- 7 months ago
New York City Mayor and NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch held a press briefing to detail the City's approach to planned anti-Trump protests.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Good afternoon.
00:03We wanted to really just come and give an update and briefing our teams.
00:12We have been coordinating with our federal partners and both internally,
00:17Deputy Commissioner Weiner and her team,
00:22Intelligence has gathered as much information as possible.
00:26And the police commissioner and the chief of department is coordinating what's taking place on the ground.
00:31And I really want to come in and thank them for the job they are doing.
00:37We know there's a lot happening and we have to balance the ability to peacefully protest with maintaining law and order in the city.
00:46Before we start the process of discussing the preparation for tomorrow's planned protest,
00:53we want to address the situation, the ongoing situation in Israel and Iran.
01:00As we have a large population of both Israeli and Persian diaspora in our city,
01:07we expect that conflict is likely to affect protests across other five boroughs.
01:12And out of abundance of caution, last night we immediately increased security at houses of worship and at Israeli diplomat sites.
01:22Police Commissioner Tish and I are coordinating with our federal partners as we continue to monitor the situation.
01:30We are praying for peace in the region and we're preparing for safety in our city.
01:38New York City is going to continue to remain the safest big city in America and
01:43we'll do whatever it takes to keep New Yorkers safe.
01:46Every one of you should be able to go to your house of worship, your jobs,
01:52your schools, employment, and without any form of unnecessary disruption.
01:59And a countless number of members of people who visit our city for tourist attractions and restaurants.
02:07That is what make our city great and we want to make sure they feel and they are safe.
02:12And New York City is also the greatest democracy on the globe.
02:17And part of our great democracy is the ability to peacefully protest.
02:23So as they have done the past few days, tomorrow many New Yorkers will be making their voices heard on our streets through peaceful protest.
02:33All week we have seen the professionalism of the NYPD and our partners in law enforcement.
02:39And we expect a large number of New Yorkers to be out on our streets.
02:44And the 34,000 members of the New York City Police Department are led by our team, will be protecting everyone.
02:52And we want to keep all New Yorkers safe, whether you are protesting or going about your everyday life.
03:00And we're saying to loved ones and family members, please know where your family members are.
03:07And ensure that they're not part of any disruption that's taking place.
03:12And while we always respect and protect the right to peaceful protest,
03:16there will be zero, zero tolerance for crime, blocking traffic, graffiti, or disorderly behavior.
03:23New Yorkers may have different emotions right now, and they have a right to express that.
03:29But we want to be clear, you do not have a right to engage in violence and lawlessness.
03:35Any escalation of protest that turn violent or results in property damage is unacceptable.
03:42And it won't be tolerated if it is attempted in our city.
03:47So do not come tomorrow to bring about any cause of problems.
03:53New Yorkers should be able to express their concerns without violence or spewing hate.
04:01And we're going to be safeguarding many of the events, including the protests.
04:06And it's our imperative to ensure we move around the city in a peaceful way.
04:12This city is well trained through our law enforcement communities.
04:17And we're able to have some form of major event and
04:23at the same time continue our daily lives.
04:27As I said Monday, in the face of conflict and division, we must choose peace and
04:32compassion over anger and retaliation in this city.
04:36And again, I want to thank the police department and our other law enforcement community and the men and women who are doing this job every day.
04:42It's challenging to be on the front line during protests and maintain your professionalism, but you're seeing it every day.
04:49And we are clear, there are a body of people who are here just to create chaos.
04:55And it takes a great deal of discipline not to be hooked with the chaos that they are attempting to take.
05:02And that's what these men and women are doing every day, and we will continue to do it.
05:06I want to turn it over to the police commissioner, Commissioner Tish.
05:08Thank you, Mayor Adams.
05:13At the beginning of this week, the mayor and I stood before you and
05:17articulated fundamental commitments that guide the NYPD's work every day.
05:23We protect the right to peacefully assemble, the right to speak freely, the right to protest.
05:29And we have no tolerance, none, for violence or vandalism or lawlessness.
05:36This past week, the men and women of the NYPD lived those commitments.
05:41They facilitated the demonstrations of thousands of peaceful protesters across our city day and night.
05:48When individuals among the protesters committed crimes, we swiftly arrested them.
05:54That is what your police department has done, and that is what we will continue to do.
06:00Tomorrow will be no different.
06:02It will be a nationwide day of protest, and we expect to see large crowds protesting across
06:08the city.
06:09The NYPD is prepared.
06:12Thousands of officers will be available to safeguard these protests.
06:16We have planned around the clock to ensure that those officers are deployed to the right
06:21places at the right times.
06:24Our executives will be monitoring the protests throughout the day, and will be ready to move
06:28resources as needed at a moment's notice.
06:32Our joint operations center will be activated starting on Saturday morning, where we will
06:37work in close coordination with the FBI and other state, local, and federal partners.
06:43I have been personally speaking with federal law enforcement leadership over the course of
06:47the last week, and I will continue to do so.
06:50So, for those who seek to peacefully exercise their First Amendment rights tomorrow, we are ready
06:56to help you do just that.
06:59For those who intend to commit crimes tomorrow, we are coming here, excuse me.
07:05For those who intend to commit crimes tomorrow, who are coming here to incite violence, to cause property damage, to attack our cops, you will be met with the full strength and determination of the greatest police department.
07:11in the world.
07:21And for those of you peacefully protesting, who see others engaged in unlawful activity, my message
07:28is clear, do not join them.
07:32Do not turn your exercise of cherished First Amendment rights into criminal conduct.
07:39Because my orders are clear.
07:42If individuals at the protests tomorrow are committing crimes, they will be arrested.
07:48And those orders are going to be followed.
07:51I want to reassure New Yorkers that even as we devote tremendous resources to the protests tomorrow,
07:57we remain focused on what is happening in every precinct.
08:01Normal department operations will not be impacted.
08:05Our summer violence reduction zone officers will stay on post.
08:09Our local level patrol and investigations will not be interrupted.
08:14We are also closely tracking what is happening overseas.
08:18In light of Israel's attack on Iran last night, we are deploying additional resources to a wide
08:24range of religious, cultural, and diplomatic institutions across this city.
08:29As always, these deployments are highly coordinated, they are dynamic and adaptable.
08:34Due to the confluence of events in the city, across the country, and around the world, we
08:39are in a heightened threat environment and the NYPD is responding accordingly.
08:45Our intelligence team, working shoulder to shoulder with our federal partners, has tremendous
08:50experience contending with threats from the Iranian government and its proxies.
08:55And is bringing that expertise to bear to ensure the safety and the security of our city.
09:02I want to express my gratitude to every officer who has worked throughout the week and
09:07will continue to work this weekend.
09:10I want the people of New York City to know that the men and women of the NYPD,
09:15who provide safety and security at these protests, have withstood verbal attacks and
09:20in some instances, physical attacks.
09:23And through it all, they have maintained their professionalism, their resolve,
09:28their discipline, and exercised incredible restraint.
09:32Our city owes a debt of gratitude to them and to their families.
09:37Let me be clear, attacking our officers or police property will not be tolerated and
09:43will be met with a swift and decisive response.
09:47We are responsible for enforcing the law and protecting the people of New York City.
09:52And we will never abdicate that responsibility.
09:55I have a few questions on topic, Matt.
10:01Has there been any communication with the Trump administration about the potential need to bring in the National Guard and or the military?
10:11But we have made it clear to their, the federal government that in just three simple words, we got this.
10:22Allie?
10:26The other night of the protest, late Tuesday, there appeared, thank you.
10:29There appeared to be federal officers there, possibly deploying some type of gas onto the protesters there.
10:36What do you know about what happened there and do you anticipate federal officers engaging in any protests tomorrow?
10:43Do you want to take the first part?
10:45Sure.
10:46So, we have been coordinating extensively with our federal partners.
10:53As the mayor just said, as the commissioner just said, we got this, we've got hundreds of specially trained officers who are expert at disorder control, who know how to do this very well.
11:06And we have been dealing with protests for certainly years, months.
11:12This is no different.
11:13The causes change, but the response is the same.
11:17And so that coordination, which is ongoing in that communication, we are quite confident that we are able to police these independently and quite effectively.
11:29The canister.
11:37So, obviously, everybody who is on the scene together, federal agencies who are responsible for
11:44the force protection of their own personnel involved in that particular incident,
11:50having an interaction with protestors.
11:54So, our message has been very clear, our communication with federal partners has been very clear,
11:59that we are there to help police the protests so that the federal government can do what it needs to do while we are keeping the public safe.
12:09Right next to you, Ali.
12:12Nia from New York One.
12:14Could you just elaborate on the extra security at religious institutions, including Jewish ones?
12:20How many extra officers are patrolling these institutions around the city?
12:25Yep.
12:26Starting last night, we deployed a lot of extra officers to religious, cultural, and diplomatic sites across the city.
12:37That heightened deployment has continued into the day, and it will continue for the next several days as long as it's necessary.
12:45As always, we don't give out specific numbers, but it is occurring across every borough of the city.
12:52Katie?
12:53Hi.
12:54This question is for the mayor, for the commissioner .
12:56I know you mentioned earlier, Mayor Adams, that there are outsiders in here.
13:01You might be aware of the state that there's outside aggregators.
13:03Do you find news last year, I know, with the flunky protests?
13:06Do you have any evidence or anything to show us proof that there is a concentrated outside aggregator?
13:12Because right now, I know last year, there wasn't really a lot of evidence about that.
13:15I'm serious to give any more information.
13:17Okay, you said as last year, there was no large amount.
13:22That's the biggest mistake we make when we try to define the situation.
13:28There were outside agitators on the Columbia campus when, at the time,
13:33Assistant Commissioner Daughtry and Chief Shell was there.
13:38There were individuals who were part of taking over the Hamilton Hall that did not attend the school.
13:44Some of them were professionals.
13:45Folks, when you have 5,000 people on the street, all you need is 20 to be an outside agitator.
13:53You don't need 4,999.
13:56You have a small number of people that are professionals.
14:00We saw it during the Black Lives Matter situation when I met with former Mayor Bill de Blasio.
14:05They were training people to have glass bottles filled with ice, bricks, knapsacks, all of the tools that were used to aggravate.
14:15And so get out of your mind that an outside agitator must be the numerical majority to the people who are participating.
14:23Outside agitators go in, they rile up the crowd, they start throwing items at the police, they start doing things to get the police aggravated.
14:32They use fire bombs to burn cars.
14:36We saw that during the BLM movement.
14:40That's what an outside agitator is.
14:42And so whomever is saying there are no outside agitators coming in and they're professionals, Antifa and others, they just don't understand policing.
14:51You're not the majority.
14:53That's not your goal.
14:54You're not going there to be the majority.
14:56You're going there to hijack a movement so that you can aggravate and create disorder in the city.
15:03That's what an outside agitator.
15:05They were there on Columbia and they're there at many of our marches.
15:08And so if you want to write a story about there are no outside agitators, feel free to do that.
15:13We're going to protect the people of this city based on intelligence, not rumors.
15:18I was asking if you had any intelligence to share for this current.
15:20No, no.
15:21Go to the next person.
15:22Hi Mayor, just to push the leader forward on training and lessons learned from the BLM protests.
15:32Talk about some of the training implemented in the NYPD as you guys prepare for tomorrow.
15:39Mike?
15:45Hi, I'm Michael Gerber, I'm the Deputy Commissioner of Legal Matters.
15:48And following the Floyd protests, DOI did a detailed report focusing on policies and procedures.
15:56I made a number of recommendations.
15:57We adopted those recommendations.
15:59So there are lots of pieces to that.
16:01But I think most critically was the adoption of department policy in the patrol guide,
16:06specifically about the policing of First Amendment activities, outlining responsibilities,
16:12outlining how we go about maximizing the exercise of First Amendment rights,
16:17while also maintaining public safety, enforcing the law.
16:21And then we train widely across the department on that,
16:23from people who are starting out as police officers to our executives.
16:27They all receive training on that new policy.
16:30Rocco?
16:31One more point for the same topic.
16:34The department now has a First Amendment protest supervisor.
16:38What has that supervisor brought to the table?
16:41What is new now in how the police handles things?
16:44And why was the first supervisor, Chief Hayward, replaced after such a short time?
16:49So there are a number of different pieces to that.
16:52So in the protest settlement, we are coming to the tail end of phase one.
16:57We have not yet started phase two.
16:59And in phase one, we have developed a variety of new policies and procedures and training that speak specifically to the terms of the protest settlement.
17:10The FAA executive, the First Amendment activities executive, as per the settlement,
17:15is an executive in the chief of department's office from the operational side.
17:21And that person has a variety of responsibilities under the protest settlement.
17:26Now, that person is not a lawyer.
17:28That person is not giving legal advice.
17:30That person is not the incident commander.
17:32But that person, among other things, is responsible.
17:36And really, this is going to kick in in phase two, so we're not there yet.
17:39But in phase two, that person will be responsible for, first of all, a variety of administrative tasks.
17:44And record keeping in terms of protests.
17:48And then connected to that as part of DOI's oversight role when they are reviewing particular protests.
17:54So that FAA executive will be responsible for making sure they have the records they need.
17:58But then also for interacting with them, for explaining to them what happened, getting feedback from them.
18:03And helping really lead the department in its interactions with DOI in its oversight function.
18:08We, as always, do not comment on individual personnel moves.
18:19Time for one more.
18:21Sorry, Mark.
18:23Just a couple of questions.
18:25I was wondering if you could talk a little bit about the deployment of officers in light of sending extra teams to religious institutions.
18:34And the protests happening at the same time.
18:36How are those decisions going to be made?
18:38And obviously, you've mentioned the 34,000 officers that are going to be out there.
18:43But could you talk a little bit about rotating them and moving them and deploying them while all these things are happening?
18:49And the other question I had was, what's the search been like online in places like Telegram or in the dark web to sort of find out what some of these agitators who have been known to the department,
19:02with either the Columbia protests or other things like what's being done to keep an eye on them or to sort of get ahead of what they might be doing or planning for these demonstrations?
19:13Let me start with the first part in terms of how we move our resources around.
19:19As I mentioned, we are activating our joint operations center tomorrow morning.
19:25So the movements of resources in the department will all be controlled by the joint operation center as it relates to the protest activity.
19:35And Chief Shell will be running the operations in the jock tomorrow.
19:39Rebecca, do you want to speak to the second part?
19:44Sure.
19:45So this is very fundamental to what our intelligence personnel do in coordination with their federal partners and partners around the world in the private sector.
19:55So this is something we deal with every day.
19:58There's of course a large public manifestation of both protest and obviously a lot of online calls for civil disobedience and other activity.
20:10But we are knee deep in monitoring for threats of all sides, of all kinds, around the world, every day.
20:18We are unfortunately have become quite accustomed to dealing with a bubbling up of conflict overseas and potential ramifications here in the city at the same time as we have a very different scenario playing out across the country, namely these protests that some of which have involved acts of civil disobedience and even violence.
20:41So this is what we do every day, we have large teams, they are quite good at what they do, and we have wonderful partners.
20:48So we are confident we are going to be able to get through not just tomorrow, but whatever is on our horizon.
20:53And we should, you know, we want to be clear and we want to keep in mind, we have 8.5 million people in New York City.
21:00We have a protest of 5,000, 10,000, the loudest, they are not the numerical majority.
21:10We saw a video that went viral of a woman who was just trying to get to work.
21:15And the level of disrespect that was being shown to her, it impacts 8.5 million people.
21:25When you block traffic, that emergency vehicle can't respond to the heart attack.
21:29When you decide that you're going to burn police vehicles, you are showing a level of display and disorder.
21:36When you break windows of shops and glass, people broke inside there to provide for their family.
21:44That's what we're going to balance.
21:46And we're not going to romanticize what disorder does to a city.
21:50You see it being played out across this country.
21:54We can't allow it to happen here.
21:57That is our job.
21:59Our job is to allow that mother to go to her job.
22:02Our job is to allow family members to pick up their loved ones from school.
22:07Our job is to make sure emergency vehicles can get to where they have to go to provide services for New Yorkers.
22:14We have 8.5 million people in this city.
22:18And we're not going to allow a numerical minority to impact the quality of life that they deserve.
22:25That is what we want to do.
22:27We do it well, no one does it better than us, and we're going to do it tomorrow on the 14th.
22:32Thanks.
22:33Thank you, Mike.
22:36Thanks.
22:38Thanks.
22:42Thanks.
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