July 29, 2025 • 9 mins
Bill talks to Mendte In The Morning about yesterday's crime in Midtown Manhattan. A 36-year-old police officer passed away during the deadly shooting last night. Bill explains what how the NYPD handled the situation, and how they should all be praised.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Mass murder now is being investigated by the end YPD
as they also mourned the death of one of their own,
thirty six year old Dita Rule Islam, who was with
the force for four years. You've heard it now a
couple of times. He's a father of two young children,
and he had another child on the way. So there's
so many thoughts that are running through the police department
(00:23):
right now, but nobody would know that better than Bill Bratton,
former NYPD Police Commissioner. Thank you so much, sir for
joining us this morning. I really appreciate your time.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
It's very good to be with you this morning. Thank you, Bill.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
What are the first thoughts you have? I know you've
been following this story. I'm sure you have. What are
your what are your thoughts?
Speaker 2 (00:45):
Well? First though, it's naturally a concern for the families
of all the victims, and certainly in particular the police
officer that remember the NYPD. Second thought was going pretty
much former police commission ahead on trying as quickly as
possible to learn as much as we can about what happened,
(01:06):
what was the motivation, how did it happen, and more importantly,
now that the event has happened going forward, How might
we learn from this in terms of things that might
help event a similar incident in the future. You always
try to learn from these things, and this one here
is just in the beginning stages of that process.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
He probably heard that CNN is reporting about a suicide
note that got this from a source with the NYPD,
a suicide note saying that he was going after the
NFL that he suffered from CTE from back when he
played football. He had a grudge against the NFL and
their headquarters is in that building because he felt like
he should have played in the NFL. He was a
(01:49):
very good high school football player. But he also has
a long history of mental illness and that calls in
the questions. So that raises so many questions. First of all,
how did he get a gun?
Speaker 2 (02:03):
Well, everything you're referencing is part of the preliminary flood
of information that's now coming out. Some of this is
going to have to be verified certainly as the investigation
goes forward. We have an expression of policing that you'd
have in the news media. Also, the first story is
never the last story. So some of what we're dealing
with the speculative at the moment. But the questions you're
(02:27):
raising will all be answered over the next several days
because none of them other than the actual motive, And
the actual motive might in fact be included in that
suicide note what's being what's listed as a suicide note.
But in any event, the investigation will try to determine
his mental history. They'll be looking to get into his
(02:50):
social history. Las Vegas police of Tander Search wanted to
get into his home. They might be additional information. They
have laptops, phones, et cet. The gun issue is, let's
face it, guns very easy to get in America. What
was somewhat unique about this? And I've been dealing with
for thirty years with crime in New York City, long
(03:11):
guns are very, very seldom ever used in the city
of New York. They're very common in other cities. When
I worked in La the use of long guns, if
you will, the automatic rifles, some the automatic rifles was
very commonplace among gangs. But here in New York you
very seldom see a crime involving a long gun. And
so that's something unique about this particular one, particularly the
(03:33):
way he so brazenly displayed it in that short walk
from the car on Park Avenue into the building, so
that aspect of it will be followed up as to
where did he get that, did he buy it legally?
Did he gain it illegally? Again, all part of the
many facets of the investigation.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
Where is the investigation now? I know it's in its
early stages, extremely early stages. But now you have the
FBI and the NYPD, you have the Las Vegas Police.
Are they all coordinating and where do they go from here?
Speaker 2 (04:07):
One of the great things about American law enforcement, and
particularly since the tragic events coming out of nine to eleven,
is that we do a much better job of collaboration.
NYPD is second to none in its efforts to collaborate
with its many law enforcement apartments. The first thing that
is usually looked at in incidents in America today is
(04:27):
this terrorist related. This apparently does not have any terrorism
linkage at all. Thus, the investigation will remain in the
hands of the city in which had occurred, and that's
newyorkrants and the NYPD would be the late agent, lead agency.
The other agencies, AHF, FBI, gottal agencies will assist in
gathering information and conducting the investigation. Collaboration with the Las
(04:51):
Vegas Police Department for the necessity of that's where this
guy lived and getting into his life there. That Fortunately,
the collaboration betwe agencies is so much better than when
I first began in this business many many years ago.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
Well, you've used to run the department, of course, so
you know exactly what is happening and how many people
are involved in the investigation and what they are looking at.
Can you walk me through that a little bit?
Speaker 2 (05:17):
Sure, there's multiple layers here that as a reference the
collaboration in New York a number of joint task forces
for various types of crime, terrorism, etc. And the excuse me,
the NYPD is the lead agency. Its detective division will
be coordinating this investigation, and there are many facets to it.
(05:42):
About the gun, about capturing all the video. It's been
widely reported that this car was very quickly tracked across
the country through use of the license plate scanners that
many cities and states now have. So the sophistication of
technology is a great benefit to law enforcement, but it
adds tremendously to the complexity of the investigations. That in
(06:05):
that building, the wooden building, there are cameras literally everywhere,
so they'll now be looking to retrieve all the video
from the events of yesterday tracking his movements in the building.
They want to track his movements across the country. So
the world we live in today is a very complex
one and it does require that coordination between various agencies
(06:26):
to assist each other. Fortunately for the City of New York,
it has probably the most sophisticated police force in America,
certainly the largest in America, and has resources to conduct
these types of investigations. And you saw yesterday the massive responsibilice.
The Woten Building is actually on the block and a
half from the seventeenth Precinct. My office is a block
(06:48):
from that building. My office is a Vituity Park Avenue
in a very similar buildings to the Wooden Building, and
so that very familiar with security provisions in that area.
And also the city benefits from fortunately a lot of
things we put in place during my time as Police
Commissioner back in twenty fourteen. All those uniformed officers you
(07:09):
see with the helmets and the long guns so frequently
in New York City at demonstrations and events were two
new units that we created back in twenty fourteen, after
the murders of officers Mamos and lou sitting in their
squad cot just before Christmas in twenty fourteen. So we're
constantly evolving, constantly trying to get better at what we do,
(07:30):
trying to get better at preventing these things and occurring,
but when they do occur, trying to improve our response
so that we can as quickly as possible learn what happened,
why it happened, and how do we try to prevent
it from happening again.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
The police officer that was killed was assigned to that lobby.
Is that common and is that something that they may
rethink now?
Speaker 2 (07:51):
A number of buildings around the country, shoes run around
the city in New York and the min and out
of these office buildings. A number of my clients are
some of the largest real estate companies in New York City.
Those are individual choices for these companies. I believe there
is actually a report this morning that there may have
been two police officers on paid detail in that building.
NFL may have their own security on their floor, security
(08:15):
for their CEOs, etc. Actually, the director of security for
the NFL, Kathleen, and theyre a very good friend. It
was the former police chief in Washington, d C. For
many years. So each building makes its own decision in
terms of what level of security they want. Most office
buildings in New York, in Midtown in particular, you have
(08:36):
to go through some type of identification process to get
into the building, but relatively few of them have what
we would call armed security, whether it's private security or
in this case, an off duty, paid New York City
Police officer. It's just into Bloomingdale's the other day, and
immediately going into Bloomingdale's, that first thing I encountered was
a uniform police officer at the entrance to that and
(08:58):
she was on paid detail in that building. So those
are independent decisions made by the various companies that own
those buildings as well as the tenants.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
I understand. Thank you so much for clearing that up.
Bill Bratton, former NYPD Commissioner. Thanks for joining us on
short notice on such an important day.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
Speak with you. Sorry, it's not such a terrible subject.
It is.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
It is a terrible subject. We'll have you back to
talk about something nicer.
Mass murder now is being investigated by the end YPD
as they also mourned the death of one of their own,
thirty six year old Dita Rule Islam, who was with
the force for four years. You've heard it now a
couple of times. He's a father of two young children,
and he had another child on the way. So there's
so many thoughts that are running through the police department
(00:23):
right now, but nobody would know that better than Bill Bratton,
former NYPD Police Commissioner. Thank you so much, sir for
joining us this morning. I really appreciate your time.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
It's very good to be with you this morning. Thank you, Bill.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
What are the first thoughts you have? I know you've
been following this story. I'm sure you have. What are
your what are your thoughts?
Speaker 2 (00:45):
Well? First though, it's naturally a concern for the families
of all the victims, and certainly in particular the police
officer that remember the NYPD. Second thought was going pretty
much former police commission ahead on trying as quickly as
possible to learn as much as we can about what happened,
(01:06):
what was the motivation, how did it happen, and more importantly,
now that the event has happened going forward, How might
we learn from this in terms of things that might
help event a similar incident in the future. You always
try to learn from these things, and this one here
is just in the beginning stages of that process.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
He probably heard that CNN is reporting about a suicide
note that got this from a source with the NYPD,
a suicide note saying that he was going after the
NFL that he suffered from CTE from back when he
played football. He had a grudge against the NFL and
their headquarters is in that building because he felt like
he should have played in the NFL. He was a
(01:49):
very good high school football player. But he also has
a long history of mental illness and that calls in
the questions. So that raises so many questions. First of all,
how did he get a gun?
Speaker 2 (02:03):
Well, everything you're referencing is part of the preliminary flood
of information that's now coming out. Some of this is
going to have to be verified certainly as the investigation
goes forward. We have an expression of policing that you'd
have in the news media. Also, the first story is
never the last story. So some of what we're dealing
with the speculative at the moment. But the questions you're
(02:27):
raising will all be answered over the next several days
because none of them other than the actual motive, And
the actual motive might in fact be included in that
suicide note what's being what's listed as a suicide note.
But in any event, the investigation will try to determine
his mental history. They'll be looking to get into his
(02:50):
social history. Las Vegas police of Tander Search wanted to
get into his home. They might be additional information. They
have laptops, phones, et cet. The gun issue is, let's
face it, guns very easy to get in America. What
was somewhat unique about this? And I've been dealing with
for thirty years with crime in New York City, long
(03:11):
guns are very, very seldom ever used in the city
of New York. They're very common in other cities. When
I worked in La the use of long guns, if
you will, the automatic rifles, some the automatic rifles was
very commonplace among gangs. But here in New York you
very seldom see a crime involving a long gun. And
so that's something unique about this particular one, particularly the
(03:33):
way he so brazenly displayed it in that short walk
from the car on Park Avenue into the building, so
that aspect of it will be followed up as to
where did he get that, did he buy it legally?
Did he gain it illegally? Again, all part of the
many facets of the investigation.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
Where is the investigation now? I know it's in its
early stages, extremely early stages. But now you have the
FBI and the NYPD, you have the Las Vegas Police.
Are they all coordinating and where do they go from here?
Speaker 2 (04:07):
One of the great things about American law enforcement, and
particularly since the tragic events coming out of nine to eleven,
is that we do a much better job of collaboration.
NYPD is second to none in its efforts to collaborate
with its many law enforcement apartments. The first thing that
is usually looked at in incidents in America today is
(04:27):
this terrorist related. This apparently does not have any terrorism
linkage at all. Thus, the investigation will remain in the
hands of the city in which had occurred, and that's
newyorkrants and the NYPD would be the late agent, lead agency.
The other agencies, AHF, FBI, gottal agencies will assist in
gathering information and conducting the investigation. Collaboration with the Las
(04:51):
Vegas Police Department for the necessity of that's where this
guy lived and getting into his life there. That Fortunately,
the collaboration betwe agencies is so much better than when
I first began in this business many many years ago.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
Well, you've used to run the department, of course, so
you know exactly what is happening and how many people
are involved in the investigation and what they are looking at.
Can you walk me through that a little bit?
Speaker 2 (05:17):
Sure, there's multiple layers here that as a reference the
collaboration in New York a number of joint task forces
for various types of crime, terrorism, etc. And the excuse me,
the NYPD is the lead agency. Its detective division will
be coordinating this investigation, and there are many facets to it.
(05:42):
About the gun, about capturing all the video. It's been
widely reported that this car was very quickly tracked across
the country through use of the license plate scanners that
many cities and states now have. So the sophistication of
technology is a great benefit to law enforcement, but it
adds tremendously to the complexity of the investigations. That in
(06:05):
that building, the wooden building, there are cameras literally everywhere,
so they'll now be looking to retrieve all the video
from the events of yesterday tracking his movements in the building.
They want to track his movements across the country. So
the world we live in today is a very complex
one and it does require that coordination between various agencies
(06:26):
to assist each other. Fortunately for the City of New York,
it has probably the most sophisticated police force in America,
certainly the largest in America, and has resources to conduct
these types of investigations. And you saw yesterday the massive responsibilice.
The Woten Building is actually on the block and a
half from the seventeenth Precinct. My office is a block
(06:48):
from that building. My office is a Vituity Park Avenue
in a very similar buildings to the Wooden Building, and
so that very familiar with security provisions in that area.
And also the city benefits from fortunately a lot of
things we put in place during my time as Police
Commissioner back in twenty fourteen. All those uniformed officers you
(07:09):
see with the helmets and the long guns so frequently
in New York City at demonstrations and events were two
new units that we created back in twenty fourteen, after
the murders of officers Mamos and lou sitting in their
squad cot just before Christmas in twenty fourteen. So we're
constantly evolving, constantly trying to get better at what we do,
(07:30):
trying to get better at preventing these things and occurring,
but when they do occur, trying to improve our response
so that we can as quickly as possible learn what happened,
why it happened, and how do we try to prevent
it from happening again.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
The police officer that was killed was assigned to that lobby.
Is that common and is that something that they may
rethink now?
Speaker 2 (07:51):
A number of buildings around the country, shoes run around
the city in New York and the min and out
of these office buildings. A number of my clients are
some of the largest real estate companies in New York City.
Those are individual choices for these companies. I believe there
is actually a report this morning that there may have
been two police officers on paid detail in that building.
NFL may have their own security on their floor, security
(08:15):
for their CEOs, etc. Actually, the director of security for
the NFL, Kathleen, and theyre a very good friend. It
was the former police chief in Washington, d C. For
many years. So each building makes its own decision in
terms of what level of security they want. Most office
buildings in New York, in Midtown in particular, you have
(08:36):
to go through some type of identification process to get
into the building, but relatively few of them have what
we would call armed security, whether it's private security or
in this case, an off duty, paid New York City
Police officer. It's just into Bloomingdale's the other day, and
immediately going into Bloomingdale's, that first thing I encountered was
a uniform police officer at the entrance to that and
(08:58):
she was on paid detail in that building. So those
are independent decisions made by the various companies that own
those buildings as well as the tenants.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
I understand. Thank you so much for clearing that up.
Bill Bratton, former NYPD Commissioner. Thanks for joining us on
short notice on such an important day.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
Speak with you. Sorry, it's not such a terrible subject.
It is.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
It is a terrible subject. We'll have you back to
talk about something nicer.
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