A Look Back for Ray Kelly Before Bidding Adieu
Friday, December 27, 2013
WNYC
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Police Commissioner Ray Kelly at his last publicly scheduled event before leaving office. (Kathleen Horan/WNYC)
Police Commissioner Ray Kelly took time at his final police
academy graduation on Friday to reflect on his dozen years in office
under Mayor Bloomberg.
Kelly noted that during the past year there were record drops in crime, including 322 murders—a new low.
There were 649 homicides in 2001, when he first took the helm of the NYPD.
But Kelly was also determined to note that the department's connection with New Yorkers is not as corroded as it's been portrayed. "Our relations with the communities that we serve are stronger now than they've ever been,” he told reporters at a press conference after the graduation. “Irrespective of some narratives that have come out during the campaign or lawsuits—and the polls show that."
Kelly regularly received high poll numbers even as unpopular tactics like stop-and-frisk increased on his watch and were challenged in court.
Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio and his replacement Bill Bratton have called repairing "frayed" relations with the community a top priority.
There were 649 homicides in 2001, when he first took the helm of the NYPD.
But Kelly was also determined to note that the department's connection with New Yorkers is not as corroded as it's been portrayed. "Our relations with the communities that we serve are stronger now than they've ever been,” he told reporters at a press conference after the graduation. “Irrespective of some narratives that have come out during the campaign or lawsuits—and the polls show that."
Kelly regularly received high poll numbers even as unpopular tactics like stop-and-frisk increased on his watch and were challenged in court.
Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio and his replacement Bill Bratton have called repairing "frayed" relations with the community a top priority.
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Kathleen Horan, Reporter, WNYC News
Kathleen Horan is a staff reporter for New York Public Radio, covering the criminal justice beat. She also reports the series In Harm’s Way, a multi-platform effort to profile the life of every child in New York City killed by gunfire.
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