The Wrongologist

You should have cut the NYPD some slack when the two police were killed in the line of duty. Here is what the Wrongologist said on 12/22:

The harsh reaction that blamed Mayor de Blasio and the Eric Garner and Ferguson demonstrators should be viewed through a lens of that tragedy. The statements made by the PBA, and Commissioner Bratton were over the top, but under the circumstances, we can let go of them.

Fast forward to this week, when a large number of New York’s Finest Most Entitled once again turned their backs on Mayor de Blasio at the funeral service for Officer Wenjian Liu. From the Atlantic: (brackets by the Wrongologist)

The show of disrespect came outside the funeral…[of a man] remembered as an incarnation of the American dream: a man who had immigrated at age 12 and devoted himself to helping others in his adopted country. The gesture, among officers watching the mayor’s speech on a screen, added to tensions between the mayor and rank-and-file police…

This came after Commissioner William Bratton asked them not to stage a repeat of their actions at Officer Rafael Ramos’s funeral. His request:

I issue no mandates, and I make no threats of discipline, but I remind you that when you don the uniform of this department, you are bound by the tradition, honor and decency that go with it.

Finally, the New York Times reported that ticket issuance by police in this city of 8.4 million was down by 90% last week:

Most precincts’ weekly tallies for criminal infractions — typically about 4,000 a week citywide — were close to zero.

And, New York continued to function normally, with people going about their business, seemingly secure on sidewalk, street, public transit and in their homes. So, let’s see:

• The NYPD disrespects the mayor.
• They do so for a second time even after a request not to do so by their Police Commissioner.
• They engage in a job action that, in some parts of the city, meant that no tickets were issued.

It’s now time for the NYPD to give some slack to the rest of us. Aren’t the police supposed to answer to someone? It appears that the more vocal among them think they answer only to themselves. And don’t say anything critical of the police, or anything bad that happens is our fault.

We know that they have a tough job, and that they have worked without a contract for more than a year, but they are quickly losing public support, given their current attitude.

When people can’t criticize the police, you have a police state.

And this isn’t the first time the NYPD has had issues with a NYC Mayor. In the early 1970s, Mayor John Lindsay had similar issues with the NY police unions. The NYT, in an editorial reviewed what de Blasio has done wrong:

1. He campaigned on ending the unconstitutional use of “stop-and-frisk” tactics, which victimized hundreds of thousands of innocent young Black and Latino men.
2. He called for creating an inspector general for the department and ending racial profiling.
3. After Eric Garner was killed on Staten Island, he convened a meeting with the police commissioner, William Bratton, and the Rev. Al Sharpton. He gave Sharpton greater prominence than the NYPD thought he should have.
4. He said after the Garner killing that he had told his biracial son, Dante, to “take special care” in encounters with the police.
5. He generally condoned the peaceful protests for police reform — while condemning those who incited or committed violence — and cited a tagline of the movement: “Black lives matter.”

Mayor de Blasio was elected by a wide margin (he got 74% of the vote) by, among other things, promising to reform the policing excesses that had been found unconstitutional by a federal court. He hired Mr. Bratton, who had achieved with the Los Angeles Police Department what now needs doing in New York.

The NYPD can’t stand behind the bad behavior on the part of some of their fellow officers. The “blood on his hands” rhetoric against Mayor de Blasio sounds like something the NYPD union leaders have learned from watching the Republican Party: Predict that a politician will fail, then do everything in your power to make it happen.

The NYPD has a unique responsibility. They don’t work for a private company, they work for the residents of New York City; NOT for their union, or their fraternity. If they fail to provide that service, they cheat the taxpayers. New Yorkers pay the NYPD salaries. They pay them to ensure the security of all New Yorkers.

But, the NYPD didn’t just pull the slowdown on the Mayor, they pulled it on the taxpayers. Could it be that the city has been wasting a significant amount of the nearly $5 billion it spends annually on its over 34,000 uniformed cops?

In the words of the NYT, what New Yorkers have a right to expect of the NY Police Department is simple:

1. Do your jobs.
2. Don’t violate the Constitution.
3. Don’t kill unarmed people.