Literature

Vigilance: My Life Serving America And Protecting Its Empire City

Tuesday, May 10    
8:00 PM
 
“A critically important book for anyone who    cares about justice and security issues we face today.”
— Walter Isaacson

In 2001, the year before Ray Kelly began his second stint as NYC police commissioner, 649 New Yorkers were murdered.  In 2013—Kelly’s final year as commissioner and one in which he earned a 75 percent approval rating from city voters—New York saw 335 murders, a drop of almost half.  Under his watch, violent crime fell by 40%.
   NYC’s historic drop in crime was roughly twice as deep and twice as long as the U.S. average.  
   In Vigilance: My Life Serving America and Protecting Its Empire City, Kelly, the son of an Upper West Side milkman, reveals the fascinating life and career of New York’s longest serving police commissioner, including his 30 years of service in the U.S. Marines, a tour in Vietnam; his 47-year ascent through the NYPD; his work in Haiti as Director of International Police Forces; his work as Vice President of Interpol and as head of U.S. Customs; Undersecretary of the Treasury for Law Enforcement; his anti-terrorism leadership; and where on his first stint under Mayor David Dinkins and then under Mayor Michael Bloomberg he spearheaded programs that would help usher in the city’s historic drop in crime. The book also includes Stop-Question-And-Frisk policy and offers his insights into the challenges that have recently consumed law enforcement. Fox 5 “Good Day New York” News Anchor Greg Kelly will interview his father and take questions from the audience.