Governor Hochul: “We worked on the guns, more guns off the streets, safer cities. We worked on the retail theft this morning… sharing information, getting the money for resource for our district attorneys, more money for law enforcement. That's how you get at the root of a crime, you try to solve the problem with a targeted approach. And that's what today is all about.”
Hochul: “We're going to catch the bad actors, stop them from and deter the use of these bogus and covered plates, enhanced penalties and make sure that people who think they're invincible today will be stopped tomorrow and mark our words. We have the team, the resources and the commitment to get this done.”
Earlier today, Governor Kathy Hochul, New York City Mayor Eric Adams, New York City Police Department Commissioner Edward A. Caban, New York City Sheriff Anthony Miranda, and Metropolitan Transportation Authority Chair and CEO Janno Lieber announced the launch of a multi-agency city-state task force dedicated to identifying and removing so-called “ghost cars” — cars that are virtually untraceable by traffic cameras and toll readers because of their forged or altered license plates — from New York City streets. Yesterday, in an overwhelmingly successful inter-agency operation involving the NYPD, the New York City Sheriff’s Office, MTA bridge and tunnel officers, the New York State Police, the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles, and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Police Department, authorities impounded 73 cars, issued 282 summonses, and arrested eight individuals.
VIDEO of the event is available on YouTube here and in TV quality (h.264, mp4) format.
AUDIO of the Governor's remarks is available here.
PHOTOS of the event are available on the Governor's Flickr page.
A rush transcript of the Governor's remarks is available below:
Thank you, Mayor. First of all, thank you for your comments to reinforce the depth and the strength of our relationship. We said at the very outset that the era of the Governor of the State of New York and the Mayor of the City of New York fighting is officially over. Instead, we're teaming up to fight crime and the results are so evident, particularly as a result of this initiative, which was just launched yesterday.
We've been partners in so many areas of public safety, whether it's the subways, whether it's the stolen vehicles, whether it's getting illegal guns off the streets. And I'm so proud of that work, Mayor, and we're making a real difference. So, thank you. Thank you for your passion and your dedication for this great city and making it as safe as we possibly can.
I talk about keeping people safe. Just this morning, I was in Albany, and we talked about organized retail theft rings, something I know the Mayor is very focused on as well, but we're seeing it all over the State of New York and the same approach works – we did this with illegal guns – you bring together state, local, federal teams together. They share intelligence. They have crime analysis centers where they're no longer in silos, but they're actually partners.
So, we worked on the guns, more guns off the streets, safer cities. We worked on the retail theft this morning, talked about how we'll bring together, that same force together, sharing information, getting the money for resource for our district attorneys, more money for law enforcement.
That's how you get at the root of a crime, you try to solve the problem with a targeted approach. And that's what today is all about. Gone are the days we're going to tolerate people going through here with just an attitude that, “I'll take my chances because I'll never get caught.” Right? Those days are gone because you will get caught. We have the technology. We have everything we need in place to go after these ghost cars, ghost vehicles. In fact, today, the Ghostbusters have arrived. Mayor? Alright, you've seen what the Ghostbusters can do. We're going after the ghost vehicles. Because we're sick and tired of people taking advantage.
And everybody else feels like a sucker because they're the ones paying the tolls like law abiding citizens. Well, they're the ones who are going to get the last laugh when people lose their vehicles, lose their ability to get around and are prosecuted because they are so flagrantly violating the laws of our state and our city.
So, the gig's up. As the Mayor mentioned, many of these vehicles are involved in other crimes. We talk about retail theft. So many stolen vehicles are the opportunity for people to steal the goods and then to take them out and sell them online or to other places. So, we're going to break up these rings.
And it starts right here on this bridge, and I could not be happier and so proud of the work we're doing. Janno Lieber, we talk all the time about how we can keep people safe in our city, our roads, our bridges, our subway. Working hand in hand with the NYPD, they are extraordinary individuals. The MTA Police, I thank them. The State Police who joined us here as well, my partners who are all over the State of New York solving crimes, the New York City Sheriff's Office, the MTA Bridge and Tunnel Officers, the DMV — I used to run DMVs Upstate so I know all about what they can do. In fact, the Mayor referenced this whole TikTok challenge. Talk about bold. On TikTok, young people were challenged to go out and steal Hyundais and Kias. Now, who drives a 10-year-old Hyundai or Kia? These are not the wealthiest people among us. They don't have a Lexus in the garage in case their Kia gets stolen. This is how people get to their low wage jobs.
So, to me, to see that there was a spike in theft because young people were challenged — we saw this first Upstate, Mayor — Buffalo and Rochester had the highest rate of car theft in the nation last summer. We intervened late August. We brought together the teams that we're talking about right here today, how we do this.
I'm proud to report that thefts of vehicles are down 55 percent in the City of Rochester, down 45 percent in the City of Buffalo because of this effort. Again, DMV alerting people, telling people they have to go back to their dealers and get the safety protections to make sure they aren't stolen.
We had one young person brag about stealing 400 vehicles and he was a folk hero. That's what we're talking about: brazen criminals. So today — the new era — we're going to catch the bad actors, stop them from and deter the use of these bogus and covered plates, enhanced penalties and make sure that people who think they're invincible today will be stopped tomorrow and mark our words.
We have the team, the resources and the commitment to get this done. Thank you very much. And with that, I'd like to introduce Police Commissioner Edward Caban.