NYPD Turn Their Back On Their Clients

Mayor Bill de Blasio was something of a surprise since City Council President Christine Quinn looked to be the next mayor of NYC and had the support of three term mayor Bloomberg (seen as a negative by many -- lesbian or not, she was seen as a more conservative and establishment choice), but he won and won big. He was seen as something of an Obama figure, a reasonable liberal sort, also with sort of mixed background (his wife is black).  He previously with in the City Council, was public advocate and previously worked in the Clinton Administration. 

The mayor looks to be comparable to President Obama in other ways as well.  He will be seen as too moderate by some on the left, especially since we are talking NYC here, while doing enough to make others find him some radical socialist type. I guess such opposition from both sides provides both cover and is a sort of symbol of reasonableness. Meanwhile, things like settling a stop and frisk lawsuit and expanding spending (including in education). Returning Giuliani Era police commissioner William Bratton to that role was one of many ways he tried to balance things out.  He was a safe choice in some ways though his clashes with RG shows that Bratton's service there should come with an asterisk. 

"We will all work hard to identify why is it that so many in this city do not feel good about this department that has done so much to make them safe — what has it been about our activities that have made so many alienated?” Mr. Bratton said, speaking to a packed hall at Police Headquarters in Lower Manhattan.

This is the sort of thing that motivated many who voted for de Blasio over his competition, including in a landslide victory (over 70%, after squeaking over the 40% plurality line in the primary among a large field) in November 2013 (has it been over a year?).  But, this includes the mayor not always supporting the police 100% against the concerns of the citizenry.  When someone dies in an illegal choke-hold during an arrest for selling illegal cigarettes or talking about how he and his wife fears his black son doing something "wrong" when around the police,* sorry if some police officers might not like everything he says. He is the mayor of ALL New Yorkers, including those who protest wrongful killings.

The police turning their back -- predictable really after the head of their union tried to get them to sign letters telling him not to come to their funerals if they were shot on the job -- here was horrible. The family of Eric Garner, who their murderer used to give some sort of meaning to his violence (which -- this only most recently -- included shooting his girlfriend in the stomach and later killing himself), voiced sympathy.  The idea that the mayor has blood on his hands here is fucking asinine. You simply aren't helping, you assholes (this act of protest warrants the plural).  Police lives matter? No shit. All lives matter. Who other than the murderer here and a small number of people with overheated rhetoric here disagrees on the side of those protesting more than one wrongful police shooting?

Again, the FAMILY of Eric Garner and Michael Brown -- to bring him into it too though there are moving from NYC (the murderer here isn't some resident who was mistreated by the NYPD ... his shooting of his girlfriend in the stomach wasn't some sort of protest) -- opposed the shooting.  Let me quote them a bit for emphasis here:

"I'm standing here in sorrow about losing those two police officers. That was definitely not our agenda. We are going in peace," Garner's mother Gwen Carr said at a news conference today. 

Carr stood alongside Rev. Al Sharpton and her son's widow, each reiterating that while they want protesters to make a point, they must do so peacefully. 

"My husband was not a violent man, so we do not want any violence connected to his name," Esaw Garner said today.

I don't think the NYPD as a whole should be blamed for the protest here, but people will do so -- I have seen the at times expletive laden replies on Twitter. This is to be damn expected by this act of crude shameful disrespect.  A killer of a doctor who performed abortions murdered him in a church, which to me should have been seen as profane even for those few who cheer such people on.  This was an event for remembrance and healing, not one to further divide and instigate.  As a life time resident of New York, if it matters, white, and as someone in general who doesn't like making things worse, this saddened and aggravated me. 

It took deaths and murders to really flame emotions and protests but the anger and despair builds over time with much more minor incidents. Police are basic to a safe society and their jobs require them to go into sensitive and at times dangerous locations.  My brother was very upset someone was stopped for going a bit over the speed limit and told to get out of the car and deal with the full brunt of a police stop.  He couldn't believe that was justified.  He, a white guy, was also in the car when police came while his friends were merely in the car inside a suburban complex and at least one of the police drew a gun during the stop. This happened a few years ago and it still scares our mother when she thinks about it.  What if the police felt something was wrong and shot the person with my brother nearby? 

This underlines that both sides here need to react with some levelheadedness, even when some mistake or arguable overreaction arises. This turning their backs does not help.  The mayor supporting non-violent protest after a teenager is killed is not an incitement. The other side can be flagged at times too.  But, yes, public servants should at times be put to a higher test.  This photo is a sign of irrationality. 

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* He recently told an interviewer that he has told Dante, his teenage mixed-race son, not to reach for a cellphone around officers because it might put him in danger as a “a young man of color.” John Marshall had a powerful discussion on the police response to the mayor as well.