Transcript: Mayor Eric Adams Delivers Remarks at NYPD Security Briefing in Anticipation of High Holidays

October 2, 2024

Wtach the video here at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATOMHzor2KM

Deputy Commissioner Tarik Sheppard, Public Information, Police Department: In a moment, you're going to hear from the mayor, the police commissioner, our deputy commissioner for Intelligence and Counterterrorism, and Eric Goldstein of UJA. We're also happy to be joined by Rabbi Freilich, Rabbi Indig, and Rabbi Potasnik. So without further ado, I'll bring up the mayor, and you'll hear from him. After that, we will do some on-topic questions on him.

Mayor Eric Adams: Thanks so much, commissioner. And as you look around and you see the cameras that are here, it just really goes to show you how this city has evolved over the years from several different administrations ensuring that this city is under watch. 

This city will utilize not only the cameras that are assigned to the New York City Police Department, but our partners through the surveillance throughout the entire city. It has become a real, true partnership of keeping the city safe, and that is why we will continue to be the safest big city in America. And as the Jewish community prepares and celebrates the high holiday season, it also marks one year since the terrible terrorist attack that took place on October 7th, one of the most devastating attacks since the Holocaust that took place in Israel. 

We prayed for peace in the entire region. We're seeing so much violence unfolding in the region, and as a city, we are going to continue to call and pray for peace, and we will always stand in solidarity with all faith communities of New York City. That is more important than ever as we approach this one-year anniversary of this October 7th attack, the one-year mark. One of the worst terror attacks on the Jewish people since the Holocaust, and the one-year anniversary of a tragedy that is still causing such pain to so many here in our city. 

We know that there are significant protest plans for October 7th, and while we acknowledge that the city will respect and protect people's right to peacefully protest, there will be a zero tolerance for those who violate the law, impede traffic, and damage property while doing so. We will not accept for people to be threatened at their places of work, their places of worship, or any place here in New York City. As the mayor with the largest community of various faiths in the United States, it is my sacred duty to protect all New Yorkers, and that is what we are going to do. 

As a person of faith, I will always stand with those who seek to live in worship in freedom and security, and I want every New Yorker to know your city will protect you. No matter what is going on on the globe, here in New York City, you will be safe. And so as families come together and neighbors prepare for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, our city is going to make sure they can do so safely. And I urge New Yorkers to celebrate and congregate throughout the weekend free of fear. 

The NYPD is working with our law enforcement partners at the city, state, and federal levels to ensure that every New Yorker, every neighborhood, every community, and house of faith is safe. There will be many protections that you will see, and there will be many that you will not see. New Yorkers can expect an increased police presence at key locations and houses of worship, and you will notice more of them in uniform. We will have an omni-presence and a real visible presence of uniformed personnel. We're deploying additional cameras to sensitive locations that will complement the 80,000 cameras in the NYPD domain awareness system, and we will ensure a swift response to any act of violence and any call for service. 

We will continue to protect New Yorkers, and I really want to thank the entire Police Department and all of our partners that are here from various organizations and entities that are standing in solidarity with us as we keep this city safe during this holiday season. Shana Tova to everyone, and now we'll turn it over to Interim Police Commissioner Tom Donlon and the members of the NYPD.

Interim Police Commissioner Thomas Donlon: Thank you very much, mayor. And first of all, I want to thank the mayor for his time and his dedicated efforts in keeping all of us safe, and it truly does not go unnoticed. 

Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to One Police Plaza. We are here today to send a clear message. New Yorkers should be certain that, as I am, helping the community with this high holiday season, we intend to make certain that everyone is safe and secure, because the men and the women of the New York City Police Department will be out there 24-7 doing what they do best. 

Throughout the year, we have been working on a security plan with direct input from our Jewish community. That's so important. This doesn't start weeks before. There's a plan that's been in the making for over a year. We've been communicating with the public every step of the way, and that dialogue will continue over the next few weeks. 

That's how we plan to succeed, because it was formally in collaboration with all different partners, and that's the key, working with one another, which is so, so important. It is a true partnership between the police and the public with one shared goal, keeping people safe and confident in the NYPD. So as we celebrate the high holy days in neighborhoods across the city, and we approach the one-year anniversary of the October 7th terrorist attack in Israel, we understand how meaningful the next few weeks, and important, will be to the safety and security of our Jewish community. 

This time of year is about unity, working with each other, sharing information, and every individual has the right to freely express their religious beliefs without fear. It is the NYPD's responsibility to protect that right, and that's exactly what we will do. This includes the right to peacefully protest, but remember, the NYPD will not tolerate violence, property damage, or anything that impedes emergency services to help people in need. Hate in any form has no place in our city, and our officers will respond accordingly, and they have the full confidence and the backing of myself and the mayor. 

Finally, to anyone who is worried about the next few weeks, remember, nobody is better prepared for these situations than the NYPD. We have the historical knowledge, the expertise, and the best leadership team in law enforcement. Many of those executives are here today, including the deputy commissioner of our Intelligent Counterterrorism Branch, Rebecca Weiner, with whom you will hear from a bit later. She's been working around the clock with New Yorkers, and we are very fortunate to have her on our team. I've worked very closely with Rebecca since I arrived here in the Counterterrorism and Counterintel program. I can tell you, she's extremely knowledgeable, and you are in safe hands with her ability to reactive and proactively approach counterterrorism and counterintelligence matters. 

So I want to thank them, and all the men and women of the NYPD who meet every challenge on a daily basis and will always be there in a professional manner. It's the most important job there is, and nobody does it better than the NYPD. And as we continue today's program, I wish you all a safe, healthy, and happy new year. And now I will turn it over to our deputy commissioner of Intelligence and Counterterrorism, Rebecca Weiner. Thank you.

Deputy Commissioner Rebecca Weiner, Intelligence and Counterterrorism, Police Department: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Thank you, commissioner. So, good afternoon. I want to start off by acknowledging that it's been an incredibly challenging year around the world since last year's High Holy Days, and particularly since Hamas's attack on October 7th and the ensuing conflict which is engulfing the Middle East at the moment. 

Tensions, as we know, have been high and rising, and polarization has run quite deep. October 7th and its aftermath have had a profound effect on the terrorism ecosystem, perhaps a generational one, galvanizing foreign terrorist organizations and their supporters across the ideological spectrum and around the world. Al-Qaeda, ISIS, Hamas, Hezbollah, IRGC, the far right, the far left, you name it. 

And just three weeks ago, a Canadian ISIS supporter was arrested twice. A Canadian ISIS supporter was arrested 12 miles north of the U.S.-Canada border. And as alleged in the indictment against him, he was planning to conduct what would have been a horrific attack against a synagogue in Brooklyn to kill as many Jews as possible, coinciding with October 7th. But, thanks to the excellent work by officers assigned to the Joint Terrorism Task Force, the FBI, working with Canadian partners, his plans were thwarted from inception. And this is exactly what all these counterterrorism resources are meant to do, identify, mitigate a threat before it materializes on our streets.

And over the last two weeks, as leaders of Hezbollah and the IRGC have been maimed and killed overseas, as Iran and its proxies, not just Hamas and Hezbollah, but the Houthis in Yemen, have retaliated with missile strikes and drones, as blood has been shed all over the region, the already heightened threat environment that we've been talking about for the last year has ratcheted up even further. And we here at the NYPD continue, in coordination with all of our partners, to track this very closely, focusing in particular on all of the implications of that here in the city. 

And so, while the prospect for a peaceful new year is unfortunately elusive in many parts of the world, we are deeply grateful that that's not at all true of New York City. In a time of violence and turmoil around the world, we are here to assure you that New York City remains a very safe place for all. Our department has done tremendous work, again, in coordination with federal, state, local, international, private sector, partners, and the public, to keep the city safe during a very complicated and tumultuous time. And we're going to continue to do so, not just through the next coming days, but until the rest of the world can calm itself down. 

And I'm going to talk a little bit about some of the enhanced patrols that you're going to be seeing over the next few days around the city. The security overlay for this year's High Holy Days has been developed in close coordination with leadership from each patrol borough and every precinct, keeping resources responsive and tailored to each community's needs and concerns. And as usual, and the mayor mentioned this, there will be security measures you see and others you won't. 

There will be enhanced patrols in the vicinity of houses of worship of all denominations, including synagogues, as well as other locations, based on intelligence. You'll see deployments of our highly trained heavy weapons teams, like our critical response command, in all five boroughs, again, deployed based on intel, where they need to go. Throughout the city, canine teams will be sweeping sensitive locations each day. And our aviation units will be increasing aerial patrols. We just graduated last week 21 new canines, rookie officers who are going to be helping out just as they did during the UN General Assembly. 

And behind the scenes, members of the NYPD's Intelligence Division and officers assigned to the JTTF will be monitoring leads, both on and offline, to identify threats that may emerge. Our Joint Operations Center, where we are standing right now, has been activated, and it's going to remain open through Yom Kippur, ensuring that we can share information in real time and move resources exactly where they need to go. As always, we'll work in close coordination with partners to investigate every tip, every threat, every lead. 

So for any of you who may feel uneasy based on what you're seeing around the world, let me just remind you that, A, we do this every day. We've been doing this for the past two decades and with real sustained intensity over the past year. And just days ago, we completed a highly successful deployment during the UN General Assembly. Over 200 countries represented, over 150 world leaders, some of whom hail from warring countries here in the close proximity of New York City, all went off without a hitch. This is particularly complicated at this moment in time, in 2024, with widely dispersed pockets of instability around the globe. 

So we remain on high alert. We remain responsive to the threat environment. But we do this work very well, and we do it all the time. And this should not be a time of fear, but it is, as always, we say this, a time for vigilance. We're going to be vigilant, and we ask that you do the same. 

If you see something, say something. You know your neighborhoods. You know the places where you work, where you worship. And if you see something concerning, please report it so that we can investigate. You can tell a police officer. You can call 911 or our counterterrorism hotline, 1-888-NYC-SAFE. Most importantly, we want to wish everyone a healthy, happy, and safe holiday season. Shabbat shalom.

Deputy Commissioner Sheppard: I will turn it over to Mr. Eric Goldstein of UJA.

Eric Goldstein, CEO, UJA-Federation of New York: Thank you. I first want to express our enormous gratitude to Mayor Adams for his strong and longstanding support of the New York Jewish community, the largest Jewish community in the world outside of Israel. 

Thanks to the mayor's efforts, the efforts of his team, the efforts of Commissioner Donlon and NYPD, each day the Jewish community of New York does all the things it does in Jewish spaces feeling comfortable and confident that they can do so. Particularly now, as the high holidays begin, and particularly given the events in Israel, it's critically important for our community to feel safe and secure. And therefore, we're incredibly thankful to the mayor, to the commissioner, and NYPD for all of the efforts to deploy additional resources that will provide that level of comfort now. 

And as you've heard, this coming Monday, October 7, marks exactly one year since the brutal massacre of over 1,200 Israelis, the largest number of killings of Jews in a single day since the Holocaust. And it's critically important that on that day, too, when we do expect protests, that the Jewish community feels safe to go outside to publicly express our outrage about what happened, to come together to remember solemnly and to reflect on the time ahead. And hopefully it's a moment for the entire city to come together, recognizing the importance of striking out antisemitism and hate in all its forms and coming together as an extraordinary New York community. 

So again, thank you to Mayor Adams, to NYPD, to Commissioner Donlon. We're incredibly grateful for all of your efforts. And Shana Tova, it should be a happy, healthy, better year ahead for our entire community.

Deputy Commissioner Sheppard: All right, next we want to introduce Devorah Halberstam, the director and founder of the Jewish Children's Museum and a member of our Hate Crimes Review Panel.

Devorah Halberstam: Good afternoon. Thank you all for being here. While my chicken soup is boiling and my roast is in the oven, I had to run here because how significant this day means to the Jewish community and the Jewish people and myself in particular. 

I'm here to stand together with my brothers and sisters. And I want to echo what Eric Goldstein had just said. But in addition to that, I want to say very clearly now that the line is blurred between the Jews in New York City and the Jews in Israel. And sadly, the antisemitism that is going on has gone on the last year is unprecedented. And the message to Iran and its proxies are as follows. 

You've tried to disrupt our holidays over many, many decades and over history. We will not capitulate. We will survive, as we always have. And we will celebrate our holiday while all this is going on. But at the same time, this holiday is also called Yom HaZikaron, which indicates a day of remembrance. So while we're in the synagogue praying all day, and it is a somber holiday because we plead before the Almighty that we have a good year ahead of us, we also need to remember that there are hostages that are suffering in tunnels underground, not eating roasts and not having food to eat, and probably are emaciated and being tortured. I am a mother who buried my son. I know what that feels like. 

At the same time, we are in New York City. And I need to say that all week long and in the last two weeks, I've been working hand in hand with the amazing NYPD. Amazing. There is nobody like this law enforcement body in the world. Their commitment to civilians, their commitment to the people, their commitment to keeping this city safe. Commissioner Donlon, Chief Maddrey, and everybody else behind me, I want to thank you. I cannot thank you enough because, yes, we need you. You're our right hand. You're our left hand. You have your eyes and your ears on us, and everybody is praying for the safety of everybody in the city. 

Having said that, I will say we could not have done this without our mayor, who has been the strongest supporter of the Jewish community following October 7th. He didn't wait or pause for one second when he jumped forward, and he stood by the Jewish community with such outrage as every human being in this world needs to stand up and say, this should not be happening in the world we live in today. 

Anyway, with that, I will end and say I wish you all, Jews and non-Jews alike, since this week is the anniversary of God's creation of the world. So it talks about all humanity, all people, that we have a happy and a healthy and a sweet and a good new year for all people. And peace will reign, ultimately. Thank you.

Deputy Commissioner Sheppard: All right, so we're going to take some on-topic questions. Commissioner Nieves, going to go right down the line, call us to start right from left, and let's just go right down the line.

Question: [Inaudible.]

John Chell, Chief of Patrol, Police Department: We have identified key locations in the city, about 50, 50-plus that we're going to put cameras on, just for an extra layer of security during this 10-day holiday season.

Question: Mr. Mayor, and for the Police Commissioner Donlon, please address for our viewers, for who needs this plan you're presenting here to go off really well. Is there a lot of tension? Please tell them why, that you are getting everything you need from your federal partners in terms of personnel, in terms of information and resources, in spite of the indictment and federal charges, the investigations into the NYPD, some NYPD officials. Convince our viewers that you're getting what you need from them.

Mayor Adams: Yeah, and the commissioner don't need to answer, I will answer. This organization is a professional organization. No matter what happens in the city, in any particular time to any individuals, the operation continues. I served in this department. I know how professional they are. And we are going to keep New Yorkers safe. 

And New Yorkers know that. We watch how we continue to decrease crime during normal settings, how we handle thousands of protesters since October 7th, how we continue to handle the UNGA that just was in our city, the UN General Assembly, one of the most important operation where world leaders were here. So all I can say to you and every New Yorker, we got this.

Question: Has the department maybe changed or taken a look at what went on with protests in the last year, changed the strategy or learned anything from it?

Jeffrey Maddrey, Chief of Department, Police Department: Good afternoon. Every day we learn. We've addressed over 4,000 protests since October 7th, 2023. And every time we've dealt with a protest, we always do our little after action reviews and we understand what we did and what we can do better. 

One thing we do, we want everyone to know is that we support their right to express their first amendment and lift their voices. But again, we will not tolerate any criminal activity, no destruction of property, no harm to innocent people, things of that nature will not be tolerated. So yes, we've learned a lot. Every day we're making adjustments to do better and we will be ready this holiday season.

Question: For Commissioner Weiner, given the events in the last two weeks and days for [inaudible] and various leaders fighting, have you picked up any indication of intelligence chatter that indicates that there's an aspiration of targeting perhaps a New York City election?

Deputy Commissioner Weiner: So we always look very carefully at history to give us a sense of what we might expect going forward. So clearly tracking any leads investigations that we do in conjunction with federal partners. And we do maintain that there are not any specific or credible threats to this specific event right now. But in the threat environment that we're confronted with, we have obviously a lot going on. 

We have a history in this city of incidents involving Hezbollah's external security organization. Three individuals were indicted between 2017 and 2019 that we can look to to say how would Hezbollah potentially have a nexus to New York City. And then there's always the lone actor threat, which has been the predominant threat facing this city since 9/11 of over 60 plots and attacks disrupted and successful against the city. Two thirds of them have come from lone actors. And this is, again, across the ideological spectrum. So individuals motivated by affinity toward IRGC or Hezbollah, just as much as we have with ISIS. There was an incident two years ago targeting Salman Rushdie, the author Salman Rushdie, by an individual from New Jersey in Chautauqua. 

So we look at all of these instances past, especially those in New York City, and we think about what do we need to do to protect against these scenarios. That's what we do all the time. And right now, as you mentioned, there's a lot going on internationally.

Question: [Inaudible.]

Deputy Commissioner Sheppard: Yeah, we say this every year. After the operation, we take a look at what the overtime is that we use, how many resources that we use. But we always do that post the operation. But we always get reimbursed by our federal partners. And, you know, our budget people will take care of that.

Question: [Inaudible.]

Mayor Adams: We have consistently carried out that action. And I think that Commissioner Sheppard made it clear. We've had close to 4,000 protests. Some of them were disruptive. Some of them were to take real police action. All of this is in the midst of having major events that occur in the city, like UNGA. I don't know if people realize the security nightmare that UNGA presents when you have so many world leaders who are here. This is what this department does. You know, I think Devorah Halberstam stated, no one does it like us. 

Now, Commissioner Weiner really pointed out one of the biggest fears you could have is a lone wolf. You know, there's no getting around that. We have to do a combination of intelligence, a combination of just see something, say something, and most importantly, do something, notify someone. And we are going to do our job with the partnership of state and federal partners and the public. And so we do it well here in the city. And we're going to do it well now to make sure that New Yorkers are safe during this season, all New Yorkers. 

Because when you have a terrorist action, when you have someone that does something that's extremely dangerous, it impacts all of us. And we're going to be identifying the houses of worship. We're going to be identifying some of the historical targets that we look at. This is what we do. This is a combination of the patrol force that the commissioner and the chief of department is going to do and a combination of intelligence that Commissioner Weiner is going to do and make sure that we get it right. We're going to do our job.

Question: For Commissioner Chell or Chief Kenny, beyond what Commissioner Weiner talked about, there has been an increase in anti semitic hate crimes? [Inaudible.] Can you talk about a message of assurance given to that dynamic, along with the affordability of people getting worse and inspired?

Chief Joseph Kenny, Detectives, Police Department: I'll give you a quick snapshot of hate crimes overall in New York City. So far this year, we've had 493 incidents that were deemed to be a hate crime in 2024. This compares to 381 incidents that took place last year. That's a total increase of 112 crimes. That's an increase of 29 percent. Only 70 of those crimes have deemed to be seven majors, meaning that they were felonies that gets tracked through our CompStat process. That only accounts for 14 percent of all hate crimes being a seven major crime. 

Hate crimes against the Jewish community makes up 56 percent of all hate crimes reported so far this year. That's 275 incidents versus 157 last year. That's an increase of 118 crimes. Of those 118 crimes, 118 of them happen to be swastika motivated compared to 86 last year. Similar to what we're seeing overall in our reporting, that hate crimes involving aggravated harassment encompass 157 crimes. What do I mean by aggravated harassment? Meaning somebody was pushed on the street, somebody was spit on, somebody received a hateful email or a hateful letter in the mail. 

There have only been 22 major crimes against the Jewish community this year. In response to this, we've increased our staffing in the NYPD Hate Crimes Task Force, and that team has investigated and made arrests on over 300 incidents so far this year. We're going to continue to work with our federal partners and with our district attorney's office, and obviously our goal is to bring justice to all these victims.

Mayor Adams: I also want to point out that what we are witnessing is an increase in hate. Our Muslim brothers and sisters are also seeing an increase in Islamophobia. We're seeing an increase in these other areas. And so while we're going to ensure the safety of our Jewish constituents here in the city, we have an obligation to ensure the safety of all New Yorkers. 

And there's no room for hate, as Devorah Halberstam stated. There's no room for hate in this city. And many people told us during the Passover and during the Israeli Day Parade, they asked us not to hold a parade. They said that it was unsafe and that we shouldn't hold it. And we made it clear. This city is not going to surrender to fear. It's not going to surrender to hate. And it's not going to surrender to violence. 

We held that parade, and we had a safe Passover. And during the parade, where families were able to celebrate their heritage, you saw how the New York City Police Department had the capability of doing the job, and we're saying that now. We will never surrender to fear and hate in this city. That is not going to happen, and you're going to be able to celebrate your heritage, no matter what it is, in the City of New York, one of the most diverse cities on the globe. Thank you.