Category Archives: NYPD

Photo Highlights of The Decade



As the decade rolls to an end we’ve compiled a brief photographic retrospective with a few of our favorite photos of the 2010s.

Political foes Mayor Bill de Blasio and Governor Andrew Cuomo shake hands, seemingly at the urging of RWDSU’s Stuart Appelbaum, as they march in the 2016 Labor Day Parade. 9/10/16

Our decade highlight gallery is available here.

Our focus is on New York politics, both city and state, but the gallery includes other shots of New York.  Among the campaigns we’ve covered are the 2013 and 2017 mayoral races, the 2014 and 2018 gubernatorial races, congressional primaries in 2014, 2016 and 2018, the 2016 New Hampshire Republican presidential primary and the 2019 public advocate special election.  NYTrue.com began in late 2012, with mostly video and little photography in 2012 and 2013, so this is a somewhat truncated decade retrospective that covers 2014-2019.

Special Bonus – Unabridged Gallery:

For those of you who really love New York politics we have an expanded decade retrospective gallery with lots of great shots that didn’t make it into the decade highlight gallery.  Take a look, and a walk down memory lane, here.

We’ve included a few 2013 iPhone shots in a brief addendum at the end of the expanded gallery.

Our 2019 year in photos is available here.

All of our photo galleries are available here.

Photo Gallery: 100th Anniversary of the 1st Transatlantic Flight



Council Member Eric Ulrich hosted a ceremony Wednesday commemorating the 100th anniversary of the first transatlantic airplane flight.  That first flight was not Charles Lindbergh’s Roosevelt Field to Paris flight in 1927, but an effort by U.S. Navy and Coast Guard pilots that hopscotched from Rockaway to Lisbon eight years earlier.  The ceremony was held at Riis Landing on Jamaica Bay, just west of the departure point for the three seaplanes that were part of that first transatlantic flight.

Just one of the three seaplanes succeeded in reaching Lisbon after planned stops in Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and the Azores and an unplanned stop in Massachusetts.

The commemoration featured flyovers by the Coast Guard and the NYPD and an appearance by an FDNY fireboat.  The program included speakers from the U.S. Navy and Coast Guard, historians and descendants of the primary planner of the 1919 flight.  It was mc’d by CM Ulrich’s Deputy Chief of Staff Robby Schwach, who organized the commemoration.  Marching bands from the Channel View School for Research and the Scholars Academy performed.   The commemoration concluded with the unveiling of a street sign marking renaming a section of Beach 169th Street in honor of U.S. Navy Seaplane Division One.

Council Member Ulrich was the only elected official to attend.

Photo Gallery:

Our full photo gallery is available here.

Photo Gallery: East River Helicopter Crash



A helicopter crashed in the East River Sunday evening, killing five of the six persons aboard.  The crash, at about Manhattan’s 88th Street and close to Gracie Mansion, triggered an enormous rescue effort from the NYPD and FDNY.  The pilot survived, but all five passengers died.

An NYPD diver jumps into the East River at the helicopter crash site. 3/11/18

The helicopter sank shortly after crashing, but the crew of a nearby tugboat lashed the wreckage to the tug.  NYPD and FDNY rescue crews worked to extract the victims as the tug and helicopter floated downstream, with the five passengers brought ashore at the 36th Street ferry dock in Manhattan.

NYPD and FDNY personnel work to extract victims from the helicopter wreckage lashed to the tugboat Foxy 3. 3/11/18

Photo Gallery:

Our full photo gallery is available here.

An NYPD diver swims toward the crashed helicopter, after jumping into the East River from the hovering NYPD helicopter. 3/11/18

Photo Gallery: Tuozzolo Dedication



The NYPD dedicated a plaque to the memory of Sergeant Paul Tuozzolo Saturday, drawing Sergeant Tuozzolo’s wife Lisa, Mayor Bill de Blasio, Police Commissioner James O’Neill and several hundred other guests to the 43rd Precinct in Soundview.  It was exactly one year since Tuozzolo was killed in the line of duty, as he and his colleagues sought to apprehend an armed man who had repeatedly violently attacked his wife.

Continue reading Photo Gallery: Tuozzolo Dedication

Steven McDonald Funeral



Det. Steven McDonald Funeral 1-13-17Family and friends gathered by the thousands Friday to say goodbye to NYPD Detective Steven McDonald.  In contrast to most line-of-duty police officer funerals, in which most attendees did not personally know the deceased, virtually all of the thousands in and around St. Patrick’s Cathedral that morning knew of McDonald and a large portion knew him personally.

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Shot and paralyzed in 1986, McDonald had an unmatched role in New York City’s civic life.  Literally unable to speak initially after being shot he became a unique voice, both tirelessly supporting and encouraging his fellow police officers and publicly forgiving the teen who nearly killed him.

Photo Gallery:

Our full photo gallery is here.

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Det. Holder Memorial



Det. Holder Memorial 10-20-16Mayor Bill de Blasio and Police Commissioner Jimmy O’Neill attended a memorial for NYPD Detective Randolph Holder this afternoon, marking one year since Holder was murdered while on duty.

Held at PSA 5 in Harlem, the memorial included about 200 police officers and about a dozen members of Holders family.  The memorial included remarks by Mayor de Blasio, Commissioner O’Neill, PBA President Pat Lynch and the current commanding officer of PSA 5, as well as Detective Holder’s father.  The ceremony concluded with an unveiling of a plaque dedicated to Detective Holder’s memory.

Det. Holder Memorial 10-20-16

There was no discussion of politics or the variety of issues facing the NYPD and the Mayor, with the speakers focused on Detective Holder and his family, along with the at times grave challenges that police officers regularly face.

Photo Gallery:

Our full photo gallery is available here.

Photo Gallery: Bratton Departure Walk



Bratton Departure 9-16-16William J. Bratton concluded his second term as New York City’s police commissioner Friday with a sun-dappled stroll through a cheering crowd of several hundred police officers and invited guests.  Leaving the NYPD’s One Police Plaza headquarters with his wife Rikki Klieman, Bratton smiled, waved, shook hands and hugged his way across Police Plaza.  Waiting at the end of the line were his successor, Chief of Department Jimmy O’Neill, and his boss, Mayor Bill de Blasio.  With some final goodbyes Bratton and his wife mounted an antique fire engine for a short ride through the arch of the Municipal Building and onto Park Row.

Bratton Departure 9-16-16

Bratton leaves behind a re-energized New York City legacy, having led the NYPD through continued declines in crime over his 32 months in office, and stood as a central figure in the de Blasio administration’s public profile.  He’s been an enormous political asset to the Mayor, both for his Department’s success in continuing to push crime rates down and for his essential public role as de Blasio’s prime voice on public safety.  His polite Boston-accented bluntness has mostly been welcomed by the public, giving his “progressive” boss room to operate amidst a determined chorus of “hellholers”; critics who from de Blasio’s election declared that the City is destined to become a crime ridden hellhole with de Blasio in charge.  Preventing that from actually occurring and fighting the creation of a public perception that it’s occurring are both vital and Bratton largely succeeded on both.  He certainly has critics though, and a small but vocal group stationed themselves near the end of Bratton’s walk.

His successor Jimmy O’Neill is, so far in his career at least, not nearly as large a public personality and doesn’t display any evidence of a craving of the spotlight.  The large post-Bratton vacuum will be filled, but whether it’s by Mayor de Blasio, Commissioner O’Neill or critics is, of course, to be determined.

Photo Gallery:

Our photo gallery is here.

Bratton Departure 9-16-16

The Mayor of The Bronx Riviera



IMG_7743Orchard Beach, once nicknamed New York City’s Riviera for its broad crescent beach, hosted a visit from Mayor Bill de Blasio and NYPD Chief of Department Jimmy O’Neill this afternoon.  de Blasio and O’Neill, named by de Blasio as the next NYPD Commissioner, inched their way along the boardwalk for about 45 minutes posing for pictures with a steady flow of well-wishers.

It was a very positive reception for the pair, with no vocal negative reactions apparent.  de Blasio, readily recognizable, maintained a steady refrain of “have you met our new commissioner” as he exchanged pleasantries with the stream of people approaching him.  O’Neill appeared to enjoy the walk, although he was less absorbed in it than de Blasio. At times O’Neill, in uniform and still the highest ranking service member of the Department, appeared equally absorbed in what he’s done for decades – watching the goings-on around him and the operation of his Department.

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Mayor de Blasio and his administration face a very large transition in Commissioner Bratton’s departure, larger than in any other commissioner replacement.  Bratton arrived as a dominant public figure, well-known to New Yorkers from his prior stint as New York’s police commissioner and enormously comfortable in the public eye, and his public visibility has dwarfed that of all of de Blasio’s other commissioners.  O’Neill is a very well regarded chief, but largely unknown to the public and a very different persona than Bratton.  He may well succeed in both managing the NYPD and in the larger public role that comes with being commissioner, but his tenure will undoubtedly be very different as he moves into the post-Bratton vacuum.

This very small moment in O’Neill’s rollout as commissioner and de Blasio’s simultaneous lead up  to a reelection campaign was a success, moving both efforts incrementally forward.  As they departed de Blasio commented to O”Neill on the warm reception, optimistically emphasizing that “they want you to succeed.”

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Photo Gallery:

Our full photo gallery is here.

Free Speech Zone



Out of sight, out of mind.  That notion applied to the few sign-holding Rockaway residents who appeared at Mayor de Blasio’s boardwalk press conference on Friday.  The four I spotted were relegated to a “free speech zone” invisible to Mayor de Blasio and most of the several hundred people in attendance.

Free Speech Zone 5/22/15

In this view from the camera riser, looking away from the lectern on the boardwalk where Mayor de Blasio spoke, the “free speech zone” is faintly visible deep in the center of the picture and close to the white trucks on Shore Front Parkway.  The “free speech zone” is also about 10-15 feet lower than the boardwalk, ensuring that the Mayor and other speakers could not see the “free speech zone”, much less the signs.

Police directed sign-holders to the “free speech zone,” despite objections.

Continue reading Free Speech Zone

Mark-Viverito SOTC: The NYPD



In her State of the City address, City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito addressed a topic central to the City’s well-being; the NYPD and its relationship with the citizens of New York.  She noted the reality that all plans for changing and improving New York City depend on a basic underpinning, New York City remaining safe, and that such safety is “ensured by the diverse men and women of the New York City Police Department.”   Mark-Viverito lamented the “senseless murders” of Detectives Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu, saying that those murders “left a gaping hole in the hearts of New York.”  She also praised Commissioner Bratton and gave a shoutout to the “wonderful” local precincts.

Mark-Viverito again promised to seek a 1,000 person increase in the NYPD’s headcount and praised the City Council for a program in Mayor de Blasio’s proposed budget to fund replacing aging bullet-resistant vests for the NYPD.

Here’s what she had to say:

de Blasio Press Q&A: The Crime Stats & Friction Edition



Mayor Bill de Blasio joined Police Commissioner Bill Bratton and several senior NYPD officials at One Police Plaza today for a press conference touting remarkable crime statistics for 2014 and discussing the mayor’s troubled relationship with many in the NYPD.  The mayor and commissioner began by proudly discussed the NYPD’s accomplishments in pushing crime numbers lower than the record-setting 2013.

The Q&A was quite lengthy, running almost 40 minutes.  The Q&A included detailed discussion of the 2014 crime stats and a discussion of two specific cases: a Manhattan man allegedly shot by his adult son while in his Beekman Place apartment and the Manhattan DA’s decision to not charge Sandford Rubenstein in connection with an alleged rape.  The mayor and police commissioner also addressed the mayor’s friction-filled relationship with the PBA and rank-and-file police officers and the recent episodes in which police officers turned their back on Mayor de Blasio at the funerals of murdered NYPD detectives Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu.

An excerpt featuring Mayor de Blasio’s and Commissioner Bratton’s statements on police officers turning their back to the mayor is here.

de Blasio & Bratton on Police Back Turning



Mayor Bill de Blasio and Police Commissioner Bill Bratton today addressed the widely reported actions of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of police officers who turned their backs when Mayor de Blasio spoke at the funerals of Detectives Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu.  Speaking during a press conference at One Police Plaza de Blasio termed their actions “disrespectful to the families” of Ramos and Liu and “disrespectful to the people of this City.”  Bratton’s reaction was harsher, condemning “a labor action being taken in the middle of a funeral” by officers who “embarrassed themselves.”  He also condemned “the selfishness of that action” which “took so much attention” away from the slain detectives.

Ramos Funeral Photos (Updated)



IMG_0264Detective Rafael Ramos, murdered alongside Detective Wenjian Liu, was buried Saturday amid a sad yet powerful show of support and remembrance.  His funeral at Christ Tabernacle Church in Glendale was attended by an estimated at 25,000 people, predominantly uniformed police officers from New York City and around the country, and many elected officials.  Vice President Joe Biden, Governor Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio were among those elected officials, with each speaking during the service.

The funeral concluded with a quiet and somber moment as Detective Ramos’s casket was carried out to a waiting hearse.  Taps echoed off the front of the church as an NYPD honor guard saluted amid a sea of officers.  Thousands remained silently at attention as the honor guard folded the flag covering Detective Ramos’ casket and presented it to his widow and two sons.  The silence was broken only by the roar of engines as police helicopters flew overhead in a missing-man formation and scores of motorcycle cops moved past the family into position at the head of a lengthy funeral procession, leading Detective Ramos to his final resting place.

Here are pictures from Glendale.

Continue reading Ramos Funeral Photos (Updated)