Police Commissioner Bill Bratton is doubling down on his opposition to the pedestrian plaza in Times Square and throwing cold water on the city's own statistics that show a drop in traffic accident injuries since it was installed. Bratton's remarks are the latest sign he wants to use the mayor's Times Square task force to rid the tourist mecca of the plaza popular with many local leaders and tourists alike. NY1's Grace Rauh filed this report.

One of the main arguments being made in support of the pedestrian plaza in Times Square is that it has made the area safer for pedestrians, cyclists and passengers in cars and taxis.

Figures from the city's Department of Transportation show that the average number of injuries along Seventh Avenue and Broadway in the heart of Times Square have dropped by nearly 25 percent. The department compared injuries from the five years before the plaza was installed with the five years after it opened. But Police Commissioner Bill Bratton isn't buying it.

“When you look at the larger Times Square area, actually, accidents have gone up. So, all the traffic that has been pushed into the side streets out of 42nd Street, it tells a very different story,” says Police Commissioner Bill Bratton.

Bratton's desire to rip out the plaza is drawing intense opposition from local politicians, pedestrian advocates and others, but Mayor Bill de Blasio so far has not publicly reined him in.

"That's why we have a task force to assess that. I think there is a variety of viewpoints and a lot of evidence that suggest both some of the strengths of the plazas and some of the challenges. And the whole idea of the task force is to make sense of that issue," de Blasio says.

Bratton is one of—if not the most—influential member of the mayor's administration. As a co-chair of the task force, he will no doubt attempt to exert significant control over its findings. After the mayor announced in June that the city would hire 1,300 additional police officers, Bratton told reporters he gets what he wants.

"There’s nothing I’ve asked for that I haven’t gotten. So I guess that’s a pretty good expression of support,” Bratton said.

In a radio interview the commissioner, said that when it comes to the plaza he doesn't have the last word.

"My personal preference, my professional preference based on the statistics I look at, the responsibilities I have, is to take them out. But I am not the final say.

Commissioner Bratton does however have tremendous sway over what will happen.