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Ray Kelly takes swipe at FBI in defence of record as New York City police chief
Kelly questions FBI's handling of Boston Marathon bombing and defends controversial stop-and-frisk tactic
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Dominic Rushe in New York
theguardian.com, Tuesday 31 December 2013 11.11 EST
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Outgoing NYPD commissioner Ray Kelly
Outgoing NYPD commissioner Ray Kelly is given a standing ovation at Madison Square Garden. Photograph: Carlo Allegri/Reuters
New York police commissioner Ray Kelly has given a staunch defence of his controversial tenure as he prepares to end his 14-year reign, dismissing critics of his stop-and-frisk tactics and taking a swipe at the FBI’s handling of the Boston marathon bombing.
During his long career at the head of America’s largest police force, New York's murder and other violent crime rates have fallen to record lows. But Kelly has been attacked for his stop-and-frisk policy, which many say amounts to racial profiling.
In an interview with the New York Times, Kelly defended his record – and stop-and-frisk. Kelly also dismissed those who said he overreached in his surveillance of the Muslim community in the aftermath of 9/11, claiming that Boston had now learned the same lesson as New York: that it could not rely on the FBI to stop attacks.
“We want information right away,” he said. “I think, in retrospect, the mayor in Boston and the police commissioner in Boston feel the same way, based on what they knew or didn’t know relative to the Boston Marathon bombing.”
Kelly was police chief under mayor David Dinkins between 1992 and 1994, and served again under Michael Bloomberg from 2002. Incoming mayor Bill de Blasio has been a forceful critic of stop-and-frisk, calling it “unconstitutional”.
Kelly's comments came after a federal judge ruled that stop-and-frisk violated the constitutional rights of young black and Latino people, and was a “policy of indirect racial profiling”. The judge imposed a federal monitor on the NYPD, but the ruling was later blocked by a federal appeals court.
“Look, no one wants to be stopped,” Kelly told the Times, adding that most shooting victims are black and Latino males. “You have to look at the other side.”
Kelly said he “could have done a better job explaining it”.
The incoming police chief, William Bratton, a former New York and Los Angeles police commissioner, was an early champion of stop-and-frisk. But, notably, he gave no praise to his predecessor at his recent confirmation. De Blasio, too, has stopped short of praising Kelly, despite a sharp fall in crime rates in the city.
On Monday, the mayor’s office announced that New York’s murder rate had hit another record low. There were 333 yearly murders in the city as of 30 December, down from 649 in 2001 and 2,245 in 1990. There were 500 fewer shootings in New York City in 2013 than in 2001, the year before Kelly’s second appointment.
Asked if he would miss the job, Kelly said no. “My son [Fox news anchor Greg Kelly] was mentioning to me a week or so ago the fact that I never really look back,” he said. “It’s not something I do, saying, ‘I wish I did that.’”
Kelly questions FBI's handling of Boston Marathon bombing and defends controversial stop-and-frisk tactic
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Dominic Rushe in New York
theguardian.com, Tuesday 31 December 2013 11.11 EST
Jump to comments (4)
Outgoing NYPD commissioner Ray Kelly
Outgoing NYPD commissioner Ray Kelly is given a standing ovation at Madison Square Garden. Photograph: Carlo Allegri/Reuters
New York police commissioner Ray Kelly has given a staunch defence of his controversial tenure as he prepares to end his 14-year reign, dismissing critics of his stop-and-frisk tactics and taking a swipe at the FBI’s handling of the Boston marathon bombing.
During his long career at the head of America’s largest police force, New York's murder and other violent crime rates have fallen to record lows. But Kelly has been attacked for his stop-and-frisk policy, which many say amounts to racial profiling.
In an interview with the New York Times, Kelly defended his record – and stop-and-frisk. Kelly also dismissed those who said he overreached in his surveillance of the Muslim community in the aftermath of 9/11, claiming that Boston had now learned the same lesson as New York: that it could not rely on the FBI to stop attacks.
“We want information right away,” he said. “I think, in retrospect, the mayor in Boston and the police commissioner in Boston feel the same way, based on what they knew or didn’t know relative to the Boston Marathon bombing.”
Kelly was police chief under mayor David Dinkins between 1992 and 1994, and served again under Michael Bloomberg from 2002. Incoming mayor Bill de Blasio has been a forceful critic of stop-and-frisk, calling it “unconstitutional”.
Kelly's comments came after a federal judge ruled that stop-and-frisk violated the constitutional rights of young black and Latino people, and was a “policy of indirect racial profiling”. The judge imposed a federal monitor on the NYPD, but the ruling was later blocked by a federal appeals court.
“Look, no one wants to be stopped,” Kelly told the Times, adding that most shooting victims are black and Latino males. “You have to look at the other side.”
Kelly said he “could have done a better job explaining it”.
The incoming police chief, William Bratton, a former New York and Los Angeles police commissioner, was an early champion of stop-and-frisk. But, notably, he gave no praise to his predecessor at his recent confirmation. De Blasio, too, has stopped short of praising Kelly, despite a sharp fall in crime rates in the city.
On Monday, the mayor’s office announced that New York’s murder rate had hit another record low. There were 333 yearly murders in the city as of 30 December, down from 649 in 2001 and 2,245 in 1990. There were 500 fewer shootings in New York City in 2013 than in 2001, the year before Kelly’s second appointment.
Asked if he would miss the job, Kelly said no. “My son [Fox news anchor Greg Kelly] was mentioning to me a week or so ago the fact that I never really look back,” he said. “It’s not something I do, saying, ‘I wish I did that.’”