22-year-old officer jason rivera was shot and killed on friday in harlem, and now told you his partner, 27-year-old wilbert mora has passed away. they were responding to a domestic call in harlem. the mayor calling on state and local leaders to change bail reform policy as alvin bragg, critics say is soft on crime, is backing the mayor s plan. bragg originally said to do not prosecute some local level crimes, now says gun possession cases are part to keep the city safe. people walk the streets with guns and will be held accountable, and gun possession cases as an opportunity to trace the sources of illegal guns and build cases against drug traffickers. the new york city public defenders office released a joint statement saying they do not support the mayor s calls for rollback and bail reform,
resources on more serious crimes, to prioritize, i think is sort of how you characterized it, let emphasis on prosecuting nonviolent crimes, including not prosecuting people for possessing a weapon unless they were involved in a violent crime. so they re arrested, it sounds like, for a nonviolent crime, they have in their possession a weapon, that seems to be at odds with what the mayor is proposing and also seems to be a little bit at odds of what you have been talking about of prosecuting more in the traditional sense these gun charges. yeah, look, for those that don t know me, i m a career state and federal prosecutor. i ve done gun possession cases, i ve done cases involving guns. i talked about a couple of exceptions like my brother-in-law who was prosecuted and went to jail for more than a year for a gun he didn t know about and didn t touch, it was on during a college schoolyard fight, but that s the exception. the rule in my office is, you
know, gun possession is serious. prosecuted as a felony. we have been doing that since the beginning of been doing it throughout my career. why the emphasis then on holding people accountable in what you would say is the traditional sense? why the need to make that clear to people? well, because i think we re in an urgent crisis now. i know around the dinner tables and the water coolers, we re all talking about guns and want to be clear as the district attorney of manhattan that that s what i m going to sleep thinking about, what i m waking up thinking about and that it is all of the above, gun possession cases, it is taking the gun possession cases and using technology and tracing to turn them into gun trafficking cases. it is working with our community groups that are interrupting violence before it happens, it is doing all of that. so, yes, i m talking about guns, i ve been talking about guns in the last six months, the last 20 years. but right now with renewed urgency given
specifically, you know, the mayor talked about the revamping and doing this in a different way, and so i m looking forward to having conversations with him about how it is going to be rolled out differently. for example, i understand they won t be plains clothes, they ll be marked as new york city police officers. any other concerns about the anti-gun police unit? i m looking forward to talking with the mayor and hearing more about the rollout. we need to be responding and what i call an all of the above way, which is using our kind of gun possession cases, gun trafficking, community violence interrupters and looking forward to engaging with the mayor as we go into more of the logistical nuts and bolts. so looking forward to having that conversation with him. let s talk about your approach here, your approach generally has been more to use
apartment. proof no call is routine. at just 22 years old, rivera was so young, with so much promise i m the loneliest without you. reporter: recently married to his childhood sweetheart today she s heartbroken for the life they won t live together i couldn t believe you left me. reporter: her words echoing outside to a city in mourning the little bit of hope i had that you would come back to life just to say goodbye or to say i love you one more time has left i was lost i m still lost reporter: and she s angry with the new manhattan district attorney, among the mourners, whose memo called for the relaxed prosecution of some gun possession cases. he s since clarified his stance i hope he s watching you speak through me right now [ applause ] i m sure all of our blue family is tired