The Patch Q&A: Meet the Commissioner of Public Safety

Commissioner of Public Safety David Chong has a long and distinguished career in public safety and has overseen all hazard planning, police, fire and emergency medical services for the city of White Plains since January.

Chong, 53, served as Mount Vernon's police commissioner for three and half years before assuming his current role in White Plains, but it was a homecoming of sorts. He also spent three and a half years as White Plains' deputy commissioner of public safety before his time in Mount Vernon.

Chong —who was New York City's commander of counter-terrorism intelligence after 9/11— retired from the New York City Police Department after 22 years of service before his career in Westchester.

He is also an adjunct criminal justice professor at Berkeley College in White Plains.

Chong recently sat down with Patch to talk about safety in the city:

White Plains Patch: What would you say is your main goal as the White Plains Commissioner of Public Safety?

David Chong: This city has very high standards for its public safety department. My main objective is to make sure those high standards are always met.

I think it's very important for the department to maintain its high standards and have community input. The people feel safe, but they also have a voice in the public safety department.

That's why I created the public safety citizens advisory committee. It's a group of community minded citizens. We are letting them know what public safety is doing, and also hearing back from them.

WPP: What do you enjoy most about being commissioner in White Plains?

Chong: I love this city! I like the whole atmosphere, the excitement, the commerce and it being the seat of county governance.  It reminds me very much of my days working in New York City. It's like a mini New York City.

I enjoy the residents that make up this city, they are so diverse and are very intelligent. Of course, I admire my cops and firefighters that work for this department.

WPP: How would you describe White Plains in terms of the level of safety?

Chong: For a city with our demographics —over a quarter million people traversing through the city Monday through Friday, the shopping and malls, our nighttime entertainment and our colleges—we are an extremely safe city.

We also have transportation—we transverse all the major highways, have a banking industry and Con Edison and other utilities. It is probably one of the safest cities with our demographics in U.S.

I attribute that to the excellent police and fire services in the city, due to the work of the men and women on the job and also the two executive chiefs.

WPP: What would you say is the Department of Public Safety's main focus?

Chong: Our biggest focus has always been security and quality of life for our residents and visitors. We always keep a constant vigilant eye on terrorism, which can never be forgotten.

Traffic is a major issue here. We're known to give out a lot of moving summonses, and have a very low vehicle accident rate.

White Plains Patch: What are some good safety tips for White Plains residents?

Chong: We have such a feeling of safety in the city that I think people tend to be careless. There are a lot of larcenies to vehicles when they are unlocked. People are leaving valuables behind and think just because cars are in a residential area or driveway no one will steal them.

What an opportunity criminal will do is walk around try and just try every door. If it's open they'll steal anything available to them whether it's an expensive GPS, women's pocket book full of credit cards or a DVD and 25 cents. They'll take it. 

I remind people that we have very safe neighborhoods, but keep an eye out for each other, report strangers to us and take precautions lock your doors and secure your vehicles. If a criminal of opportunity tries the door handles and they are locked, it actually slows them down.

The majority of larceny crimes—which are the crimes that drive our numbers because we have the malls—committed on residents is because some are too relaxed and forget to secure their valuables.

Putting a light on around your house helps our patrol cars. It allows (us) to see if anything is going on.

WPP: Are there certain times of day or year that are busier for the public safety department?

Chong: I call us a 22 hour-a-day city. Because of the nightlife and entertainment, our only real downtime is around 5 a.m. and 6 a.m., then rush hours start again.

Holiday season is coming up now and because of all the shopping, we're going to have to concentrate on traffic flow and ensuring that the shoppers that come into this city are shopping in a safe environment.

In the summer there's certainly the issues when school is out. We have to keep an eye on our youth and make sure they are involved in good activities to keep them busy during.

WPP: What are the Department of Public Safety' goals and initiatives moving forward?

Chong: We're all hoping the economy of this city recovers. We're in a very tough economic climate right now. When the economy starts to recover we need to build up our department to full strength. We're not at full strength right now.

As far as I'm concerned economic growth is good for public safety in the respect that when there are more people in the city and when it's lively, people tend to look out for each other more.

We're looking at technology systems, because we have to stay modern and keep up with technology. The new wave of protection is technology. We have some camera projects around the city that will also add to the protection of all the residents and visitors of the city.