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Former NYC Police Commissioner Howard Safir Dies at Age 81

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FILE - New York City Police Commissioner Howard Safir smiles as he leaves City Hall, in New York, Aug. 8, 2000. Safir, the former New York City police commissioner whose four-year tenure in the late 1990s included sharp declines in the city's murder tolls but also some of its most notorious episodes of police killings of Black men, died on Monday, Sept. 11, 2023, at a hospital in Annapolis, Md., from a sepsis infection, his son told The New York Times. He was 81. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens, File)
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Overview

  • Howard Safir, who served as New York City police commissioner under Mayor Giuliani, has died at age 81.
  • As commissioner from 1996-2000, Safir oversaw declining crime rates but faced criticism over police brutality incidents.
  • He expanded anti-drug efforts and promoted new technologies like DNA testing in police work.
  • Safir defended the NYPD's tactics but was accused of racial insensitivity in handling fatal shootings of Black men.
  • While credited with reducing crime, his tenure was marked by controversies over police misconduct and his own ethics.