Mayor De Blasio Alienates NYC Police Officers
[guest post by Dana]
Following the grand jury decision not to issue criminal charges in the Eric Garner case, Mayor De Blasio’s comment that he trained his bi-racial, teen-age son to be cautious in dealing with the police has alienated police officers throughout the city:
We’ve had to literally train him, as families have all over this city for decades, in how to take special care in any encounter he has with the police officers who are there to protect him.
Feeling thrown under the bus, the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association has posted a waiver for members wishing to ban Mayor De Blasio and City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito from attending their funerals:
I, [NAME], as a New York City police officer, request that Mayor Bill de Blasio and City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito refrain from attending my funeral services in the event that I am killed in the line of duty. Due to Mayor de Blasio and Speaker Mark-Viverito’s consistent refusal to show police officers the support and respect they deserve, I believe that their attendance at the funeral of a fallen New York City police officer is an insult to that officer’s memory and sacrifice.
De Blasio and Mark-Viverito, seeking to build good will and rapport with the officers, responded in a joint statement:
Incendiary rhetoric like this serves only to divide the city, and New Yorkers reject these tactics. The mayor and the speaker both know better than to think this inappropriate stunt represents the views of the majority of police officers and their families.
And, just throwing the question out there, yet understanding that it’s not an either/or but with many in-between possibilities, will the number of those pursing a career in law enforcement decrease as they witness the lack of morale and respect shown those already on the job, as well as knowing the intense scrutiny and criticism they will be subject to from city, state, and federal officials? Or, as a result of the Garner case (and released video), and the Brown case, will the number of those pursing a career in law enforcement increase because they believe themselves necessary to ensure unbiased, honorable service that protects everyone?
–Dana
Hello.
Dana (8e74ce) — 12/13/2014 @ 6:20 pmGood evening, Dana. The answer to your question is “No”. The same number of people who want to be cops will apply to be cops for the same reasons they had before. The good ones because they want a government job with good pay and benefits and possibility of advancement; the middling ones because they want a job with excitement and adventure; and the bad ones who are looking for a badge and a gun as a substitute for manhood. None of these categories is exclusive of either or both of the others.
nk (dbc370) — 12/13/2014 @ 6:33 pmThe Patrolmens Benevolent Society has no interest in the truth until it negatively effects the Patrolmen’s Benefit Society.
steveg (794291) — 12/13/2014 @ 6:42 pmThe job offers a good salary and huge benefits.. the new cops will toe the line or lose.
They’ll be fine with shooting tea partiers as long as it is at distance or via a kicked in door.
In other words, cops are being trained that the enemy is you
steveg (794291) — 12/13/2014 @ 6:46 pmthey can all eat canned green beans for christmas dinner, de blasio and his supremely at-risk yoot and the piggy piggy union whore nuevo york piggycops the whole lot of them
they deserve each other
hi mr. de blasio can i have me one of them cigarettes?
here i give you fiddy cent for one
happyfeet (831175) — 12/13/2014 @ 6:47 pmthese men who seem to know my crime will surely come a second time
happyfeet (831175) — 12/13/2014 @ 6:49 pmIncendiary rhetoric like this serves only to divide the city, and New Yorkers reject these tactics. The mayor and the speaker both know better than to think this inappropriate stunt represents the views of the majority of police officers and their families.
That right there is yer basic classic projection.
Gazzer (cb9ee2) — 12/13/2014 @ 6:57 pmIf Holder wants to do one decent thing as AG, he’ll put the entire NYPD under federal receivership, de-certify the PBA, and establish an independent disciplinary unit preferably staffed by the FBI to clean up the department.
nk (dbc370) — 12/13/2014 @ 7:05 pmeric holder has no real actual desire to do one decent thing as AG
he’s just a tool
his wife is kinda hot though
and smart
but apparently she gets off on slumming it with low-rent alinsky trash
you just never know about people
happyfeet (831175) — 12/13/2014 @ 7:10 pmBut didn’t they all vote for him as a union crony? Honoring the police is a conservative value, not a liberal one.
Denver Todd (5f001f) — 12/13/2014 @ 7:11 pmIn other words, they get what they pay for.
Denver Todd (5f001f) — 12/13/2014 @ 7:11 pmHonoring the police is a conservative value like honoring Sarah Palin is a conservative value
I’ll be over here waiting for y’all to get this out of your system
take your time for reals
I’ve got a ton of stuff on netflix to watch plus i wanna give Mr. instapundit’s lamb n guinness stew a whirl
happyfeet (831175) — 12/13/2014 @ 7:16 pmI think that the police officer who killed Garner, and the Mayor and Council Speaker ought to settle it all in a bare-knuckle no-rules bout. Choke-holds OK.
Kevin M (25bbee) — 12/13/2014 @ 7:39 pmWhy is the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Society response to DeBlasio’s comment incendiary and divides the city, but his remark is not and does not? This illustrates how liberals think about themselves, which IMO, is that they are by definition these enlightened people who cannot be incendiary, divisive etc.
A few days ago Obama said most police are fine people doing a tough job or words to that effect. However the Obama Justice Dept. is forcing police forces in various places to undergo some kind of training designed to eliminate racist tendencies. By their actions (and sometimes their words) the Dems clearly believe that police forces are chock full of racist thugs, but are careful to say things that mean virtually the opposite.
Gerald A (d65c67) — 12/13/2014 @ 7:47 pmThe current meme taking hold is that we are racisting without even knowing it, as it is so entrenched. We just cannot help ourselves so we must be re-educated. By people who think “Hands up, don’t shoot” is meaningful, when, in fact, had he said those very words and taken that action he would be alive today.
Gazzer (cb9ee2) — 12/13/2014 @ 7:55 pmAlanis, to the white courtesy phone, please…
Gerald A, I’ve lost track of all the commenters here who said the exact same thing — that black parents should teach their kids how to behave with the police and then they won’t be shot — in the other Michael Brown and Erci Garner threads. And in other posts about the police, too.
nk (dbc370) — 12/13/2014 @ 7:58 pm6 police officers don’t just up and decide on their own one day to go out and arrest street vendors selling loosies. Police time is valuable and in short supply, someone in City government notified police authorities to initiate a crack down on tax scofflaws. Word would have gone directly from the Mayor’s office to police leadership who then instructed precinct captains to organize teams to target street vendors.
Now, Mayor DeBlasio didn’t choke the life out of Eric Garner, but he set the elements in motion that resulted in the unwarranted use of excessive force.
ropelight (dc169e) — 12/13/2014 @ 8:18 pmI read somewhere that it was the highest ranking uniformed officer who initiated the loosie crack-down. I do not recall his name.
Gazzer (cb9ee2) — 12/13/2014 @ 8:30 pmSure are a bunch of hurt feelings amongst these seasoned YourDotGov professionals.
Sounds like these ladies could solve their emotional dilemma with a group hug and a Barbara Streisand listening party.
papertiger (c2d6da) — 12/13/2014 @ 9:01 pm@14– How about this? Maybe Obummer could urge black parents to train their children to obey the law. They could tell them to not steal things and to not shoot or otherwise kill other black children. Then there would be little reason for them to ever have any kind of encounter with a police officer.
Most of the police I have known like things to be quiet and law abiding. “He also serves, who sits and waits” works as well for the cops as it does for the fire department.
Gramps, the original (9e1415) — 12/13/2014 @ 9:06 pmGaads, what a mess.
I see these type of unfolding stories, often in the news going back several years (hello, Obama!), and I can’t help but think what things must have been like during the receding, twilight years of the Roman Empire. Or what citizens of, for example, a Mexico or Venezuela have to experience 24/7, 365 days of the year.
Mark (c160ec) — 12/13/2014 @ 9:09 pmFeelings, nothing more than feelings. The chief of police is all verklempt. The mayor is overcome with the vapors.
It might be menopause outbreak hitting New York?
papertiger (c2d6da) — 12/13/2014 @ 9:09 pmOk. I recommend DeBlasio and the popo meet for a good cry and nail polish swap. By the time their cheeks and fingers dry all will be well.
papertiger (c2d6da) — 12/13/2014 @ 9:22 pmLate to the party, and VERY late with a question about the late Mr. Garner’s activity (ie selling “loosies”).
Presumably, he would buy a carton of cigarettes (at full price including tax), then sell the cig’s individually. Since the sales tax would have been paid, and he was the legal owner of the cigarettes, WHY is there a problem with him selling them one-by-one? All the taxing authorities would already have gotten their cut.
Or is it alleged that he got the cigarettes illegally, thus no tax was paid?
Or, does New York insist on taxing every transaction involving money-for-goods (such that the proverbial “neighborhood kids’ lemonade stand” must also collect and remit taxes on each 25-cent Dixie cup of lemonade they sell)?
I’m just not getting why it was such a big deal in the first place.
A_Nonny_Mouse (cdb4ad) — 12/13/2014 @ 10:07 pmI think you got it, Mouse.
Next step toward the proverbial death penalty for parking violations.
papertiger (c2d6da) — 12/13/2014 @ 10:26 pmGramps, the original (9e1415) — 12/13/2014 @ 9:06 pm
Admirable goals Gramps, but those parents can’t even get their kids to wear their pants above their thighs.
askeptic (efcf22) — 12/13/2014 @ 10:34 pmMark (c160ec) — 12/13/2014 @ 9:09 pm
Nero ‘fiddled’, Bubba took mulligans, and Teh Won watches ESPN.
askeptic (efcf22) — 12/13/2014 @ 10:36 pmA_Nonny_Mouse (cdb4ad) — 12/13/2014 @ 10:07 pm
It is most likely that he was ‘pushing’ non-taxed cigs.
askeptic (efcf22) — 12/13/2014 @ 10:39 pmAnd, selling loosies is a violation of FDA rules regulating the sale of tobacco.
So, not only was Garner in violation of City and State tax laws, he was also a Federal Regulatory scoflaw, and could have been charged by the ATF.
@askeptic: Please do not give BATF any more ideas.
Gabriel Hanna (dcffe4) — 12/13/2014 @ 11:00 pm#28: Pretty much what airline stewardesses did 50 years ago.
Kevin M (25bbee) — 12/13/2014 @ 11:10 pmWTF is wrong with most of you. The fat dude died because he was accosted in a a lawful arrest. his extreme obesity and poor health coupled with bad LIBTARD laws and a Police force instructed to enforce bad libtard laws caused this death. He was NOT choked to death. DeBlasio is a fuxing loser. No winners here, but the conversation and most of the rhetoric here and elsewhere is absurd. Sick Fat law breaker refuses to comply with cops, cops take him down. He dies.
Gus (7cc192) — 12/13/2014 @ 11:35 pmA_Nonny_Mouse, the law against selling loosies has nothing to do with taxes. I don’t know who started this stupid idea that it does. Selling loosies has been against federal law for about 4 years now, and has been against the laws of almost every state, definitely including New York, for more than 20 years. It makes no difference whether taxes have been paid on the pack they came from, since the purpose of the ban is not tax collection. It’s a nanny-state law, designed to discourage smoking among those who can’t afford to buy a whole pack at a time (a set in which minors are presumed to be heavily represented).
That said, it’s very unlikely that Garner’s loosies were taxed. Illegally mporting cigarettes from low-tax states to high-tax ones is a big business, attracting not only ordinary gants but also terrorist groups such as Hezbollah and Hamas, and Garner is alleged to have been involved in a gang that was doing this.
Milhouse (9d71c3) — 12/13/2014 @ 11:55 pmnanny-state law designed to discourage smoking in which minors are presumed to be heavily represented
For the children! Why didn’t you say it like that, instead of all the fooforah and riggamarol?
We killed the big fat guy because he might have sold a lucy to somone’s
rug ratprecious child. (also because he might scare small children – don’t pay too close attention to how that undercuts the original reason)Now that’s an explanation a liberal hypocrite could sink their teeth into
papertiger (c2d6da) — 12/14/2014 @ 12:34 amAt the tea party rally we didn’t have need to write code of conduct edicts for participants of color.
papertiger (c2d6da) — 12/14/2014 @ 12:43 amtwitchy.com//so-much-for-equality-white-allies-shown-list-of-protest-roles-responsibilities/
At the tea party rally we encourage black people to take up the megaphone, no matter how weird and preachy.
papertiger (c2d6da) — 12/14/2014 @ 2:49 amMost of the rank and file of police departments are conservatives. Police unions are not. I suspect that some of the better candidates will not apply and that some of the veterans will look for other Police Departments. Candidates that get hired and make it through the Academy will learn to put up with the insults offered daily. Those who don’t make it through will become police critics and know how to better do the police work than the police themselves.
There won’t be a huge impact in either case, the majority of the department will just let his insults slide off their back, like they do with most everything else they have to put up with. They won’t like it, but they will put up with it and talk about it among themselves.
Gus @ 31, you’re absolutely correct.
labcatcher (61737c) — 12/14/2014 @ 5:42 amGramps @ 20 If Obama was to address those issues, he wouldn’t be addressing “parents” he would have to address the “parent” or perhaps grandma or auntie.
Most of the gang bangers I have encountered over the years come from either single parent (mom) homes or being raised by a relative. Crips and bloods are not groups of suburban children who have a family life.
You’re right, a quiet radio is a good watch (shift).
labcatcher (61737c) — 12/14/2014 @ 5:51 amLike I said above, De Blasio said the same thing you law-and-order guys are saying. And that got the PBS’s blue panties in a wad?
nk (dbc370) — 12/14/2014 @ 6:51 am*PBA’s* It’s the Police Benevolent Association.
nk (dbc370) — 12/14/2014 @ 6:53 amMilhouse (9d71c3) — 12/13/2014 @ 11:55 pm
Thanks – yes I recall reading about contraband cigarettes (from out-of-state), but never made the mental connection.
A_Nonny_Mouse (c160d4) — 12/14/2014 @ 7:16 amDeBlasio said something I have heard plenty of times from other Lefties: assume the police are hostile to you because you are black: hostile in the sense of being more suspicious, mless willing to cut some slack, more ready to go into “I am authority” mode. Not the same thing as intended by people here when they say something that sounds the same. So the PBA hears him channeling an anti-police meme and is offended.
Problem is, that meme is viewed as a fact of life among blacks. Instead of bashing DiBlasio, the PBA would be better figuring out how to deal with that perception, by convincing blacks on the local level it is not true, or changing their own mode of operating if true.
kishnevi (a5d1b9) — 12/14/2014 @ 7:22 amThanks, nk.
Dana (8e74ce) — 12/14/2014 @ 7:31 amNK @ 38, You are missing what cops are upset about. It isn’t that he’s teaching his kid how to act, it’s the assumption that he needs to do it because the kid is black, not because it’s the right thing to do. My parents taught me how to act with the police all the way back when there were cops walking footbeats in east Boston.
labcatcher (61737c) — 12/14/2014 @ 7:40 amWe killed the big fat guy because he might have sold a lucy to somone’s rug rat precious child.
I’m sure the left would be even more outraged about the death of the “fat guy” if he also were a member of, say, NAMBLA and had been preaching the virtues of free thinking to the youngsters of NYC.
Tobacco?! BAD! School lunches flouting Michelle’s specifications?! BAD! The rainbow agenda in schools, not to mention at public street fairs and parades?! BEAUTIFUL!
[This would have been pure sarcasm not all that long ago. But in today’s era, it’s becoming more and more a matter of being purely descriptive.]
Mark (c160ec) — 12/14/2014 @ 8:12 amOK, kishnevi and labcatcher. I get your points. And your previous one too, labcatcher. Many of these kids don’t really have parents. Just sperm and egg donors.
nk (dbc370) — 12/14/2014 @ 8:23 amhttp://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2006/03/court_backs_com.php
https://leisureguy.wordpress.com/category/law/law-enforcement/
Sammy Finkelman (8bd44f) — 12/14/2014 @ 9:48 amMany of these kids don’t really have parents. Just sperm and egg donors.
While that is certainly true in a lot of cases, De Blasio’s kid isn’t one of those. He trained his son to not just behave in a cautionary manner when encountering police officers, he also trained him to accept a belief in that the default position of all police officers is that they are inherently racist when dealing with minorities. No wonder they are a bit upset with him.
Dana (8e74ce) — 12/14/2014 @ 10:18 amof all police officer… Eh… that all police officers are inherently racist….
Dana (8e74ce) — 12/14/2014 @ 10:20 amMost of the rank and file of police departments are conservatives.
If they’re on a “power trip”, they’re not conservatives, but bullies.
askeptic (efcf22) — 12/14/2014 @ 10:23 amthe racist cops meme is a clever bit of misdirection, a sad attempt to delude white people into thinking america’s fascist thuggy thuggy whorecops are their besties
do NOT fall for this
happyfeet (831175) — 12/14/2014 @ 1:08 pmToday, my daughter asked me about the Eric Gardner incident. I gave her the asthma explanation, mentioning possible swelling of the trachea. That the tussle aggravated a serious asthma condition. I did not lie. I put up the evidence in the light most favorable to the police. She has an elderly great-aunt who goes around with an inhaler and an oxygen tank. She understood what an asthma attack is and believed me when I said they can be fatal. I did imply that it was more the paramedics’ fault for not giving him oxygen.
I have always taught her the police are there to serve and protect her. That if she is ever in any danger to go to a policeman. I don’t ever want her to be afraid of the police. As for her manners and demeanor, we have been teaching her common courtesy all her life. She should not need any special lectures for the police.
nk (dbc370) — 12/14/2014 @ 1:19 pmOh, and she thinks the “protesters” in Ferguson are bad for burning down “the store Michael Brown robbed”, and knows “Pants Up Don’t Loot”.
nk (dbc370) — 12/14/2014 @ 1:21 pmit’s a numbers game I think Mr. nk
every n number of encounters with these “police” people goes terribly badly
when you get to the corner don’t look at those freaks keep your head down low and stay quick on your feet
happyfeet (831175) — 12/14/2014 @ 1:32 pmMost of the rank and file of police departments are conservatives.
If they’re on a “power trip”, they’re not conservatives, but bullies.
askeptic (efcf22)
Where did “power trip” or bullying come from?
You could do ifs all day long. If they were liberal, or gay, or transexual, or born again, or bisexual or just about anything and on a “power trip”, what would that make them?
My comment was in regard to the question posed by the post. What the union does or says is not always the position of the line officers.
labcatcher (61737c) — 12/14/2014 @ 2:16 pm52. nk (dbc370) — 12/14/2014 @ 1:19 pm
To say something else would be more of a lie. It’s obvious it was asthma. The problem comes in part from the medical examiner, who wanted to include all possible causes of death.
The police, and the paramedics, didn’t understand this. ABove all, they may not have understood, it was triggered by the takedown.
They checked his pockets, and I presume did not find any inhaler, or I assume they would have used it. He had asthma but had left it mostly untreated. Too proud?
This was acompounded by the fact that, right before this happened, he had practically announced that he was going to engage in a bit of civil disobedence.
One impatienmt policeman cut the whole thing very short.
When he was laying on the ground, they weren’t too worried, probably because they thought he was being deliberately unresponsive – stubborn. Refusing to talk to them.
They also didn’t wnat to face up to the difficult task of carrying him, and were waiting for himm to get up.
His pulse was checked, he had one. They may have determined he was breathing, or they thought he was. I am not sure he really died in the ambulance. That could have bene before.
Sammy Finkelman (8bd44f) — 12/14/2014 @ 4:10 pmNobody choked the life out of Eric Garner. At least, not using a “choke hold.” Which isn’t to say the police weren’t culpable for Eric Garner’s death. It was just that there was no way to single out that one cop as the sole culprit. If they had sat Eric Garner up after cuffing him he’d no doubt be alive. Instead they left the obese asthmatic lying face down where he couldn’t breath.
The police were negligent. But the negligence was a group effort. And police indifference to suspects in custody is nothing new. In 2008 the Fort Worth Star Telegram (no longer available, hence the link to Free Republic) had a story on a woman who died of a staph infection that she acquired in custody.
That one stood out in my mind because her “crime” was that she had warrants for her unpaid traffic fines. Which she couldn’t pay, so she was sitting them out.
This isn’t an unusual occurance. I know that hundreds of prisoners a month in Dallas and Tarrant counties were getting staph infections a couple of years ago. And that just about every month one of the inmates would die because they weren’t being treated for it. I don’t think it’s gotten any better.
During some of our past heat waves geriatric prisoners died in their cells. While the government was telling elderly people to go to cooling stations because the heat was ethal, they let prisoners die of the heat. They could have sent them to medical units but they just don’t give a flying fornication. And apparently there was no racial aspect the race hustlers could seize upon to advance the “America is inherently racist” meme. So it doesn’t matter.
But Eric Garner? There was a death they could exploit.
Steve57 (600c9e) — 12/15/2014 @ 12:09 amSteve57 (600c9e) — 12/15/2014 @ 12:09 am
I think that’s one thing that keeps people away from the truth.
Almost nobody has an interest in it. Not the people who want to exploit it, not the people who want to clear everybody.
Probably. You can only say probably.
It may also have bene tahtthey didn’t believe him. How could they have had a shred of humanity and ignore him saying “I can’t breath” unless they didn’t believe him? Believed he was exaggerating.
Which is a problem for someone wanting to indict someone.
A very big problem in prisons. This was not ina prison, and they did call EMS.
Sammy Finkelman (8bd44f) — 12/15/2014 @ 4:00 amIf they had sat Eric Garner up after cuffing him he’d no doubt be alive.
He would have had a better chance at being alive, but I would not assume it would be the case. If the video was real time, and I think it was, I thought he was unconscious about the same time they had him under control and cuffed. Mr. Dunphy’s article that was linked was very helpful in this regard, and I expect the family can get a settlement if they make that the argument.
MD in Philly (f9371b) — 12/15/2014 @ 5:10 amBut as I said previously on a different post, people with chronically poorly controlled asthma get accustomed to it in a way that is very, very dangerous, and they really have no margin. My bet is that if you did pulmonary function tests on him before the incident they would have been markedly abnormal and would have warranted treatment in an ER ASAP.
Remember that liberals believe that only the raaaaacist (are there any other kind any more?) cops should be allowed to have guns. But then, they should wait for back-up before acting.
Loren (1e34f2) — 12/15/2014 @ 9:07 amThe latest: Some of the protesters are getting a bit violent. Two policemen were attacked.
Mayor de Blasaio could only say alleged assault.
Sammy Finkelman (d22d64) — 12/15/2014 @ 11:14 amIt’s simple, never allow a white police officer to risk his life and or avoid a potential riot by never, NEVER POLICING THE HOOD AGAIN! Let their communities go to hell. To hell with the race baiters!!!!
It's Simple (0b093f) — 12/15/2014 @ 6:07 pm62. That policy (not policing the hood) was de facto followed for far too many years. And it still is, a little bit. There is not equal policing, in terms of what crimes will draw attention.
Sammy Finkelman (8bd44f) — 12/15/2014 @ 6:10 pm63, Sammy that is complete and utter bs. You have no idea what you are talking about and no way to support that comment. Common sense should tell you that Police Departments efforts and manpower go to where the crime is. It doesn’t matter who lives there and It has always been that way, regardless of who lives in the area.
labcatcher (61737c) — 12/15/2014 @ 8:25 pm