Justice & Law Quote by Vito Fossella

“Hundreds, if not thousands” is the tell: Fossella isn’t counting, he’s building atmosphere. The line is engineered to feel like a wide-angle shot of constant guardianship, a city held together by an army of public servants. That imprecision is doing political work. It signals urgency without inviting fact-checks to land cleanly, and it nudges the listener toward gratitude before they get to policy.

The intent is protective credibility. By foregrounding “every single day” and “protecting the lives,” Fossella places policing in the moral register of care, not coercion. “Not just New Yorkers” widens the constituency, but the real move is the second half: “the millions who come...to work and to vacation.” Now public safety isn’t only a local budget line; it’s an economic engine. Police become the invisible infrastructure of commerce and tourism, a claim that preemptively frames criticism of policing as a threat to jobs, tax revenue, and the city’s brand.

Subtext: New York is uniquely vulnerable and uniquely essential. The city isn’t merely a home; it’s a national asset with constant foot traffic, and that flow requires force on standby. In the post-9/11 political climate this kind of language was especially potent: it fuses civic pride with insecurity, making expansionary stances on policing (funding, deference, latitude) feel like common sense rather than ideology.

It’s a politician’s reassurance with an edge: be thankful, be afraid, and don’t ask too many questions about what “protection” costs or whom it’s for.