Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio is at a press conference in Red Hook this morning to make an unspecified announcement, but it's believed today is the day he will reveal his choice for NYPD Commissioner. The Times has now broken the news that de Blasio, who strongly condemned former mayor Rudy Giuliani during mayoral debates, will appoint Giuliani-era Commissioner Bill Bratton to the post. From the Paper of Record:
The appointment has been highly anticipated and will most likely be among the most consequential for Mr. de Blasio, who turned discontent with the Police Department’s stop-and-frisk practices into a key part of his winning election run.
Mr. Bratton rose to international prominence after his first tenure as police commissioner in New York in the mid-1990s and had been considered a front-runner since Mr. de Blasio began mentioning his name on the campaign trail.
The selection of Mr. Bratton, a well-known and generally well-regarded figure in law enforcement, appeared to reflect the tricky spot Mr. de Blasio finds himself in as he moves to reshape the Police Department’s street tactics, while sustaining the decline in serious crime.
We'll have more from the press conference in a little while, so stay tuned, and remember to tip your squeegee man. Here's a live stream of the presser:
The Rev. Al Sharpton, a de Blasio supporter, made a statement:
I had a long phone conversation yesterday with Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio about his choice of Bill Bratton as the next Police Commissioner of New York City, and I spoke this morning with Bill Bratton. I have worked in both adversarial and positions of alliance with Bill Bratton, and I shared my views on both with Mayor-elect de Blasio and him.
When Bill Bratton served in New York City under Rudy Giuliani, we had a very distant and adversarial relationship, but when he served in Los Angeles, he and I and the Los Angeles Chapter of National Action Network worked closely on gang violence and police misconduct matters. Mr. Bratton knows of my concerns and the concerns of others about racial profiling in stop and frisk policing but at the same time is aware of our desire to continue the decrease of violence and crime in our community.
I told Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio and Commissioner Bill Bratton that I hope they will work with a broad cross-sector of New Yorkers to continue the pursuit of both and we discussed meeting over the next few days to discuss these matters with him and with other civil rights and community leaders.
And NYCLU Executive Director Donna Lieberman, who has been critical of stop-and-frisk policing, said:
We look forward to working with the new mayor and police commissioner to ensure that fundamental changes are made to the NYPD, including a top-to-bottom culture shift that ends racial profiling and the abuse of stop-and-frisk.
The mayor won election on the promise to close the book on the tale of two cities, and New Yorkers from all backgrounds have made clear that we will hold him to that promise. It’s a challenging task, but we are optimistic we will begin to see an era where members of all communities can trust the police, and where the police respect the rights and dignity of all New Yorkers.
Here's the official statement from de Blasio: "Bill Bratton is a proven crime-fighter. He knows what it takes to keep a city safe, and make communities full partners in the mission. Together, we are going to preserve and deepen the historic gains we’ve made in public safety—gains Bill Bratton helped make possible. And we will do it by rejecting the false choice between keeping New Yorkers safe and protecting their civil rights. This is an Administration that will do both."
And Bratton says, "Mayor-Elect de Blasio’s priorities are my priorities. This is the best police force in the nation, and we are going to ensure our men and women have the best technology, the most innovative tactics and the strong support of the communities they protect. This department will not rest on its laurels. We are going to continue making history as the safest big city in America."
Brooklyn Borough President-Elect Eric Adams, a former cop, said, "Commissioner Bratton is a wise choice to head the NYPD at this important moment for New York. His vast experience and commitment to working with communities to improve safety will allow the de Blasio administration to attack persistent crime challenges head-on while maintaining success where progress has been made."
In a separate statement, Transportation Alternatives Executive Director Paul Steely White endorsed Bratton, saying, "To achieve his Vision Zero goal, Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio is smart to appoint Bill Bratton to lead the NYPD. Traffic deaths and serious injuries are epidemic in New York City, and the police department has a significant role to play in eliminating them. More New Yorkers are killed in traffic than murdered by guns.
"At a recent panel discussion presented by T.A. and NYU's Rudin Center for Transportation Policy & Management, Bill Bratton demonstrated that he understands the urgent need to use data-driven traffic enforcement across the city to target reckless and deadly drivers and save lives."
