9/11 20 Years Later: Former Police Commissioner Ray Kelly Looks Back On The Changes He Helped Usher In To Keep New York City

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – Former New York City Police Commissioner Ray Kelly has twice been in the top spot in law enforcement.

His insight and instincts two decades ago were critical to re shaping the police department charged with keeping this city safe. He recently sat down with CBS2’s Chris Wragge.

The terrorist bombing of the World Trade Center in 1993 left six people dead. Ray Kelly was police commissioner serving under Mayor David Dinkins. Arrests in that plot were made in a matter of days – Kelly and others thought of that bombing as a one-off.

So in the wake of the attacks on 9/11, the sidelines were not an option for the then former police commissioner.

“Yeah, it was a total surprise. It shouldn’t have been, to us. So to have it happened, again, I felt personally violated into should not have happened the second time,” Kelly said.

(credit: CBS2)

Kelly had been out of the NYPD for more than seven years. But in January 2002, as a new mayor was sworn in, it was to become a new day for the police force, too.

“I had been in the federal government and mainly local government, state government and the military. So I thought I had a lot to bring to the table. Yep. And fortunately, Michael Bloomberg asked me to come back. I said yes, right away,” Kelly said.

Kelly knew it was imperative that improved security and a ‘new’ New York City police force were needed to manage global terrorist threats.

“The police department was still using white out and carbon paper. Yeah. We brought in thousands of computers, and I saw what technology could do in the federal government,” Kelly said.

He’s widely regarded for the expanded intelligence and counterterrorism protocols put in place after 9/11.

“It seemed as though you had the resources, you had the money, you had the ideas, and they allow you to implement that, to get to a point where this city could operate under a blanket of protection that basically you created?” Wragge asked.

Complete Coverage: 9/11 Twenty Years Later

“We wanted to get that capacity as quickly as possible. That’s what we did with the retired folks coming from the FBI, the CIA, the DEA, other police departments,” Kelly said.

Billions were spent to protect this city, from expanded surveillance locally and globally, to dramatic shows of force on the ground. Kelly’s legacy is the forward thinking that reshaped his department.

(credit: CBS2)

“Police department had a 70% approval rating. Last year with Bloomberg, I had a 75% approval rating. I’m proud of that. Yeah, that was 12 years of hard work. And if we could pay off those results, a lot of effort, a lot of hard work of a lot of people,” Kelly said.

And adding to that pride in accomplishment is his connection to Battery Park City, just across the street from the World Trade Center, now the memorial site, has been Ray Kelly’s home for 30 years.

“There’s a lot of resilience in the people living in this neighborhood. And so I I never thought about, about leaving. Love the community, and we’re going to be here for a long time to come,” Kelly said.

from CBS New York https://newyork.cbslocal.com/2021/09/09/ray-kelly-chris-wragge-interview/
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