Dated: November 22, 2016

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Hello, everyone. I want to welcome you. This is a very important issue and a very timely issue we’re talking about today. This about protecting our police officers. And we all know what’s been happening around the country, and including here in our city. We have seen assaults on officers. We’ve seen officers shot and in some cases even killed. And it’s something that we have to do everything in our power to stop.

I know Commissioner O’Neill, rightfully, sent a message to the men and women of the NYPD in the last 24 hours about continuing vigilance and about having each other’s back.

Well, we also have to have the back of our NYPD officers when it comes to our State laws. And this is an area where we need a change in our law to protect our officers. Let’s remember that everyone who puts on that uniform protects us. It takes courage. It takes commitment. We have to be equally committed to our officers. We have to have every tool at our disposal to protect the men and women of the NYPD.

Now, the Governor has before him an important piece of legislation and it clearly demarcates the need to make sure that heavily tinted windows are addressed during annual inspections of vehicles. Cars with deeply tinted windows would fail this inspection under our current State law. But there is not a current requirement that this be dealt with at the inspection process, which is the best place to do it.

This bill which we supported strongly – and you’re going to hear from one of the co-sponsors in a moment, Assemblyman Michael DenDekker – this bill had overwhelming support in both houses of the legislature. It is a smart approach, a proactive approach, a simple way to do the right the thing and protect our cops.

I want to thank everyone who is gathered with us. You’re going to here from some. I also want to thank our Chief of Department Carlos Gomez; our First Deputy Commissioner Ben Tucker; our Chief of Detectives Bob Boyce; and from Labor, Lou Turco, the President of the Lieutenants Benevolent Association; Lou Matarazzo, former PBA president, and the Legislative Director of the New York State Association of PBA’s, and all representatives here from Labor.

Now, as we think about this problem, this challenge, it’s impossible not to think back to a very painful memory from 2007. And that was a moment when we saw how dangerous these tinted windows can be to our officers.

In that year, two officers stopped a BMW when the plates didn’t match the car. Darkened windows on the car meant that the officers could not see the armed criminals inside.

Then Police Officer, now-Sergeant Herman Yan was shot in the arm and in the chest. You’ll hear from him in a moment. Thank God he was saved by the vest he was wearing. But we lost Detective Russel Timoshenko that day because he could not see the danger that awaited him. That is positively unconscionable and we have to act to protect our officers.

I want to thank Sergeant Yan and I want to thank Detective Timoshenko’s mother, Tatyana, who is here today. Let’s give them a round of applause and thank them.

[Applause]

And we thank you for keeping the detective’s memory alive by acting for this change that will protect so many.

To put this into perspective, our officers make more than 1 million car stops a year here in this city. And in that situation, God forbid there’s a criminal in that vehicle, and God forbid they have a weapon – if they have deeply tinted windows the criminal can hide the weapon from the officer’s view and that gives the criminal the advantage over the officer.

This bill will end that reality. It will make sure that these tinted windows are addressed at the most important point each year where we can solve this problem – during the annual inspection.

We believe that we have to use every tool we can to keep our officers safe – training, technology, new vests. But here’s another piece of the equation. Here’s another thing we can do, simply, to make sure our officers have every advantage.

Just a few words in Spanish –

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish]

With that I want to bring up the man who understands this issue not only as the leader of our police force, but because he patrolled these streets for 33 years of his life – our Commissioner, Jimmy O’Neill.

[Applause]

Police Commissioner James O’Neill: Thanks Mr. Mayor. I’d like to thank everybody for being here. It’s an important press conference. This legislation is about keeping cops safe – plain and simple. It’s about helping us do our work safely and efficiently in order to keep the public safe. Just yesterday, I issued an officer safety reminder to the men and women of the NYPD in the context of four cops around the country on Sunday who were shot while doing their jobs, protecting the public. Tragedies like that can happen at any time to a cop out on the street. And let me tell you, it’s not okay.

I want to acknowledge Tatyana Timoshenko, as the Mayor did. Tatyana, thank you for being here. We are so honored to have you as part of our police family. Thank you for all you do and all you continue to do for the NYPD, and for all of our police officers. As you know, as the Mayor said, in 2007, Detective Timoshenko and his partner, now-Sergeant Herman Yan were conducting traffic stop of a stolen BMW in Brooklyn when they were both shot by the occupants inside. Would the outcome have been different if those brave officers had been able to see inside the illegally tinted windows of the vehicle they had stopped? I don’t know the answer to that question. What I do know is that by signing this meaningful legislation into law, the Governor can truly make a difference in the dangerous work our men and women in uniform go out and do every single day. As proposed, this bill would require state inspection sites to check the level of tint on vehicle windows during annual inspections. With very little money, State inspection locations can easily make the jobs of police officers not just here in New York City, but all across the entire State of New York safer. And I think that’s everyone’s goal. I can’t for one second understand how this legislation could be vetoed a second time. Doing anything less than signing it into law would put the lives of every cop at risk who selflessly protect the public. Let’s pass this legislation so the lives of Detective Russel Timoshenko and so many others were not given in vain.

Let’s do it today. Thank you very much.

Mayor: Thank you, Commissioner.

[Applause]

Mayor: Now, I want to bring up – get this stuff to work, there we go – a man, again, who we acknowledge for his bravery and his courage. But, we also appreciate deeply for keeping the memory of his colleague alive and for fighting for this change, Sergeant Herman Yan.

[Applause]

Sergeant Herman Yan, NYPD: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Police officers put their lives on the line every day to keep New Yorkers safe. We conduct our stops – some have the potential for danger. Police officers should have the ability to view the interior of a vehicle during a car stop. It is a tactical disadvantage when a vehicle has illegal tints. This bill being discussed today has the potential to prevent the type of tragedy that happened to Detective Russel Timoshenko and me. This legislation will go a long way as far as providing police officers with the protection and security we deserve while protecting car stops, especially at night. Thank you.

Mayor: Thank you very much, Sergeant. Thank you so much for being here. Thank you, Sergeant.

[Applause]

Mayor: Now, the President of the Detectives Endowment Association – I know how strongly he feels about this. We thank him for his support – Michael Palladino.

[Applause]

Michael Palladino, Detectives Endowment Association: Thank you. Good afternoon, everyone. I’d like to start of course by saying thank you to Mayor de Blasio and Police Commissioner James O’Neill for their support on the bill. I also have to say thank you to Assemblyman Michael DenDekker and also Senator DeFrancisco for supporting and carrying this bill through their respective Houses.

Car stops have always been a very dangerous situation for police officers and in this present day where there are so many acts of violence against cops and the constant threat of terrorism, this bill could not come forward at a better time. Giving cops a clearer view, a clearer picture of what’s going on in that vehicle will keep our officers safe and the occupants safe in those vehicles. My experience has always been in a car stop situation, there is always a lot of non-verbal communication that takes place – observations of body language and blacked out windows prevents those very critical observations from taking place. So, on behalf of the 5,500 active NYPD detectives and the thousands of hardworking men and women of law enforcement in the State of New York, we strongly urge Governor Cuomo to sign this bill into law. Thanks.

Mayor: Thank you very much.

[Applause]

Thank you. As I bring up the Assemblyman, I want to express my profound appreciation to Assemblyman Michael DenDekker, and his colleague in the Senate, Senator John DeFrancisco, for having made this a priority of having kept this legislation alive and seen it through both Houses. This is live-saving legislation and we owe a debt of gratitude to Assemblyman Michael DenDekker.

[Applause]

Assemblymember Michael DenDekker: Thank you, Mr. Mayor, thank you Commissioner for being here. This piece of legislation is awfully fantastic piece of legislation for regular drivers. As you are driving down a regular street and you pull up to a four way stop sign or a driveway, you want to make eye contact with the other driver. You want to be able to make sure that they’ve seen you. This also will protect our pedestrians and bicyclists that are riding down the road.

It is extremely difficult to see out of these windows, especially in the evening and dusk hours. On top of that, the only way to currently enforce the law is for a police officer to be at risk by pulling over a car that he suspects that the windows are too dark on and then after walking up to a window that he can’t see through, he’ll have to check to see if the window is dark and if it is, he’ll get to issue a violation. If he is lucky enough, all that will happen and nobody will get hurt. This legislation will completely solve the issue. Within one year from the date of [inaudible] there will be no more tinted windows that are illegally tinted in the State of New York unless it is a group of vehicles that have an exemption like law enforcement or if somebody has some sort of medical condition that they get an exemption for. Otherwise, there will be no more tinted windows.

If you buy a vehicle from another state and bring it here, within 10 days you must get it inspected. If it doesn’t past inspection because the windows are too dark, again we would have solved the issue. We will also save tens of thousands of dollars, if not millions of dollars that we currently spend throughout this state in local municipalities and police departments by having to purchase the little meter to find out if the window is too dark or not. That will now all be solved because it will be taking place during the vehicle’s inspection at the inspection station. So this is a real public safety issue. It is a real issue concerning the lives and safety of our law enforcement and police officers and it’s also a real issue for our regular members of the general public, who, by the way, we ask, if you see something, say something. They need to see in the window. When you pull up next to a car, if you saw somebody with a handgun in their hand you would naturally call 9-1-1. If they pull up with those dark tinted windows and you can’t see in, you don’t know what they’re doing, what they’re carrying and what danger they may pose to you. I cannot thank the Mayor enough, all of his staff that works so diligently up in Albany – Sherif, and Ariana, and [inaudible]. Thank you very much for being here. To the members of the media, I ask you please, let’s get the message out. Governor, if you hear my voice, please sign this piece of legislation. Let’s make New York safer.

Mayor: Thank you very much Assemblyman. Well done. Thank you.

[Applause]

I just want to note, next to Commissioner and Chief Boyce, you see an example of these windows and you can see a police officer would not be able to see through them and see particularly if a weapon was present. This is the kind of thing we need to change. We want to take questions on this legislation, and then after that we will take questions on other matters. Questions on this legislation?

Where’s Azi? Where’s Azi? Okay, behind the sun, there we go.

Question: Will this legislation affect cars registered in other states that are currently in New York. And secondly, have you spoken to the Governor about this?

Mayor: I have not spoken to the Governor. I look forward to. Obviously, he has until Monday at midnight, so I intend to speak to him about it directly. We have been in regular contact with his staff, letting them know how important it is to New York City and our police officers. In terms of the out-of-state, Michael why don’t you come over – Michael Dendekker – the question is how this affects cars registered out of state.

Assemblyman Dendekker: Currently, an out of state vehicle would comply with that state’s licensing requirements, so if that vehicle were to be operating within the confines of our state, I believe under law – the police might better to answer that – that they would be able to operate the vehicle up to a certain period of time before they’d have to change the registration over to the State of New York.

Commissioner O’Neill: That’s correct. If it’s an out-of-state vehicle, and they’re now living in New York, they would have to change the registration and any regulations that we have would have to be adhered to.

Mayor: Courtney?

Question: Commissioner –

Mayor: Louder, please.

Question: Commissioner, you said during your remarks that this bill has been vetoed before. Could you give us a history lesson about when that occurred and by whom?

Mayor: You want the Assemblyman to do that? Assemblyman, the history of the bill and why it was vetoed in the past.

Assemblyman Dendekker: The last time the bill passed both houses it was sent to the Governor, and the bill was vetoed. The veto message had a reasoning that it was an unfunded mandate to the service inspection stations because they would have to go out and buy the meter to do the inspection of the windows. And the service stations had asked that they wanted an increase in their inspection fee to do that because they hadn’t gotten an increase in an appropriate amount of years. My reply to that was that not every gas station has to be an inspection station. They do it as a service, and the reason why they do it as a service is so that when you bring your car there they build up a relationship with that customer, and more importantly if the car has something wrong with it to fail inspection, they’ll get to repair the vehicle. So, I look at it as they have an opportunity to make a relationship with the public and to repair the vehicles that are failing the state inspection for one reason or another.

Mayor: And the – hold on one second – and the equipment itself is not expensive?

Assemblyman Dendekker: Well, now as years have gone, by the equipment has decreased in value significantly. It’s probably approximately $100 right now.

Question: [Inaudible.]

Assemblyman Dendekker: I think it was four years ago, 2012.

Mayor: Other questions?

Question: Will any vehicles be exempt for the law and do you guys plan to fine – if enacted – press vehicles that have blacked out windows?

Assemblyman Dendekker: The only vehicles that I know that are exempted from this – and keep in mind we’re talking about the driver’s front and the driver’s passenger window. There are different requirements for the rest of the vehicle. Currently under State law – we are not changing State law at all – this is just enforcement. Current exemptions include emergency vehicles such as police vehicles, fire vehicles, ambulances etc. And you can ask for an exemption if you have some medical reason that you cannot be exposed to bright sunlight etcetera, you can get a doctor’s note, you can apply for an exemption through the Department of Motor Vehicles currently. And you can check their website on how to do that. There’s a form to fill out with a doctor’s note.

Question: Could we hear from Sergeant Yan on what it was like the day he went to that darkened window?

Mayor: Come on over, Sergeant. She’s asking if you could give some sense of what it meant that day to not be able to see into the car.

Sergeant Herman Yan: Well, we pulled over the car for a traffic violation, and it happened at 2 o’clock in the morning. As we – my partner Detective Timoshenko and I – approached the car we really couldn’t see how many occupants were actually inside the car. So, this legislation would help that, so it would give us a sense of how many people were inside the car.

Mayor: Thank you. Any other questions? Yes?

Question: How much would this add – if anything – to vehicle registration fees?

Mayor: Would it – to the best of my knowledge it does not add to the registration fee, right?

Assemblyman Dendekker: No, there is no increased cost to the registration fee. It is the same as it is now. It will be part of the State inspection.

Question: Very quickly, what about enforcement to make sure that the inspection sites do this because you know some people can always give a little extra to the inspection guy, and they’ll look the other way, so who will be enforcing that – that they actually do the –

Assemblyman Dendekker: Currently, right now, that’s against the law. So, if an inspection station were to do that not only would they lose their inspection license, but they’d probably be criminally charged. The enforcement of it I think would be rather simple. When the police officers pull over a vehicle that has these tinted windows that obviously shouldn’t have it, and they see the inspection stickers within the time frame that it would’ve been inspected – they would say by looking at the sticker by the way with the number we can find out what station did the inspection because the stickers registered to that station. We would then do an investigation and find out how that happened.

Mayor: And let me, let me add that it would obviously be a priority for the NYPD to follow up on those cases because if we know of a service station that’s letting a car get away with having illegally tinted windows and posing a danger to our officers, I assure you we will pay that service station a visit and correct the situation and make sure if there are any fines or other penalties they’ll pay it. I think the word will get around very quickly to service stations that you’re putting officers lives in danger if you don’t follow this law.

Question: The Assemblyman had said that the cost of the meter has gone down since 2012. It’s about $100. How much was it in 2012? And second, of those million car stops that are done every year, how many are there that the officers are jeopardized by these tinted windows?

Mayor: You want to do the first one on how much it was in the past?

Assemblyman Dendekker: It was approximately between $100 and $200. Technology has changed, and there’s been an increased demand from across the nation to get the meters for law enforcement, so supply and demand the price has come down.

Commissioner O’Neill: So, with the million car stops we do a year, 65,000 to 70,000 we give tinted window summonses to. As to what percentage of the cars of the million – is that the question you’re asking? How many of them had tinted windows? I don’t have to answer, but if it’s one, it’s too many.

Mayor: Other questions?

Question: [Inaudible.]

Mayor: Louder.

Question: Is there any level of tinting allowed under the law on the front windows?

Assemblyman Dendekker: I believe we have an example of the different shades of tint. Currently under the law, it’s 30 percent which means 70 percent of the light has to be able to be transmitted through the window. If it’s more than a 30 percent darken then it would be considered illegal in the State of New York. It currently is also illegal to sell windows that do not meet that requirement or install or alter a vehicle, and it’s also illegal to drive it. So, we have several ways that we have tried to stop this from happening, but yet it continues to do so.

Question: Are there other states that already have the kind of law you’re looking for there?

Mayor: I’m glad you asked that. I’m going to tell you what I know, and, Michael – may need more. Right now, in terms of requiring window tint to be addressed in the inspection – Texas, West Virginia, Vermont Maine, and New Hampshire all require it.

Yes?

Question: What is the level of tint on the cars behind you?

Mayor: Anyone? Who can speak to the – we’ll get it to you. Okay, definitely that example right there next to Chief Boyce is a clear example of something that would not be allowed.

Any other question?

Question: Is there an exemption for officers’ personal vehicles? Because I know some officers who like the dark tint to keep themselves safe.

Assemblyman Dendekker: I believe that would do be covered. The vehicle itself has to be designated an emergency vehicle, so unless the Commissioner or the Police Department designated that vehicle an emergency vehicle, it would not be exempt.

Question: So if these vehicles are illegal, they belong to –

Mayor: We will get you an answer on where the vehicles come from. Smart – we will get it for you.

Any other questions? Yes?

Question: What about car services? Livery cars?

Mayor: Same thing – livery cars – yes, it’s the same thing. Look –

Assemblyman Dendekker: – the front and passenger window –

Mayor: As the Assemblyman said there are some valid exceptions, but they are rare. They’re for appropriate government vehicles and where there is a medical condition, but it’s very rare. So the point is we don’t want any vehicle unless they have a really good reason and a legal reason, we don’t want them to have this tinting that would be officers’ lives in dangers. That’s what the state law already says. The loophole is you go and get your inspection, and they’ll pass you even if you have an illegal feature on your car. We want to close that window, make it very clear you cannot get your inspection sticker if you have an illegally tinted window.

Question: [Inaudible] representative from the police union, the PBA, here [inaudible]?

Mayor: I mentioned there’s representation from the police unions here. I think we have representation from a number of unions, and I know they’re supportive.

Any other questions? Okay, we’re going to go to other topics. Thank you again, Assemblymember, very, very much. Thank you, Commissioner. Thank you, Chief. Get warm. Okay – other topics?

Courtney, you have the hot hand today – let’s get to you.

Question: Mr. Mayor, just an hour or two ago there was a crane accident in Queens. Do you have any details for us on exactly what happened?

Mayor: Our understanding – very preliminary, there’s a full investigation going on right now by the Buildings Department. Obviously – a tragedy. We understand there’s two fatalities. We believe they are both construction workers. My understanding is that some material fell on them. We do not know the cause yet. We need to know, of course, right away, was is mechanical? Was it human error? We don’t know yet.

In the back. Yeah.

Question: Mr. Mayor, so, after the press conference when you’re talking about the cost that [inaudible] to carry security for Mr. Trump. Have you been in contact with the President-elect regarding that?

Mayor: I have not been in contact with the President-elect. I have been in contact with Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson. We have begun that conversation. I made clear to him how committed we are to the president-elect’s security but I’ve also made clear to him that there’s extraordinary costs involved, and that we want to start the process of understanding what kind of federal reimbursement we can get. I will be speaking the President-elect’s team as early as next week on this topic. Obviously, in terms of reimbursement right now – that would be the current presidential administration up through January 20.

Way in the back.

Question: Mr. Mayor, in September, the NYPD said [inaudible] officer who fatally shot Ramarley Graham, now, nearly five years ago, is going to stand trial – administrative trial. What’s the delay? Why hasn’t that happened? Is your administration investigating on top of the Bloomberg administration –

Mayor: No, that is – that will be starting quite soon. That is all moving forward. We announced that a few weeks back and there’s going to be a trial date set very shortly.

Question: [Inaudible]

Mayor: Again, I’m not an expert on the internal disciplinary of the NYPD. We’ve said publicly a trial is coming and I can tell you a date will be set very shortly.

Question: [Inaudible] any other officers that will be charged in that case –

Mayor: I’ll have the NYPD answer that for you.

Question: So, I have a couple questions about the vasectomy plan on Staten Island –

Mayor: You have to say deer so you don’t get the impression we’re doing that to humans.

[Laughter]

That really – that could cause a lot of misunderstanding, Anna.

Question: So, couple questions – so far, at least three deer have been killed by the City contractor in this process. Is that a number that you’re comfortable with? And then as a follow up – there are more deer that you’re giving these vasectomies to than were expected. Would you be prepared to increase the funding and maybe increase the contract if more vasectomies are needed to be done?

Mayor: Yes. The answer to the second question – yes, of course. We have to take – get the problem under control. We believe this is the best approach and we will provide the necessary funding. In terms of the situation where three deer died, I don’t know enough about the approach to know if that is something exceptional. I think, obviously, that’s very few. We want to keep it as few as possible. I don’t know the circumstances. Right now, we think this is the best approach and we’ll keep monitoring. But we think it’s the best approach.

Question: Mr. Mayor, you spent much of the last two weeks standing up –

Mayor: A little louder.

Question: You spent much of the last two weeks standing up to Donald Trump. I wonder what you would say to your constituents who say that’s all well and good but you should focus on dealing with the city’s problem with homeless – there’s homeless who are in banks in Bay Ridge, things like that. What do you say to them?

Mayor: There’s no contradiction, Marcia. We have to all of the above. We’re here today talking about how to keep our police officers safe. Last night, I was in the Bronx at a town hall meeting for three hours talking about local concerns. We’re going to work on all of the issues of the city but guess what? There was a national election two weeks ago and it has huge ramifications for New York City and for millions of New Yorkers. So, we have to able to walk and chew gum at the same time.

Question: The question I would have to you is this – Donald Trump is the man who’s known to keep an enemy’s list. And I wonder if you think that he might try to – retribution on you or New York City because you’ve been critical –

Mayor: No. It’s my job to stand up for New Yorkers. I think the President-elect understands that. As I said, we had a substantial and respectful meeting. We talked about a wide range of issues. We know we don’t agree on a lot of things but we also are trying to find a way to work together at least to some extent. But when it comes to standing up for New Yorkers, that’s my job and it’s not the first time I’ve had to stand up against the federal government or State government on behalf of New Yorkers. It comes with the territory. But we’ll make every effort to keep lines of communication open. And I think the most important point here is the United States Constitution makes clear that local governments make most of the decisions for their own people. And I’m putting the federal government on record that we’re going to defend our people’s interests.

Question: [Inaudible]

Mayor: I’ll go you and then you. Go ahead.

Question: So, HRA is in the process of renewing a lease at a Union Square property and that lease amount is set to double. Why is the City staying at that location? Why not find another location?

Mayor: I don’t know the details of that location but we can get back to you when I get more detail.

Question: [Inaudible] Cooper Union address –

Mayor: Louder.

Question: In your address at Cooper Union, you spoke about taking legal action to block the Muslim registry proposal and also if the President-elect moves forward with his immigration plans to –

Mayor: Speak up. Speak up. I’m with you so far, but keep going. Louder.

Question: Yeah – and that if the President-elect were to move forward with this immigration plans –

Mayor: This is your idea of speaking up?

[Laughter]

Project your voice.

Question: Okay, so –

Mayor: Yell at me.

Question: You said that if the President-elect moves forward with his immigration plan you would provide representation for undocumented New Yorkers. Can you speak to what specific legal action the City would take, and how the City would handle any retaliatory cuts to federal funding –

Mayor: I can speak to – let me say the difference between the first issue and the second. On the legal action – look, a registry by religion has no precedent in the entire history of the United States of America. Just doesn’t. The notion of a religious registry goes against the United States Constitution. And I will take legal action, and I think mayors all over the country will take legal action, and a number of other people will take legal action to stop something that’s blatantly unconstitutional. In terms of federal funding – as we’ve talked about before, the last Supreme Court decision constrained the ability of the federal government to cut funding. There are some areas where the federal government can tie funding to certain conditions, but not across the board, not all areas of federal funding. It equates to specific lines of federal funding.

And look, we’re going to seek to resolve these issues when we can but if the federal government asks the City of New York to do something we think is against our vital interests, we’re prepared to stand up. I’m not going to speculate about the funding issues because it’s way too early to tell.

Yeah?

Question: Mr. Mayor, a couple of weeks ago I asked you about Kendra’s Law and why the City was reluctant to apply it. And you said well because you have to [inaudible] of violent behavior on the part of the mentally ill individual before it can be out into a Kendra’s Law situation. But the law says that violence is only a predicate for hospitalizing someone. The only you thing you need for Kendra’s Law is a repeated history of failure to stick with treatment. And you know there’s dozens and dozens of people who filter through the City’s jails who are mentally ill and they go through it all the time and they could be under Kendra’s Law and receiving treatment. So, why is the City resistant to –

Mayor: We’re not resistant. I think, with all due respect, there’s some putting words in mouth there. We are going to have, in the coming weeks, a much fuller discussion of the things we are doing related to Kendra’s Law but beyond Kendra’s Law because Kendra’s Law is one tool. We are developing a whole set of tools beyond it. Our focal point is when there is a combination of a designated mental health problem – I should diagnosed mental health problem and a history of violence. That’s our number one concern. And we believe we have tools that we can use that will act, in some ways, faster than what’s allowed under Kendra’s Law where you know it requires a court order and a judge’s action.

Kendra’s Law is a good tool. There are other tools as well. So, we will have an update soon for the people in this city on the ways we’re going about trying to address mental health problems when we fear there is a particular chance of violence.

Now, if you say, what about where we don’t fear there’s a chance for violence – we agree. I agree with you. We want to reach those people too. And that’s a lot of what our overall mental health plan seeks to do.

So, I just don’t think there’s a contradiction here. We believe Kendra’s Law is a valuable tool. There are other tools beyond it.

Question: The terror suspect –

Mayor: Louder.

Question: Naji – the terror suspect arrested yesterday in Brooklyn. There’s some chatter that he supported a Nice, France-style attack on Times Square. Anything changed the game here with respect to Macy’s Thanksgiving? We know the sand trucks are going to be out there.

Mayor: No – well in advanced of this arrest. And again, I commend the FBI and the NYPD for the arrest. We were already planning based on the very broad messaging by ISIS which obviously was an appeal to lone wolves. We were planning for a very heavy security presence. And as you know, compared to the past, we now have much stronger anti-terror capacity with the Critical Response Command and the Strategic Response Group and ESU.

So, the Nice attack – we didn’t need anything else to clue us in that the Nice attack was an indicator of something we had to make adjustments because of and changes. That’s why the sand trucks are there and you will not see vehicles crossing the route of the parade.

Way in the back.

Question: Going off that [inaudible] what is stopping someone from driving a truck like that into Times Square with the layout as it is?

Mayor: I think we have to differentiate the concept of attacking a major gathering or event from what could happen in everyday life. A part of why we have such an extraordinary anti-terror capacity is to prevent attacks particularly around major events and major moments happening around the world. But we also have a huge intelligence gathering capacity. The NYPD has had that for years and we’ve been adding to it.

What we’ve improved upon is the relationship with the FBI and our federal partners which you know, once upon a time a few years ago, was quite fractured. Now, it’s very, very unified and tight.

So, as this arrest indicates there are a number of people being watched carefully and when we get to the point where we think someone needs to be arrested that happens. That’s the best way to prevent anything that might be a premeditated larger attack. So, it’s a combination of intelligence gathering and having the extensive force available to deal with anything that might come up particularly a big event.

Mayor: In the back, way back.

Question: Mr. Mayor, turnstile jumping – the classic broken windows crime – is a crime of moral turpitude because it’s theft of services, which makes it a deportable offense for legal residents –

Mayor: What’s your question?

Question: My question is – thinking about protecting immigrants under the new regime, does that mean you rethink some broken windows policing knowing that small crimes will get legal residents –

Mayor: I think you’re several steps ahead in the sense that, right now, we’ve said very clearly that the protocols we use right now – where we do not ask documentation status – we’re not going to change that, and the law that we have in the city delineates when we cooperate with ICE. I think it’s 60 different offenses – major violent crimes, major drug offenses, anything related to terror for example – where we fully cooperate. We do not cooperate for minor and non-violent offenses. Nothing is going to change about that.

Question: The President-elect said he wants to deport all criminal aliens day one – that means anyone with a criminal record –

Mayor: The President-elect, as you know, is going to have to go through a lot of different hurdles to bring any vision to fruition whether its by legislation through the Congress or whether it’s in some cases through executive order, there’s going to be legal challenges. There’s going to be any number of additional actions. So, I don’t think people should assume he simply flips a switch and everything changes in this country. I remind you, as I said yesterday, right now – he’s a smart man – he knows that the vote total for his opponent is 1.7 million in her favor right now, so he does not have the kind of mandate from the people of this country for some of the more extreme plans that he put forward. We’re going to take this one step at a crime.

Question: [Inaudible.]

Mayor: Again, we’re going to take this one step at a time.

Mayor: Yes?

Question: You talked about the cost of protecting President-elect Trump. There’s a report that that’s costing the City $1 million a day. You’ve said that the City is going to go to Washington to ask for some money back. How much of that $1 million-plus per day do you expect to get back?

Mayor: I’m not going to confirm the figure. There have been a lot of reports. We’re being very careful to say one – we’re not going to divulge the number of officers we’re using for security reasons, and two – we’re going to be very careful to get the figure right when we get to the point where we’re ready to talk about it. We will. This has been, as you know, been a dynamic situation over the last few weeks. The conversations with the Secret Service to lock down the plan only really happened the last few days. And we know the situation is evolving depending on what the Trump family does. So we’re going to be careful about citing officer numbers or dollar figures. What we do know is that we deserve a substantial amount of reimbursement, and there have been numerous instances – the UN General Assembly is a great example – and other instances of presidential protection where we’ve gotten reimbursement. I started a conversation with Secretary Jeh Johnson. We will continue the conversation who other members of the Obama administration and then with the Trump team as well. And I feel confident that they’ll be a real understanding that nothing like this has ever happened before. No city has ever been asked to bear these kinds of costs, and I think there will be a recognition that it’s fair for there to be substantial federal reimbursement.

Thanks, everyone.