NYPD: Calmer West Indian American Day Parade part of trend

For the second straight year, there was minimal violence associated with West Indian American Day Parade and related events, a trend NYPD Commissioner Edward Caban said set a benchmark for public safety in New York City.

At a news conference Tuesday with other police officials and Mayor Eric Adams, Caban noted that there were fewer shootings and crimes near the parade route along Eastern Parkway in Brooklyn compared to 2022's Labor Day weekend celebrations.

From late Thursday through Labor Day, Adams said, serious crimes in the city dropped 9%.

“This was one of the best and safest celebrations of Labor Day we have seen,” Adams said.

Although more than 70 guns were seized citywide over the holiday weekend, Caban said, 30 were seized by police near the parade route. In prior years, the parade, a celebration of Caribbean culture, had been marred by gun violence and death. In 2015, Carey Gabay, the first deputy general counsel for what is now known as Empire State Development, died after being shot by an apparent stray bullet during a predawn celebration before the parade.

In the past two years, the city and NYPD have made a concerted effort to stem the violence and involved community groups to help keep the gangs under control.

Police officials said that there were three shootings near the parade route, including one that was fatal. In another case, a gang confrontation near Utica Avenue and Eastern Parkway led to one person being wounded by gunfire and two others stabbed. All of the victims at Utica Avenue were expected to recover.

Adams and police officials also extolled the use of drone technology, a tactic that had drawn earlier criticism from civil libertarians as being invasive. But Adams said the drones were used only to help police move their resources for crowd control and noted that while it took $1,700 to fuel and get a police helicopter airborne, a drone could be piloted for 17 cents.

In two instances, according to police, drones helped officers make arrests and forestall more violence. In one case, a drone was able to assist officers pursue a stolen car and get three suspects in custody. In another case, police said, a drone surveilled a potential gang retaliation situation at an intersection near the parade.

NYPD Chief of Patrol John Chell recalled that when he was a sergeant doing duty around 1996 during the parade, the situation was tense. But after the weekend’s relative calm, Chell said the difference between then and now was like “night and day.”

By Anthony M. DeStefano

tony.destefano@newsday.com

Anthony M. DeStefano has been a reporter for Newsday since 1986 and covers law enforcement, criminal justice and legal affairs from its New York City offices.