Police Commissioner William Bratton struck a forceful tone in a speech to busness leaders today, pushing back against the city comptroller for downplaying statistics that show the city had a safe summer—and lashing out at the City Council for demanding more oversight of the NYPD. NY1's Roger Clark filed this report.

"We don't have politicized statistics. We have crime statistics. They are accurate, they are timely and they are what guide this department," Police Commissioner William Bratton said Monday.

He was firing back at City Comptroller Scott Stringer, who charged Monday that Mayor Bill de Blasio is wrong to keep saying crime is down. Stringer's complaint followed a bloody stretch of eight murders in two days. Parents of murder victims, Stringer said, don't want to hear about crime stats. 

Bratton says Stringer is the one playing politics, by launching what Bratton called an unnecessary attack. 

"You can attack the mayor all you want, you can attack me all you want, but don't attack the work of my cops because I am going to punch back," Bratton said.

Bratton used his speech to business leaders to do just that, confronting the perception, seen in opinion polls..the city is slipping back into an abyss of crime and disorder. He told the Association for a Better New York the reality is far different. Although murders are up slightly this year.. the number of serious crimes keeps dropping to record lows. 

"Crime is down, and my prediction is that we will have the capability to keep it going down," Bratton said.

Bratton talked up his initiatives to address the surge in homeless people on the streets and mistrust of officers in communitues of color. His central message: the sky's not falling. He emphasized, as the mayor has done, this was the safest summer in decades. 

"This year, we've averaged about one homicide a day. Over this past week, we averaged two. I remember when the city averaged six a day. Everyday. Day in and day out," Bratton said. 

Meeting reporters afterward, Bratton also denounced police oversight measures before the City Council as unnecessary and duplicative.

"It's exactly what the cops resent about the City Counci l," Bratton said. "It's grandstanding, being quite frank with you."

Bratton noted that crime spikes from time to time, making headlines. But as serious as it is, an occasional spike does not reverse the overall trend.