Mayor de Blasio and Commissioner Shea Unveil End Gun Violence Plan

July 17, 2020

Video available at: https://youtu.be/T78H6PDqM3w

NEW YORK—Today, Mayor de Blasio and NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea unveiled the End Gun Violence Plan, which utilizes the NYPD and community organizing to ensure New Yorkers’ safety in all five boroughs. The NYPD will shift patrol and detective resources to areas with high gun violence, organize gun buy-back events, increase coordination with Cure Violence, and reorganize the Community Affairs Bureau to provide more proactive engagement in communities that have seen increased violence.  

“For seven years, we have made this city safer through the NYPD’s close partnership with communities and by recognizing the leadership of community leaders, organizations, and clergy,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio. “We will continue to build peace in our communities and strengthen the relationship between communities and the NYPD.”

"The increase in shootings and violence tears at the fabric of life in our city," said Police Commissioner Dermot Shea. "The NYPD has vigorously advanced reforms for the last nearly seven years, and our men and women officers continue to work hard to strengthen relationships with the communities they are sworn to serve. But we must do more. These new efforts are critical to stopping this violence but we need everyone in public to step forward to help.”

This NYPD action builds off community plans for central Brooklyn and Harlem that the Mayor previously announced, including a take-back-the-block effort, youth town halls, Occupy the Hot Spots, peace marches led by community and clergy, open streets resource fairs, and mobile trauma units. 

The End Gun Violence Plan includes:

Shift patrol resources to areas with high shootings: 
The NYPD will increase foot patrols to proactively deter crime and enhance deployments in high violence areas to increase deterrence and closer engagement with the community.
  
Enhance shooting investigations: 
The NYPD will shift detective and investigative resources toward areas that have experienced increases in shooting incidents.

Reorganize the Community Affairs Bureau: 
Under newly appointed Chief of Community Affairs Maddrey, Community Affairs Officers will be deployed proactively to areas that have seen increased violence, focusing on areas with the highest need. 

Organize gun buy-back events: 
The NYPD will be organizing additional gun buy back events in communities with recent upticks in gun violence. 

Work with Community Partners: 
The NYPD will increase coordination with Cure Violence to better focus resources and hold multi-agency commander council meetings in communities with recent upticks in violent crime.

Omnipresence:
Officers from the Critical Response Group and Strategic Response Group will be deployed across the city. Many of the locations where they are typically assigned remain closed and do not necessitate the same level of resources.