Warm Welcome in Boro Park For Police Commissioner
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

Residents of the predominantly Jewish neighborhood of Boro Park in Brooklyn gave the police commissioner, Raymond Kelly, a rousing welcome at a breakfast speech yesterday, a possible indication that if Mr. Kelly were to run for mayor in 2009, he could rely on support from voters in the area.
A City Council member who represents Boro Park and who orchestrated the visit, Simcha Felder, introduced the commissioner to the early morning crowd of about 200, most of whom were Jewish men, seated at round tables. Sufganiyot, Israeli Chanukah doughnuts, and coffee were served.
Mr. Felder called Mr. Kelly the best police commissioner he had worked with. Hinting at a future role for Mr. Kelly in government, Mr. Felder added that he hoped Mr. Kelly would have a similarly positive rapport with the next police commissioner.
“It is our hope that when Mayor Bloomberg’s term is up, he will be in city government,” Mr. Felder said, referring to Mr. Kelly.
Mr. Kelly is often identified as a potential Republican candidate for mayor in 2009, and Mr. Felder said after the breakfast that many New Yorkers, himself included, are hoping the police commissioner will run.
Mr. Kelly did not drop any hints about whether he intends to run during his speech, focusing instead on the drop in the city’s crime rate, efforts to combat terrorism in New York, and a recent wave of hate crimes in the city.
“We treat every hate crime as a major case,” he said. “No resource is spared in investigating them.” The commissioner highlighted the New York City Police Department post set up in Israel to provide what the department has described as an early warning system on terrorism. The Israeli government “was eager to work with us, and their police and security forces have treated us like we were one of their own,” Mr. Kelly said.
“Israel has been a tremendous source of information for us on evolving terrorist tactics,” he said. A longtime Boro Park resident, who declined to give his name, said he thinks Mr. Kelly is already campaigning for mayor, though he has not indicated that publicly.
“He’s tough on crime. I think people like him,” he said.
Most of the audience attended the breakfast to see Mr. Kelly in anticipation of his run for mayor, he said. “They want to get in on the ground floor,” he said.