Hello, good afternoon.

Welcome to today's New York City Council hearing for the Committee on Public Safety, joint with General Governmental Operations, State and Federal Legislation.

At this time, please silence all phones.

If you wish to speak in today's hearing, please fill out an appearance card with one of the sergeants.

Moving forward, no one is to approach the day.

Chair, you may begin.

Good afternoon, everyone.

I'm Councilmember Azult Felice, Chair of the Committee on Public Safety.

Good afternoon, and welcome to today's hearing on the Office of Community Safety.

At today's hearing, we'll examine the newly created Office of Community Safety and other nonpolice solutions to reduce violence.

I would like to thank Council Member and Co-Chair Gil Brewer and the Committee of Government Operations for co-chairing today's hearing.

And I'd also like to acknowledge members who have joined us, including Speaker Julie Menon, Public Advocate Jumani Williams, Council Members Riley, Wong, Morano, Nurse, and Wilson.

Before I begin my opening statement, I'd like to pass it on to Speaker Julie Menon.

Thank you, Chair.

And I want to welcome everyone to today's committee hearing.

I'm Julie Menon, Speaker of the New York City Council.

Let me begin by thanking Chair Feliz and Chair Brewer, chairs of these committees for convening this very important oversight hearing on the Office of Community Safety and Nonpolice Solutions to Reducing Violence.

We will also be hearing three pieces of legislation that the chairs will discuss shortly.

A crucial aspect of community safety is establishing and fostering trust between government and the people it serves.

That trust is earned over time through transparency through ensuring impacted New Yorkers have a seat at the table, and mostly through proven results.

This past March, the mayor established an Office of Community Safety tasked with developing citywide community safety strategies and to supervise and coordinate the work of mayoral offices that operate in furtherance of community safety, including crime and violence prevention initiatives, victim assistant services, and community mental health services.

As part of the establishment of OCS, five existing mayoral offices moved under its umbrella.

The Office of Crime Victim Services, the Office for the Prevention of Hate Crimes, the Office of Community Mental Health, the Office to End Domestic and Gender Based Violence, the Office for Neighborhood Safety and the Prevention of Gun Violence.

All of them were previously independent offices.

Some have existed for over a decade.

So it's important for us to come away from today's hearing with a greater understanding of why the offices were shifted from operating independently to being managed by the new OCS.

We also want to learn which advocates were consulted before the change was made, and whether those organizations that have been working in these spaces for years are part um of the decision making moving forward.

Certain providers have contacted us and have uh testified at prior hearings, particularly a hearing we held in the gender equity committee about the move of the office to end domestic and gender-based violence and voiced a concern at our hearing.

Safe Horizons CEO Liz Roberts

said

that she was concerned that they had not been contacted prior to the restructuring and Sanctuary for Families, specifically said that the move occurred without meaningful collaboration.

So one of the goals we have today is to understand what can happen moving forward to increase that level of collaboration and make sure that those organizations have a seat at the table.

Most importantly, um, we want to understand the overarching goal of the office and what approach that it plans on taking moving forward.

Um we do want to say that the goal of keeping New Yorkers safe is obviously incredibly important.

We are concerned that compared to 2025, reported rapes have increased nearly 4%.

Uh,

subway felony assaults have climbed by 11%, and hate crimes are up 13%.

Um these are all questions that we plan on asking, and we look forward to having a really fulsome uh hearing and conversation, and I'll turn it back over to the chair for his opening statement.

Thank you.

Thank you, Speaker.

Earlier this year, New York City Mayor Mamdani issued executive order number 15, which established the Office of Community Safety known as OCS.

Broadly tasked with developing citywide community safety initiatives.

OCS is also empowered to supervise and coordinate the work of five existing mayoral offices that operate with similar safety related goals.

These offices are the Office for Neighborhood Safety and Prevention of Gun Violence, the Office of Community Mental Health, the Office to End Domestic and Gender Based Violence, the Office for Prevention of Hate Crimes, and the Office for Crime Victim Services.

The executive order also directs OCS to coordinate citywide mental health crisis response programs, including the BeHerd program, an emergency response initiatives that sends teams of mental health practitioners to certain mental health emergency calls.

Today's hearing is an opportunity for the council to examine the administration's plan and vision for the newly created Office of Community Safety to better understand what OCS has accomplished since it was since it was established, learn about how OCS plans to coordinate the work of the five offices under its jurisdiction and other city agencies as well, including our New York City Police Department.

The council also wants to know what changes have been made to existing programs and how OCS will measure whether its efforts are improving safety and connecting New Yorkers with needed services.

Through today's hearing, the committee seeks a clear understanding of OCS's authority, staffing, budget, and plans for the future.

Establishing an office is one step.

We need to know what it is doing, how is it working with the agencies and organizations responsible for delivering services, and what measurable results the city expects to achieve.

Two specific areas of OCS's work that I plan to closely examine include how we're responding to mental health emergencies and the crisis management system, which operates anti-violence initiatives citywide.

The

committees will also examine how OCS is working with community-based organizations that deliver violence prevention services, notably via the crisis management system, which relies on community members and violence interrupters to mediate conflicts, connect people with services, and help prevent violence.

We want to understand how OCS is supporting these efforts, how it evaluates their effectiveness, and whether existing programs have the resources and coordination needed to reach the communities they serve.

Public safety is one of the most important responsibilities of city government, and we have to continue to explore new initiatives, but at the same time we have to make sure that they're effective.

So I look forward to a conversation on these new initiatives and this new office.

Finally, the committees will hear related legislation, specifically two bills being heard by the public safety committee.

Introduction number 414, sponsored by Councilmember Riley, which would require the city to establish a three-digit emergency hotline known as the gun violence intervention hotline to aid individuals seeking assistance with mental health and supportive services and programs related to gun violence intervention.

And introduction number 667, sponsored by Councilmember Williams, which will require that judges at the oath offer the option to complete community service in lieu of paying civil penalties for violations given for proper disposal of garbage.

I