cause confusion to people. And that's not how we move forward as a city.

We are here to keep people safe, and to heal the relationship between police and community, and move us forward. So, when an atmosphere of conflict is suggested where it doesn't exist – the commissioner described our relationship very kindly, and I'm honored by his statement, but he also described it very accurately. We consult constantly. I have great faith in his judgment. If I have concerns or questions, I raise them, as he does to me. It's a very fluid relationship, and a very supportive relationship.

I have such respect for the way he goes about putting together his leadership team. This is a man renowned for his belief in creating a team, his belief in bringing talent up, and giving them an opportunity, and creating a team that can do extraordinary things. That's the story of what happened in the early 1990s. Yes, he was the leader, but he had extraordinary people around him. He's the man who realized what Jack Maple had to offer this city, and this city is a different place because Bill Bratton was willing to take that chance. He did it with people over and over again, here in New York, in L.A., and he's doing again now.

So, I think the point is to set the record straight. I think when sure misinformation, pure fallacy, is put out in a major news outlet, it's our responsibility to set the record straight. 

Question: [inaudible] commissioner, who said the people who are putting this out maybe are doing it intentionally, and they're creating harm. Could you just sort of elaborate on what you think people are trying to accomplish by putting these stories out [inaudible]?

Mayor: Well, they're obviously doing it intentionally, because it's made up. And presumably, they have a difference with the direction that we're taking this department in.

Look, the people of this city have spoken. The reason I'm sitting here – we're in Grace Mansion. Let me just bring this to a moment of realization. We're in Grace Mansion. I was not necessarily the one that was expected to be here.

He's in Gracie Mansion because I was elected to change things, and he is the finest police leader in America, and someone who believes in bringing police and community together. This is the will of the people.

Some people didn't agree with that judgment. Some people didn't like it. Some people seek to obstruct it. And that doesn't surprise me, but I think what's interesting is, those very same people know that they're losing the game. Because this is what the people want, and because it's working.

So, sometimes people get desperate and resort to lies, and I think that's what's happening here. 

Question: Question for Commissioner Bratton, you mentioned double dates for the mayor and first lady. Do you have a personal relationship with Chirlane, and how would you define that? Has she been consulted on your [inaudible]?

Commissioner Bratton: I'm sorry, what was the last part of the question?

Question: Has she been consulted on your pick for [inaudible]?

Commissioner Bratton: No. My relationship with the first lady is strictly social, in terms of the occasions that, socially, the mayor and I, and Rikki and I have interacted with her, or at public events.

It's part of the misrepresentation, and I would argue, the intentional misrepresentation – it's repeatedly referenced that, God help us, that the First Lady of New York attended a CompStat meeting. One of the papers today talked about her attending CompStat meetings, as if somehow or another, she's a regular attendee.

She, like many, wanted to see what this fabled CompStat was all about, because she hears so much about it. I constantly invite people. There's almost not a week goes by that there's not a visitor or visitors to CompStat. This Thursday, at CompStat, we're going to have the head of Scotland Yard, we're going to have the chief of police in Los Angeles, chief of police in Washington, DC, chief of police in Philadelphia, the head of the DNI, possibly. And about 100-some-odd other police chiefs who will be in the press room watching it on television, because they want to see it, they want to know what it's all about.

But the idea, the way it was represented in one of the stories today, which – God forbid, she attends CompStats – sorry, she attended once.

And, so there's what I'm talking about this idea of an acute use of language, in the sense of, here's a quote, and then all of a sudden we slide into another quote that has nothing to do with the source of the first quote, it's – if you parse the words very carefully, it's quite clear what's going on here.

Question: Just the second part of the question, was she consulted, by you or by [inaudible]?

Commissioner Bratton: I don't know. Basically, the consultation is really the informing of the mayor of my intention, get his input, his thoughts, but in terms of – I have had total freedom on the appointment and assignment of personnel in the NYPD. And he has supported that totally, as he is supportive of the recommendation that I will be making to him about the appointment I will announce on Wednesday. 

Question: Mr. Mayor, did you and Chirlane discuss the retirement of Banks, if so, what did you guys discuss?

Mayor: Well, again, I'm not going to go into the depths of a private conversation. I'll simply say that she has tremendous faith in this commissioner, and the direction in which he's taking the department. She has absolute faith in his judgment. In fact, when she came back from CompStat, she told me that her respect for Bill Bratton, which is already great, had only grown by experiencing it firsthand, and seeing that the legend was true of what CompStat meant. So, that's what she thinks. 

Question: [inaudible] Sharpton [inaudible] why is it important to call Sharpton [inaudible]?

Mayor: I just have to reflect upon how interested everyone is when certain individuals are called or consulted. And I think, again, I would ask people to think a little more deeply about some of the patterns here. It's very normal for any leader to consult with the person – let's first go back to my wife, with the person they're closest to in the world, just as the commissioner consults with his wife.

I think it's fair to say, in the case of Reverend Sharpton, he's one of the more prominent leaders in this city, and certainly the most prominent civil rights leader in the country. That would seem a normal person to inform, in this case, and also ask advice from. The way that people keep coming back – respectfully, I'm very interested in why you keep coming back and coming back to the same people, and I'd like to ask you to think about why do you keep coming back to the same people?

I don't think the people of this city think that way. I think there was an election, and they have faith in the direction we're going, and they certainly have faith in this police commissioner. I think a lot of what's going on here is distraction. 

Question: Commissioner, question for you. You're talking about, obviously, [inaudible] is there anything specific you could talk about [inaudible] rank-and-file among your leadership at the moment, [inaudible]?

Commissioner Bratton: There's two types of morale – [coughs] excuse me, I'm dealing with a cold – that is personal, you know, do you like the assignment, do you like the people you work with? There's professional – do you like the department, do you like the direction it's going?

So, in terms of morale, you're going to have to speak to each individual officer about the personal. I think many of them like what they're doing, like their assignments – probably the vast majority.

In terms of the professional, I would point to what we spoke about earlier, about the distractions that take away from their performance. And morale is reflected in performance. Crime is down – fairly significantly, almost another 5 percent, homicides down again this year, shootings – for several months, the – it was all about a rise in shootings. The rise in shootings amounted to – right now, I think we're dealing with 40 more shootings than we had in all of last year. That's about one a week.

My God, go back to the 1990s, when we were having 10, 20, 30 of them a day. So, morale in the department, I think at this juncture, is pretty good. I'm happy with the direction we're going. I think a lot of the cops will be.

There's a lot of issues in a police department at any given time. But again, these types of distractions – this idea of, there's dissension among the leadership of the department – sorry, there isn't – that one individual decided that the new assignment, at this stage of his life, was not what he wanted. And he made a choice to step away. And I – as we've indicated – I regret that. But the department is continuing to move forward. 

Mayor: I just want to add, I think on the question of any professional, how they feel – people like to play for a winning team. The men and women of the NYPD are on a winning team right now.

Crime has gone down in many, many substantial ways. The technology's getting better. The training's getting better. When I think about what makes any profession great, and what makes any professional even better at what they do – training, technology, the kind of people they have around them who can support them and influence them, the kind of leadership they have.

I've talked to a lot of officers. Their respect for Bill Bratton is extraordinary. He is the finest police leader in the United States of America. And when you add up all those factors, I think for a lot of our police officers, they know they're on a winning team – they know they're on the finest police force in the country, and it's getting better. And that's a great way to encourage good morale.

Phil: Last call, guys.

Question: Just a quick question – given how this press conference is about a lot of worrying about the first lady, [inaudible] where is she right now?

Mayor: She's at Gracie Mansion. 

Question: She's here, but not here.

Mayor: Yeah, because she's the first lady. She has a different role.

Phil: One more, guys.

Question: I just gotta go back, because I'm not sure you gave a full answer. If the Post story is fabricated and cut from whole cloth, why not just ask for a correction, or for them to run a – clear it up and ignore it – do you run the risk of legitimizing that narrative, which you say is bunk, by calling everybody here and getting a second cycle of stories about it?

Mayor: Respectfully, if the process of correction worked properly in the media, that would be an interesting and fair question. A correction, if it is published, is a non-event that no one ever sees. That's the reality of things. Falsehood gets put out into the ether, and suddenly, a lot of people think it's fact because it's not countered. I learned a long time ago, you respond to falsehood at the point of contact.

So yeah, could it cause more stories that point out that the truth is not what was reported? Yes, it may cause those stories, and I'm proud if it causes a discussion of what's true, and what's false.

But again, I think one reason for calling you guys together was to correct the record. Another reason was to put things in perspective. And I hope, from what you've heard here today – again, you have plenty of opportunity, you've had an opportunity now to ask those questions, and many, many other times over the last ten months, you'll have many times in the future – if you want to know about this relationship, ask us. We're right here. It's a tremendous relationship.

I am very gratified by what Commissioner Bratton said, but let me say it again – I don't know how many times I've said, he's the finest police leader in this country. I know it in my heart. I have been studying him for the better part of two decades, and I've talked to leaders of American policing, throughout the time in which I was running for mayor, and the answer was abundantly clear – this is the best there is.

And the relationship we have happened very organically. I just have immense respect for him. And we've worked through a number of situations, some of them very, very complicated in terms of what the world has offered us. It’s not every day you have an Ebola crisis, or a number of the other things we’ve seen.

But I find him to be an extraordinarily steady-hand at the wheel, a tremendously wise leader and someone I have absolute faith in. So, if anyone wants to know about the relationship, it’s really easy to find out. Just ask me.

Commissioner Bratton: Let me speak briefly to a couple of the events that supposedly occurred. I think it was reported that I was called over in the afternoon to the mayor to be chewed out – to basically paraphrase the comment.

We had a regularly scheduled meeting on Friday morning, 9:00 o’clock. And I went with a number of people from my staff – he has a number of people from his staff that routinely meet once a week. And we had extensive conversations on a number of issues, as we do – Ebola situation, the crime stats, the current state of terrorism.

And, by the way, the situation I had learned about 15 minutes before going over to meet with the mayor – that Chief Banks informed me that he was not going to accept the promotion, but instead was going to retire. Between the time of that – me being informed of that and going over to City Hall – NY1 was already reporting that conversation that had occurred in my office not ten minutes before, with just two people in the office.

It was reported that I was so visibly shaken I needed – I’m looking at this glass of water – I needed a glass of water to basically calm me down. Where the Hell did that come from? I don’t recall I had water in your office –

Mayor: No, no water.

Commissioner Bratton: He doesn’t even offer coffee, let alone water when we have these meetings.

No, it’s just made up, after made up, after made up from source, after source, after source. Whatever happened to the corroboration of sources? There’s a lot of people who have axes to grind – and whether it’s against Phil Banks, whether it’s against Bill Bratton, whether it’s against this mayor.

And when you give them that opportunity, even right now the frenzy vote – who am I going to appoint on Wednesday? Where the hell are some of these names coming from this morning at the [inaudible].

I know who I’m appointing and I just have to laugh at all these inside sources that – is nobody that I have told – including the mayor – who that person is at this juncture – nobody. And when I basically inform the mayor, in the next day or so, we inform you. But anybody else who says they know – they don’t. And that’s what I’m talking about – the so-called “sourcing” of people in the know. Two of my closest confidants in this room, Steve Davis and John Miller – they don’t know, much to their chagrin because they’re used to being in-the-know on everything. But they don’t – it’s up here. Even my wife doesn’t know and I usually tell her everything. So this is just an example of the feeding frenzy fed by those that are trying to show their importance. It’s just another example of it and for what purpose are we going to stir up the controversy.

Mayor: Right and the idea is we’re trying to do serious work here. We’re literally trying to save lives, we’re trying to make this city safer, we’re trying to heal wounds that were years and years in the making and I think it is very important to set the record straight and I think it is very important to say we’re resolute. We are resolute about making these changes. So we will set the record straight and then we’ll get right back to work. And I don’t think this is the last time we’ll have to confront falsehoods, but I can tell you, we will get that out of the way and we’ll go back to the work of keeping these people safe.

Commissioner Bratton: I hope to see most of you tomorrow morning, 11:00 o’clock as the department moves on. Very celebratory day with over 1,000 people in that auditorium, celebrating the new leadership team of the NYPD – a team that is being very well-received by the men and women of the department who will be led by that team. So, hope to see you there.

Mayor: Amen.

Commissioner Bratton: Then you can report the facts of the day.

Mayor: Thank you, everyone.

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