With the Knicks championship now part of New York City history, and a ticker-tape parade days away, NBC New York has obtained a memo written by Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch and sent to officers. It comes after a mostly peaceful night of celebrations in the five boroughs, but spots of violence in Midtown that led to dozens of arrests.
To the Men and Women of the NYPD:
Throughout the Knicks’ playoff run, this department has been asked to do a great deal, and as always, you met the moment.
That work culminated last night, as New York City celebrated a championship and the NYPD managed unprecedented conditions across all five boroughs.
You worked through a long and grueling night. As celebrations unfolded across the city, you responded wherever you were needed, helping to maintain order, keep people safe, and, to the extent possible, ensure celebrations remained celebratory and not violent. You did that bravely.
Many of you worked more than 12-hour tours. Many came in on canceled RDOs. And after working through the long night, many of you turned around and reported to work the Puerto Rican Day Parade and FIFA watch parties this morning.
Whether you were on a post outside Madison Square Garden, assigned to anti-looting details on commercial corridors across the five boroughs, answering radio runs, part of the SRG disorder-control response, or working any of the countless assignments required over the past several weeks, you managed to meet the challenges that came with one of the most closely watched periods this city has seen in years.
I know many of you are Knicks fans yourselves. While millions of New Yorkers followed this team’s run and celebrated each step along the way, you were the ones working to make those moments possible.
That also meant dealing with a relatively small number of people who used celebration as an excuse to create disorder and put others at risk. You stepped into those conditions and helped prevent those actions from defining the championship run.
What you did throughout these playoffs, and especially last night, deserves real recognition. From supervisors at every rank leading from the front to the cops holding posts across the city, this was a remarkable department-wide effort. I am grateful for it and the people of this city are too. I know many of you share my joy and relief that this was Knicks in 5!
But we’re not done yet. Thursday’s championship parade will place significant demands on the NYPD, and I know you will meet that challenge the same way you met every challenge throughout these playoffs.
God bless you all and stay safe.
Jessica S. Tisch
Police Commissioner