place in the process, there is a negotiation that takes place. so practically speaking, it has in my judgment, not worked particularly well. >> what do you think has been the most important effect here in reducing the homicide rate in new york? it's remarkable. >> i think a lot of things that we're doing. i can tell you one of the most recent programs that we put in the last year, year and a half, is something that we call crew cut. we did an analysis a year and a half ago, two years ago, and we determined about a 30% of our shootings were coming for what we called crews. these are gangs and a couple of levels below the bloods and the crips. these are loosely affiliated. we have about 300 in the city. we put in a program to take them on directly. we increased the size, we doubled the size of our gang division. we took advantage of the fact that these young people can't

help themselves but brag on social media. and we put a social media component in each one of the gang units, put an attorney on each one of the gang units because we have five district attorneys in new york city, and it enables us to have liaison directly with each one of the district attorneys. we put a uniform component, uniformed police officers in each of our precincts that had a problem with crews, and they're there to disrupt and intercept any acts of violence. obviously one of the things that we're sensitive to is retaliation. so this has worked very well for us. and as was said before, last year, we had a record low year for murders and shootings. this year, we're running 25% below that. i think the professor said that something -- he talked about the 86% reduction in murders.

but 23 years ago, we had 1 million fewer people living in the city. we had 2,245 murders in the 7.3 million population. now we have 8.4 million people, and we're running at a rate now that will bring us in at about 320 murders. >> let me get commissioner davis i in. what are you doing that's most effective? >> we're following the same policies. we are paying attention to these -- the shootings are occurring among gang members. we are concentrating on gang members. it brings us into neighborhoods of color when we do that. the aclu is looking at our numbers just like they did in new york. the initial findings are that most of the stops we're making are when people are involved in criminal activity. they kept records and the people that we should be paying attention to. but i find it remarkable that in a city where ray kelly has been able to reduce the homicide rate

by 86%, the conversation is around something else other than giving him the credit that he's due for what's happened here. 7,000 lives are saved over this period of time. i give him a lot of credit for that. >> yes. way back -- >> hi there. i'm sara goodyear. i'm with the "atlantic cities." and even as homicides have continued to fall in new york city, traffic, violence, continues to be a big issue here. 148 pedestrians were killed by cars last year. there's a perception that a lot of drivers don't get prosecuted for criminal activity. do you think the nypd could do a better job of preventing traffic violence on the street? how could they do that? >> we can always do a better job in every area. we're down 6,000 police officers from where we were 13 years ago when this administration came in. we've done a variety of things.

we worked closely with the commissioner. they're doing a great job. we have just significantly changed or reformed our accident investigation practices. we now have a coalition -- a collision investigation squad which uses the state of the art technology. but we do have 8.4 million people here. we do have a daytime population that's over 10 million people. so you are going to have a lot of traffic and accidents. some people are saying that some police are not arresting enough people for reckless driving, that kind of thing. you have to -- you have to -- there are many court decisions that say this. you have to observe the violation. many of the advocates, i assume you're one of them, want us to

make these determinations when we haven't seen -- we haven't observed the violation. it takes in depth investigations and examination, it takes witnesses. it is much more complex than you might think. >> yeah, technology and cameras, do they help in that case? >> are you asking me? technology and cameras do help. we have cameras in the patrol cars right now. certainly in the highway patrol cars. we are using state of the art technology to help our investigators go to the scene of the accident and doing the investigation more effectively and quickly. >> last question. >> police departments -- >> could you identify yourself? >> rick cole, deputy mayor, city of los angeles. police used to be the back water in many ways of the local , government, typically less

educated than folks in other departments. now you're far more sophisticated in many ways than most of the other departments. more sophisticated technology, more sophisticated training, more sophisticated web of interconnection between the police agencies at all levels. how in the budget battles and your looking at the overall health of cities, how do you see beginning to balance what you do in fighting crime and in keeping cities safe with the other elements that are necessary for a healthy city that in turn support the prosperity, support the revenue, and support the quality of life that makes a city safe and attractive? >> start with that and repeat it. did you get all of that, okay, great? >> that's a great question. mayor menino has made it clear that we'll work with other city departments. the strength of our success in boston, his designation was the urban mechanic for a great city.

it's been based upon the fact that there is connectivity between all of the various branches of government. so i know that arresting people is not going lower the crime rate. we've arrested fewer and fewer people every year for the last seven years. but i do know that working with the inspectional services department, with the alcohol beverage control department, the regulatory agencies in city government have a direct effect on crime and reduce crime hot spots immediately. so we've used that sort of holistic approach for a long time in boston. me for the last seven years. it is what has led to our success. it's only through cooperation and coordination in the full direction of the mayor. the mayor plays an enormous role in making sure the people work together. when that happens, it can be extremely powerful. >> in my view, there is no more innovative mayor or leader in this country than michael

bloomberg. he's done phenomenal things here. the mayor says and has said many times that the foundation of everything that goes forward in this city, certainly anything that is progressive in nature , has to be public safety. it has to be a feeling that people can walk the streets safely and you don't have a fear of being shot in your neighborhood and he's made a commitment to that. he has been very supportive of the police. i would say, in terms of priorities. yes, i am parochial. but public safety, the staffing of the police departments, and the support that's needed comes first. everything else falls into place after that, in my judgment. >> thank you all, but before you leave, you're both leaving office in the foreseeable future soon. where do you travel to go on vacation? and then what is next?

>> i'm going back to italy. my wife made it clear we're going to make another trip there. but the truth of the matter is, i have an offer for a fellowship at harvard, i'll do a little teaching and looking at other opportunities. >> what will you teach? >> of the institute of politics. >> what subject? >> criminal justice and politics, i haven't gotten the course yet. i'll find out in november. so i'm looking forward to it, though. >> what are you going to teach? >> i'm going to be a greeter at walmart. >> all right. >> see you there. >> see you there. [ applause ] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2014] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] next, q&a with economist martin sullivan. after that, "washington journal ." coverage at 10:00 from the center of strategic and international studies with the defense minister of estonia.

>> this week on "q&a" marty sullivan, the chief economist for tax analysts a nonprofit organization that provides news and analysis on state, federal and international tax related issues. host: marty sullivan, i want to introduce you to our audience the same way we were introduced to you in the "washington post" in october of 2013 headline "marty sullivan picked out how the world's biggest companies avoided billions in taxes, here is how he wants to stop them". what did you think of that? guest: it was a quite flattering article. it was great that after all of these years of digging through the data, me and my colleagues at tax analysts, we were getting more recognition. host: here it is. i have it on my lap sunday