Transcript: Mayor Adams Announces New York City's DNA Testing Lab Achieves 30-Day Turnaround Time for Testing Gun Crime Evidence

June 26, 2023

Justin S. Meyers, Chief of Operations, Public Safety: Good afternoon. My name is Justin Myers. I'm the chief of staff to the Office of Public Safety, led by deputy mayor for Public Safety, Philip Banks. We're joined here today during Gun Violence Awareness Month by Mayor Eric Adams, deputy mayor for Health and Human Services, Anne Williams-Isom, chief medical examiner, Dr. Jason Graham, NYPD first deputy commissioner Edward Caban, and NYPD deputy chief and commanding officer of the Forensic Investigation Division, Brian McGee.

From the moment Mayor Adams took office he made combating gun violence from all fronts a top priority. At the beginning of 2022, Mayor Adams tasked the Office of Public Safety with conducting a comprehensive review of New York City's public safety ecosystem at all city agencies to see where investments could be made to crack down on gun crimes and ensure they were handled efficiently throughout the entire criminal justice system. Working in close collaboration with the medical examiner's office, one area that was identified as an opportunity for investment and innovation was the investigation and analysis of gun crime evidence. And with that, I'd like to turn it over to Mayor Eric Adams to give us an update on the announcement that he made last year.

Mayor Eric Adams: Thank you. Thanks so much Justin, and one of my favorite people, chief medical examiner, Dr. Jason Graham and your entire team here. They just get stuff done. For so long, and I remember one of the most significant moments in our history was in 2001, after the terrorist attack, and the role that OCME played in identifying bodies, bringing closures to family members. And now that we look at the terror of gun violence and with all of the recent introductions, the desire was to make sure that DNA evidence was a process on gun crimes and gun collars, and it was a difficult task. And when we sat down with the doctor, he came up with, this is what we need, Eric, to make it happen. Because that start the prosecutorial process. If we didn't have that evidence, if we were not able to identify the person who actually had the gun, then it could slow up the entire process. And in some cases it allowed people to walk free, and we wanted to be clear to move forward to address this issue and come up with a real way of making it happen.

I say it over and over again, the prerequisite to prosperity is public safety and justice, and guns are really one of the major drivers of the violence we see in the city. When you look at the fact that we are witnessing the decrease in shootings, a decrease in homicides, some of our major crime categories are going down. There was a level of comfortability that bad guys thought they can carry guns and use them to carry out very dangerous actions. Reducing gun violence has been a central focus of this administration, and in order to do so, it's more than the police officer making the apprehension. I say it over and over that there are many rivers that feed the sea of violence. We damned one of those rivers by giving this office the tools that they need. We announced this units' creation, the OCME DNA Gun Crimes Unit, the first and only unit of its kind in the nation.

It was announced, and I promise we would be the fastest lab to analyze and test evidence from gun crimes. Promise made, promise kept. I'm proud to announce that the OCME DNA Crimes Unit has achieved a 30 day or less turnaround time for testing, analysis of evidence from gun crimes. During the month of May 2023, the New York City OCME achieved a 28-day turnaround time for DNA testing of gun crime evidence. New York City is now home to the fastest big city lab for testing and analyzing evidence. We are the best at what we do. If this is the best city on the globe and I'm the best mayor on the globe, then you got the best OCME office on the globe and the best staff that's here represented in this city.

This means those involved in gun crime cases are being brought to justice faster, and we are getting more guns up the street. We are saying to all those who commit gun crimes, the evidence doesn't lie. Science is coming for you faster than ever. Often we say that heroes don't only wear capes. Some of them wear lab coats and those lab coats wherein heroes came on board and made their city safer by participating in this initiative. This is the best medical examiner, forensic science and crime lab in the nation and the world. 

This is the real CSI New York. I still don't understand why people want to leave here and go to Miami, but you know what? They'll be back. They are using the power of science to keep our community safe. And I just again, want to thank Dr. Jason Graham for just really properly identifying what the needs were and how we could turn this around. And he kept up with his promise. He's helping the criminal justice system to convict guilty, exonerate the innocent, and keep our community safe.

Every New Yorker should feel safe. Every New Yorker should not have to worry about their children, should not have to worry about walking the streets, should not have to worry about being a victim of a unattended target bullet destroying their lives. That is what we are fighting for in the OCME DNA Gun Crimes Unit is delivering the results to get guns off our streets and keep New Yorkers safe. Thank you so much to all of you, this entire team here for what you do. You are not ignored. We noticed your work and we are proud to be part of this team of keeping our city safe. Thank you. Thank you.

Meyers: Up next, we'll hear from Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Jason Graham.

Dr. Jason Graham, Chief Medical Examiner: Thank you and thank you Mr. Mayor. Those were wonderful remarks, and we greatly appreciate them and we are so delighted to have you back with us here again at the OCME and we're grateful for your support of our agency always. Want to also thank our Deputy Mayor Anne Williams-Isom, deputy mayor for Health and Human Services. You are a champion for OCME and we could not accomplish this initiative today without your support. Also, want to acknowledge the First Deputy Commissioner of the NYPD Caban, Forensic Investigation Division, Chief McGee, and all of our distinguished guests. We truly thank you for joining us today.

Nearly one year ago, to the day, we gathered here to announce the formation of our new DNA Gun crimes Unit and to put forward an ambitious goal. I'm proud to say that within one year we've achieved that goal and more. Our turnaround time for testing DNA gun crime evidence now stands under 30 days, as the mayor shared. That is the fastest turnaround time of any big city lab in this nation. This milestone is made possible by the dedicated DNA gun crimes unit, including 24 new forensic scientists, all hired and trained within the past year since our announcement. These New Yorkers answered the call to serve their communities through forensic science. OCME has a long history of science serving justice for more than a century.

Today, as we recognize Gun Violence Awareness Month, we are writing an urgent new chapter in that mission. Faster testing results will help the criminal justice system resolve cases as quickly as possible. Quicker turnaround times will also hasten answers to victims, families and communities who are affected by gun violence. And as with all our work, these findings may help convict the guilty or exonerate the innocent. OCME stands uniquely at the crossroads of public health and public safety. We'll continue to do our part as doctors and scientists with accuracy and impartiality to help in the public health crisis of gun violence in our city. Thank you.

Mayor Adams: Thank you.

Meyers: And now we'll hear from First Deputy Police Commissioner Edward Caban.

Edward Caban, First Deputy Commissioner, Police Department: Thank you, Mr. Mayor, Dr. Graham, and the whole team that stands beside me. And make no mistake about it, it is a team. Just look around. When we talk about public safety, we often say it's a shared responsibility. Most often this means our partnership with the public, but it also refers to our counterparts across the vast criminal justice system. 

And while the NYPD plays a vital role at the beginning of a gun case with your officers running toward gunfire, risking their lives, taking thousands of illegal guns off our streets and arresting our criminals, the apprehension is just the beginning. What happens after the gun is recovered is part of a much larger ecosystem. And in the name of justice, there are often more questions than answers in the story of a gun. Who pulled the trigger? Is it connected to other crimes, to other shooters?

Filling in those gaps and building a strong case requires many hands, from investigators to district attorneys, to the forensic investigators who join us here today. The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner has always been a vital partner on the path toward justice. And now with this new investment in science and in staffing, the team at the DNA Gun Crimes Unit are posting results that exceed every expectation. This means [inaudible] to gun cases, stronger prosecutions, and ultimately, a safer New York City for everyone.

So far this year, shooting incidents are down by 25 percent. That means roughly 170 fewer people have been shot this year compared to last year. There is always more work to do, but the momentum we are seeing is very encouraging. I want to echo the mayor in offering my sincerest thanks to Dr. Graham and his team. Your hard work and that of your team is woven into those numbers, and we are so grateful for your partnership. Finally, I say thank you to the entire NYPD team. Whether you are making a gun arrest, pulling a fingerprint, or debriefing a shooter, it takes all of you every day to drive down violence. You have my deepest respect and admiration. Thank you for all you do.

Question: Question for the commissioner. How many guns have actually been tested in this year-long period, and prior to the formation of the unit, what was the average turnaround time?

First Deputy Commissioner Edward Caban: Thank you for that question, Rocco. I'm going to bring in our expert, Chief Brian McGee, head of the lab.

Chief Brian McGee, Police Department: Good afternoon, Rocco. And just in fact, before I could answer that question, I just want to reiterate what Mr. Mayor Adams and the commissioner said about teamwork, and we work hand in hand with the OCME. So Dr. Graham and Tim Kupferschmid, thank you for all that you do and that partnership that we have. But most importantly, it's the criminalists behind us and up top. And thank you. Thank you for what you do. You bring solace to victims. So really, thank you. Rocco, it's 3,300 guns that have come through the lab. Most have been tested. That was the number I got as of this morning.

Question: Prior to the formation of the unit, maybe Dr. Graham could speak to this, the average turnaround time? 

Chief McGee: Yeah.

Dr. Graham: Thank you. Yep. Prior to the formation of this unit, in our forensic biology, our DNA laboratory, we had a turnaround time that was, even prior to the formation of this unit, better than the vast majority of the country, which was less than 60 days. And now we've reached an unprecedented turnaround time of 30 days or less.

Question: What is the biggest challenge in the turnaround? Is it the equipment that you have? Is it the number of people who are doing the analysis? What creates the necessary long time to turnaround the results?

Dr. Graham: Well, there are many factors. As you would imagine, the caseload and the complexity of the work itself. No two cases are exactly alike. And so we continuously try and balance our caseload so that we can achieve the quickest turnaround time possible. But with the additional infusion of 24 criminalists, that has been what it took, in addition to the upgrades to technology, supplies, and equipment, the investment that the city made in building this gun crimes unit is what has taken that turnaround time and reduced it by half.

Question: Now for the doctor, just to follow up on what you just said, I know that you can't use rapid DNA systems because of legal reasons. Did you bring in new equipment to do conventional DNA testing with the enhanced staff?

Dr. Graham: The most significant way that we accomplished this was by the infusion of staff. Those 24 scientists who were brought on were trained within the past year, and are now actively doing the casework. We did make upgrades to our laboratory-wide systems and we also procured some additional supplies and equipment, but it was primarily the people.

Question: Can you please provide an example or clarity on how the creation of this unit is directly tied to the reduction in gun violence? 

Dr. Graham: I would say that the formation of this unit allowed us to streamline and focus exclusively, with a unit exclusively devoted to processing gun crimes evidence. And that is something that is demanded by the criminal justice system. In order to process gun crimes cases, in order to carry out with the investigation, that is a portion of that puzzle that we are now able to provide an answer quicker, and that helps speed the process.

Question: Is there any metrics to show, in the last year, how many identifications are actually made through DNA to a weapon?

Dr. Graham: Among the cases that are gun crimes evidence, there are recovered firearms, and there are other types of evidence. The recovered firearms make up a minority of the entire total gun crimes evidence that we process. About 15 to 20 percent of our cases are recovered firearms. And I'll have to get back to you on the number of positive identifications that were made amongst that minority of those cases.

Question: Can you tell us a little bit more about the DNA databases that you use? Are these only criminal databases? What other sort of access to DNA evidence do you have?

Dr. Graham: The evidence that we process is compared, if it's appropriate, to the DNA index locally as well as the state and the national DNA indices. Those are the state and federal-level criminal databases. So those DNA profiles are compared against the criminal databases.

Question: Maybe for Commissioner Caban, how many cases have you been able to quantify where you've had identifications which have led to an arrest?

Commissioner Caban: Sorry. I don't have that specific number offhand, but I think it was said here numerous times. It just fills in that piece of the puzzle. If it's that police officer, he or she that's running after and the body cam catches it, the interrogation, which is videotaped within the detective squad, and putting another piece of DNA probative guilt to the person who was in possession of that gun. So I couldn't give you a direct number to that, but that's just filling into the pieces of the puzzle.

Mayor Adams: And what I want to do, and every time we have some of these arrests, we get some of the body cam video, and I'm going to put together some of those videos, and I'm really going to invite the men and women of the press to come in and look at. These are some bad people out there. They are really bad. 

They have no regard for citizens of this city. And when you look at some of these videos, some of the things that they do, driving on the sidewalk, shooting in the streets, they don't care if children are there, driving towards police officers. There's just some bad people. They're the minority of New Yorkers, but they carry out an overwhelming amount of crime. 

And I said the other day, and I will say it again, Juneteenth was our celebration of emancipation, the end of slavery. That was one of the most deadliest days in our city. 10 shootings, I think six homicides, one 16-year-old boy shot in the head, close range. We have to be honest about this. And you know what's interesting? All those anti-police folks didn't raise their voice at all. If Black Lives Matter, Black lives matter when innocent people are shot on our streets. And I'm not going to continue to remain silent. We cannot continue those who want to carry guns in this city. I made that promise when I was running and I'm going to live up to that promise as the mayor. So we'll do some off topics. Thank you again for what you do. Now, who's out 24? Big 24. Okay, thank you. Let's do a couple of off topics. Yes.

Question: My question was, you vetoed the Housing Voucher Bills on Friday and the council's preparing to override that veto. What will you do if they override the veto and are you considering ignoring the law and facing potential litigation?

Mayor Adams: We're going to take it one step at a time. They did their action of passing the bill, we did our action of what we're attempting to do with them, and that was to deal with the 90-day rule that advocates called for. We did our action after that. They passed the bill to veto the bill. We believe with adding a large number of people merely because you received a letter that stated you were behind in your rent to now open that up to FHEPS vouchers and other parts of the bills that were introduced, we just think that is too financially cumbersome on our city and it doesn't reach the process we wanted for those who are in need of housing to get them the vouchers. So based on the action they take, we are going to make our next move.

Question: Hi, Mr. Mayor.

Mayor Adams: What's happening?

Question: Nothing much. Happy Monday.

Mayor Adams: Thank you.

Question: This is Commissioner Sewell's last week in office. I was wondering, do you have anybody in mind to be Acting NYPD Commissioner, be that a man or woman, possibly [inaudible] standing next to you earlier today? And was she involved in that process at all?

Mayor Adams: Yes, to all your questions but one. But, yes, I will make the decision and make the announcement. I'm excited about it. Commissioner Sewell carried out her role and she did it well. We look at the numbers. The numbers speak for themselves. You cannot lie when you see them. It was extremely brilliant to bring her on board, turn around morale, bring down crime, really, better involvement with our city. And so when we are ready to make the announcement, we're going to make the announcement. But this is a well-trained police department. I say it over and over again. From the days of Bill Bratton introducing CompStat, crime continued to decrease. No matter who was the mayor, no matter who was the Police Commissioner. It's the men and women that put on a uniform. They're carrying out the jobs every day. We're going to be fine. We're going to keep moving in the right direction.

Question: Is it somebody within the department right now?

Mayor Adams: Bigger than the bread box, smaller than the ant. I'm not doing that. When I'm ready to make the announcement, I'm going to make the announcement.

Question: Mr. Mayor?

Mayor Adams: Yes.

Question: There was an article today about West Park Presbyterian Church on 86th and Amsterdam on the Upper West Side.

Mayor Adams: Right.

Question: As you know, that church is facing the possibility of being torn down and redeveloped. I know that supporters of people who want to keep the church there have reached out to you, including the actor Mark Ruffalo, and asked you if you would take a tour and just look at the church before any final decision is made. And I wanted to ask you, what's your position on that? And also have you or your staff reached out to the developer to ask them if they would consider putting some affordable housing in that project? They have said that the units would be market rate if they were to be able to redevelop the church.

Mayor Adams: The supporters, they have not reached out to me. I ran into the actor one day when I was at an event and he shared it with me and I turned it over to our team to find out what is taking place. It's going to go through a process. Some of the process I don't have control over, and whatever building we do in the city, we want it to be affordable. That is our goal and if I can convince any developer to build affordable, I'm going to attempt to do so. We need affordable housing and I'm hoping that those who are asking for him to build affordable housing will also call Albany. We didn't get anything out of Albany dealing with affordable housing. That is unbelievable when you think about it. We can't say something is a crisis but we don't respond to it. And so I would love to do a tour of the place. You know me, I like churches. I'm a man of God.

Question: Hi, Mayor.

Mayor Adams: How are you?

Question: Good. So the city budget is due on Friday.

Mayor Adams: Yes.

Question: Can you tell us, what are two of the greatest sticking points at this point? And then, are you concerned about the budget being late? And, I know you care a lot about the city's credit and reputation, so with that being late, hurt the city's reputation?

Mayor Adams: No, it's not going to hurt the reputation. New York is always going to have a good reputation. We believe that the City Council understand, like we understand, that we should come together and get in an on-time budget. We don't want this to be delayed. We have some serious decisions we have to make and knowing that the budget is in place will allow us to do that. And so we've been in great conversations. I am briefed two, three times a day and I'm encouraged that the speaker and I fully understand how important it is to get a budget that's on time. And we believe we're going to get there.

Question: And in terms of sticking points, is it libraries, right to counsel?

Mayor Adams: Some sticking points. There's a pocket of money that comes in the city, there's a pocket of things we have to do with it, and it has to equal the money that goes out. And so we sit down as adults and say, as any person that runs the household, "We can't spend what we don't have." And so many people will say all of these entities are important and so many people will say, "Please don't cut this. Please don't do a PEG on this." That's all fine. My next question that I ask, okay, here's the pocket of money, where do we take from to pay for the things we say don't remove? And if we don't have the answer to that, I got to make the right decisions for the city.

Question: Mayor, without discussing the substance of your conversation with Commissioner Sewell, which I know you wouldn't get into, did you try to get her to stay?

Mayor Adams: Private conversations, you started off by saying without discussing your conversations with her, that is part of the conversation. And private conversations, I do not share. Like I said, I was really blessed to start my administration off with the first woman Police Commissioner. She broke the glass ceiling. She showed she could do the job. She did the job. She made our city safer and all the things that I expected of her. We have not seen the last of her. She's going to have a promising career.

Question: Hi, Mayor.

Mayor Adams: Katie.

Question: How are you?

Mayor Adams: What's happening?

Question: I wanted to ask you about the NYPD's discipline of its officers. I know you said in the past, in 2021 at least, maybe since, that you think the ultimate decision should rest on the mayor not the Police Commissioner and there's been some reporting you might disagree with that some disciplinary decisions from the commissioner is maybe why she's leaving. Of course, those are private conversations, but would you like to change that discipline matrix with the NYPD so the mayor ultimately has the final say? And if so, how would you be able to change that?

Mayor Adams: I think she handled some very difficult cases around discipline well and we're going to continue to do that. Listen, I'm a big believer that the people of this city elected a mayor. You don't see my agency heads standing up here answering these questions. I'm doing that. I am responsible for this city to be safe. I'm responsible for our children to be educated. I'm responsible that babies are protected through ACS. I'm responsible for this city and I am not going to point off those responsibilities to anyone else. I am the general right now. Or I'd like to say, I'm the pilot, and I have to make sure this plane lands. And so we have a good process in place, I'm going to review that process, and if I believe that we're not fairly making sure those who violate their oath of office are handled correctly, then we're going to make the modification. We're not going to be an abusive police department.

Question: Mr. Mayor—

Mayor Adams: Bernadette, what's going on?

Question: Not much. I'm going to ask you a question, hope you can answer it.

Mayor Adams: Yes.

Question: So my colleague had a story today about coal-fired pizza, and I'm wondering if you agree with [inaudible]. It's kind of taken a while for the city to draft new regulations on how pizza ovens, coal and wood-fired pizza ovens do not comply with these new emission [inaudible]. I'm wondering if you think that that's something you'll go through with, or if you think these older pizza ovens, these [inaudible] restaurants should be grandfathered in. And also where's your favorite place to get pizza? 

Mayor Adams: Well first of all, I love my vegan pizza with vegan cheese. And something about pizza, like, does anyone dislike pizza? Everyone likes pizza. You almost see that pie in front of you, you start to get happy. I think pizzas have saved more marriages than any other foods. Sharing a pie with your boo is like, that's the ultimate.

Listen, right now we are at the public moment where the public can weigh in. Let the public weigh in, let the public give their thoughts and then we'll make the final determination. We don't want to hurt businesses in the city and we don't want to hurt the environment. I think nothing is more clearer to all of us as what this environment is going through after two weeks ago with the fire in Canada. That smoke is the type of smoke that we're talking about. So let's see if we can find a way to get the resolutions we're looking for. So I'm looking forward to some of the public comment.

Question: The regulation will only apply to about 100 restaurants, give or take. Do you think that that will actually make a difference in terms of assisting the environment? Elon Musk did tweet about the story then and he said, "Listen, I don't think it's going to make a difference to help the environmental cause."

Mayor Adams: Well let's be clear. Every toxic entity that we remove from our air is adding up to the overall desire to deal with shrinking our carbon footprint. And as I stated, let's let the public weigh in, and then we could have a conversation if we're going to move forward or not. And the public can weigh in without throwing pizza over my gate. They could have delivered me the pie and allowed me to eat the pie, and sat in the COW and have a conversation with me. And so I'm going to call the person who threw pizza over my gate to tell him he needs to bring a vegan pie to me so we can sit down, and I want to hear his side of this.

Question: Yeah. Hey, Mr. Mayor, I wonder... There was a story in Politico today about migrants being sent to Florida, Texas, and China. I was wondering if there's any plans to expand or formalize this program, and if it saves money on balance to send migrants elsewhere than to house them here in New York City.

Mayor Adams: [Inaudible] you know about my concern. Well listen, this is a national problem. Actually it's an international problem. I'm meeting with my mayors from Belgium, I mean my electors from Belgium, from all over the globe. And this is a national problem that's hitting the globe, migrants shifting because of war torn areas. I'm not aware of any going to China, I will reach out to the team and find out what they're planning. But we have not made it a secret. We are interviewing people when they come, because many of them were forced to come to New York, and we're saying, "Where's the best place for you that you would like to go?"

If it's New York City then we're going to accommodate to the best of our ability. If they say they want to go somewhere else, we're going to accommodate to the best of our ability. We're not doing like other administrations, putting people on bus rides, not giving them the food and the services, placing bands on them. We're not doing that. We're attempting to allow people to have the best start in this country, or in another country if they want. I'm not aware of China. I would reach out and find out, and I'm sure the team would brief me on it. But whatever they're doing, they're doing it to deal with a crisis that we are having, that New York City has been carrying it on its own for the most part, and it's unfair to New Yorkers.

Question: It's Rocco. Mr. Mayor—

Mayor Adams: Rocco.

Question: Actually, how are you?

Mayor Adams: You know how far back Rocco and I go?

Question: I'm old, that's right.

Mayor Adams: We go far back as car seats.

Question: You're dating me now. Regarding the police misconduct. There's been a number of cases, the [inaudible] case and now the [inaudible] case and the [inaudible] case, that have gone on for years before there's a final disposition out of the trial room and then ultimately by the commissioner. Would you like to see that sped up? Would that be a new mandate for the new commissioner? And then secondly, are you endorsing anyone else tomorrow?

Mayor Adams: First the police case. Yes. I am not happy with how long these cases take. And Commissioner Sue is currently working on, how do we shorten the process. From command disciplines to the trial rooms, this is taking too long. Now in some cases the officer's attorney take longer than what's needed. But when we look at the full bucket of cases, from minor infractions to those who are waiting for departmental trial, I think it takes too long.

And the commissioner and I, we have had a number of conversations. She has put in place some reforms, some very impressive reforms. And we are going to implement some, but we are going to lean more. I need to shorten the time, from particularly serious misconduct. I need to shorten the time to determine if that officer should still wear that uniform, and I am not happy with how long it takes. And we are going to move to change that.

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