http://gothamist.com/2015/01/06/slowdown_for_what.php

Bratton: Don't Call It A Slowdown

For nearly forty minutes yesterday, Mayor de Blasio and Police Commissioner Bratton talked about everything except the 90% decrease in summonses and the 56% decrease in arrests made by the NYPD over the last two weeks—as if lauding the 4.6% drop in overall crime in 2014 and the 2,600 fewer robberies would force the officers back to work. "I've not used the term 'slowdown,' which would indicate it's an organized or even comprehensive initiative," Bratton said.

In fact, according to the commissioner, even though police are no longer writing public urination tickets and cuffing turnstile jumpers, overall crime is still down. "Even with that reduced activity, the overall crime numbers have continued to decline in the city," Bratton said.

David Goodman at the Times asked if that proved his strict adherence to Broken Windows was misguided.

"Not at all. In terms of—you're referencing Broken Windows, I know it's something your paper would like to have—see done away with. Sorry, Broken Windows is here to stay. Stop, Question and Frisk is here to stay. But it will done in appropriate amounts."

After adding that the department changed its tactics with respect to low-level marijuana arrests that were "costing us a fortune," Bratton ripped a page out of his predecessor's book when defending the millions of police stops that were eventually declared unconstitutional: The Bad Old Days.

"Broken Windows—make no mistake about it—I was here in 1990, not '94, and if you lived here then—that was before we started implementing Broken Windows. We're not going back to that period of time—never again."

Mayor de Blasio jumped in to voice his support for the practice that has produced a 190% increase in low-level arrests since 1980, even though nearly half of those arrests are either dismissed at arraignment or are never pursued by prosecutors.

"A lot of us were here in the 1980s, 1990s, and could never have imagined these kind of numbers. They are the result of a proactive strategy. They're the result of a number of strategies, one of which is the Broken Windows approach," the mayor said.

"It's a strategy that's worked. I certainly don't think a few very aberrant days suggest anything compared to what you see over the course of a whole year of success."

The Times notes that the City earns roughly $10.5 million a week from parking summonses, and the slowdown is eating into that income. On the other hand, as the commissioner pointed out, the lower activity is "probably saving money."

A report by the Police Reform Organizing Project recently showed that in the first four months of 2014, the NYPD made an average of 648 misdemeanor arrests every day, which costs the City roughly $1,134,000.

At times, Bratton seemed to indicate that the slowdown had already been worked out, then made not-so-veiled threats to punish officers who failed to maintain summons and arrest activity.

"I will look very specifically, precinct by precinct, tour of duty by tour of duty, sector car by sector car, officer by officer. And we will deal with it very appropriately if we have to. We may see, during the course of this week, as we come out of the turmoil of the past month, that things begin to return to normal on their own volition."

He also addressed the hundreds of NYPD officers who disregarded his request to not engage in any form of protest at the funeral for slain Detective Weijan Liu on Sunday.

"What was the need, in the middle of that ceremony, to engage in a political action? I don’t get it. And I’m very disappointed—very disappointed—in those who did not respond to my requests," he said.

"Looking at the papers this morning—the cover stories on so many of the papers focused on their actions, focused on them—the selfishness of that action—the selfishness of it. A funeral is not a place for that. Come demonstrate outside City Hall. Come demonstrate outside police headquarters, but don’t put on your uniform and go to a funeral, and engage in a political action. I’m sorry. I feel very strongly about this. I do."

The slowdown also includes a 17% decrease in felony arrests, something the commissioner said that the 17,000 or so officers who live in New York City wouldn't tolerate for long.

"Their families are here, they ride the subways, they walk the streets, their kids go to the schools, they use the parks—if you think that those officers are going to risk the safety of their families, and allow the other half, who don't live here, to risk the safety of their families—I don't think that's going to happen. I think officers are very mindful that if this city were allowed to be de-policed, some of the first that would be affected would be their families."