An interview with Former NYC Police Commissioner Ray Kelly

As New York City’s longest serving Police Commissioner, in office during both the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and the aftermath of 9/11, Ray Kelly was responsible for transforming the NYPD into a world class counterterrorism and intelligence-gathering force. In this interview, Commissioner Kelly will speak to his experience battling crime and terrorism in New York City and share his perspective about how these threats should be approached on a national scale. At a time when the conversation on national security and urban crime is particularly polarizing, Kelly will share firsthand accounts from his book Vigilance: My Life Serving America and Protecting its Empire City and answer audience questions.

Commissioner Kelly will be available to sign books following the program. A limited number of complimentary copies will be distributed to attendees on a first-come, first-served basis.

With fifty years in public service, including fourteen years as police commissioner of the City of New York, Raymond W. Kelly is one of the world's most well-known and highly esteemed leaders in law enforcement. Kelly was appointed police commissioner in January 2002 by Mayor Michael Bloomberg, making Kelly the longest serving police commissioner in the city's history, as well as the first to hold the post for a second, separate tenure. He also served as police commissioner under Mayor David N. Dinkins from 1992 to 1994.

In 2002, Commissioner Kelly created the first counterterrorism bureau of any municipal police department in the country. He also established a new global intelligence program and stationed New York City detectives in eleven foreign cities. In addition to dedicating extensive resources to preventing another terrorist attack, the NYPD has driven violent crime down by 40 percent from 2001 levels. Commissioner Kelly also established a Real Time Crime Center, a state-of-the-art facility that uses data mining to search millions of computer records and put investigative leads into the hands of detectives in the field.