Incoming NYPD Head James O'Neill Calls for Cutting Crime by Strengthening Community Ties

CITY HALL, NY — Stepping to the microphone under the portrait of Alexander Hamilton hanging at the head of City Hall's Blue Room, James O'Neill spoke of "an amazing 16 hours" since he learned he'd become the NYPD's new commissioner this September.

Those hours are the latest in a 33-year career for O'Neill, who currently serves as the NYPD's Chief of Department.

He joined the force in 1983 as a transit officer and spoke Monday of how comparatively dangerous New York City was in those days.

In 1990, for example, the city recorded 2,262 murders, about 100,000 robberies and more than 44,000 assaults.

Through July 24 of this year, the NYPD recorded 183 murders, about 8,400 robberies and approximately 11,500 assaults.

James O'Neill stands second from right during Tuesday's press conference. Photo by John V. Santore

O'Neill said that when he started on the job, people didn't want to ride the subways at night and "were happy to see a uniformed cop, because they felt safer."

"It was inspiring for a young cop," O'Neill said, adding that it's still inspiring today.

Serving in that role taught him "how to talk to every type of person imaginable," O'Neill said, and he suggested that's a skill he wants the NYPD as a whole to possess.

The force's mission, he said, is "lowering crime, but not at the expense of losing the support of the people we are sworn to serve."

He said a small percentage of New York residents are responsible for a disproportionate amount of the city's crime.

"We know who these people are, and we continue to go right after them," O'Neill said.

At the same time, he stressed the need to engage more deeply with the broader public by expanding the NYPD's community policing model.

Under that system, instituted by outgoing commissioner Bill Bratton, pairs of officers are assigned to quadrants within NYPD precincts. They provide their department-issued cell phone numbers and email addresses to residents, with the goal of knowing their terrain, and being known by the public, more closely than cops in the past.

Mayor Bill de Blasio said Tuesday that while the system is reminiscent of the neighborhood beat cop common in the past, it's never operated fully in New York, and it has never been combined with the type of technology available to officers today.

By October, O'Neill said, community policing will operate in more than half of the city's precincts, as well as all of the precincts that patrol public housing developments.

Emphasizing continuity with Bratton's administration, O'Neill described his appointment as an "invitation to advance and see to fruition the great work" that the outgoing commissioner had engaged in.

And toward the end of his remarks, he paused to say that he learned how to be a good officer from his mother, whose example taught him what cops "can aspire to."

As he reflected on the memory, he paused, and the Blue Room was filled with the clicking of dozens of cameras as the NYPD's future head fought back tears.

Pictured at top: James O'Neill. Photo courtesy of the NYPD