West Indian Day Parade to end half hour early in move to curb violence

Mayor Mamdani and NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said they're ending the West Indian Day Parade a half hour early this year to try to prevent violence on Labor Day.

"In the past this parade has been accompanied by unacceptable violence, making it difficult for New Yorkers to celebrate joyfully and safely," Mamdani said at a Friday press conference at the Brooklyn Museum overlooking the parade route. "That is why City Hall's Office of Community Safety, the NYPD and our partners in the crisis management system have developed a comprehensive security plan to ensure that this year's West Indian Day Parade and J'Ouvert can run smoothly and safely."

The annual festivities draw millions to Eastern Parkway in Crown Heights to dance, eat and celebrate Caribbean culture for Carnival. But in recent years the revelries have been tarnished by shootings and stabbings.

This year, the Police Department will deploy more police officers and cut the parade's end time earlier in hopes it will help avoid violent incidents.

"That end time is deliberate, given the history of violence we have seen on and around the parade route at that hour and later," Tisch said. She noted that, last year, three shootings on or near the parade route between 5:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. left six people wounded.

The Mayor's Office of Community Safety , mostly through its work on the city's Crisis Management System, has also played a role in the planning for the parade, Renita Francois, the deputy mayor for community safety, said at the press conference.

Crisis management teams have been working ahead of the events and will continue through Monday to mediate conflicts and disputes before they escalate, Francois said.