Some basic fact-checking is in order: 1. Under NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg, SOME Stop & Frisk cases by SOME NYPD officers went too far; 2. DeBlasio was elected Mayor on a host of issues (growing income inequality was one, as well as taking a closer look at Stop & Frisk.) A key DeBlasio campaign ad featured his bi-racial son, in a statement about Stop & Frisk. 3. Immediately upon being elected Mayor, DeBlasio linked himself closely to Police Commissioner Wm. Bratton, one of the most respected law enforcement officials in the US; 4)NYC’s coroner concluded that the death of Eric Garner in Staten Island was the result of an illegal choke-hold; 5)A Staten Island Grand Jury did not indict the NYPD officer involved in Garner’s death; 6) DeBlasio said at a press conference that he taught his son how to behave himself around NYPD officers who were there to protect him; 7) NYPD officers Ramos and Liu, both officers of color, were assigned to Bed Stuy to increase the presence of community policing in a high crime area; 8) The assassin of the two NYPD officers had 19 previous arrests in several other states, a history of mental illness & physical violence, and was fleeing Baltimore after attempting to kill his girlfriend. Some key questions: 1) Did Stop & Frisk go too far? 2) Were most of the individuals apprehended under Stop & Frisk people of color? 3) Did DeBlasio campaign against the NYPD or some policies of the NYPD? 4) Have DeBlasio and Bratton been in sync on issues of policing? 5) Did the NYPD use excessive force in the apprehension and death of Eric Garner?6) Were DeBlasio’s comments inappropriate after Garner’s death? 7)Which, if any, of DeBlasio’s comments could have been interpreted by the mentally-ill assassin of the two NYPD officers, as a license to kill police? 8)Is it fair or accurate to lay the blame for the assassination of two NYPD officers at the “steps of the Mayor’s Office?”9)Is the Mayor the Commander in Chief of the NYPD? 10)Are charges of insubordination appropriate for members of the NYPD who turn their backs on the Mayor and Police Commissioner?
Posted on: Mon, 22 Dec 2014 16:17:08 +0000