NYPD Installs 200 Cameras Throughout New York City to Combat Hate Crimes

By Yehudit Garmaise

     NYPD Police Commissioner Dermot Shea announced this morning that the police department has installed more than 200 cameras throughout New York City to combat hate crimes, which he announced are down 42% this year.

  Mayor Bill de Blasio formed an action plan to combat hate crimes a year ago, when Commissioner Shea said, “We had a rise in anti-Semitic hate crimes, particularly in Brooklyn.

    “At that time, we talked about strategies to combat [hate crimes], and we worked very closely with the community.”

   One of the ideas that came out of those brain-storming sessions what to use technology, such as cameras to deter, document, and reduce hate crimes.

   “Whether Anti-Asian, anti-Black, or anti-Semitic, there is nothing that we take more seriously than hate crimes,” Commissioner Shea said this morning at the press conference of Mayor Bill de Blasio. “We have extremely dedicated detectives throughout the NYPD, as well as the entire NYPD membership.

   “The NYPD is the most diverse police dept in the world, and it takes this topic extremely seriously.”

   In addition, to the cameras, Commissioner Shea explained that the NYPD works closely “with all five prosecutors in New York City to make sure there are consequences when someone is apprehended for this crime.”

   “I want to reassure every New Yorker that you have the right to walk down our streets, ride our transit system, and live your every day lives not [harmed] or targeted in unprovoked attacks for the way you speak, look, or what you believe,” said Jessica Corey, a 28-year NYPD veteran, who has just been promoted to serve as the commanding officer of the NYPD’s Hate Crimes Unit, the largest of its kind in the country.

   “Our team of investigators will relentlessly investigate any crimes that are motivated by hate and seek to bring the perpetrators to justice. For those who believe their voices are not heard: I hear you.

   “Members of our Hate Crimes Team hear you, and the entire New York City Police Department hears you.”