NYPD_OFFICERS_SHOT_51060351

Many TTAG readers think I’m anti-cop. Not true. I’m anti bad cop. For the sake of argument, I’d also like to point out that I’m anti-politician. Not bad politician. Politician. I considerĀ all politicians inherently corrupt. But seeing as I can’t think of any better way to organize society than a Constitutional republic, which includes politicians, I tolerate their existence. Nice of me, right? Anyway, the New York Police Department did it again: washingtonpost.com reports that “New York’s finest”Ā turned their back on Mayor De Blasio, in public, en masse, in protest of his remarks about police prejudice and procedure. Which leads me to conclude . . .

that it’s time – past time – for Mayor De Blasio to fire New York City Police Department ChiefĀ William J. Bratton and as many of his subordinates as it takes to regain control of the NYPD.

Whatever you think about De Blasio’s remarks prior to the assassination of two officers by a cop hater, Hizzoner is not responsible for those deaths. But he is responsible for making sure that the police are answerable to the public that employs them. Represented by himself, the Mayor of New York City.

When the police are turning their back on Mayor De Blasio, when they initiate what is effectively a work stoppage, deciding for themselves which laws to enforce and which laws are not worthy of their time, they are turning their backs on public accountability. They cease to be citizens and start to be an army unto themselves.

You know where I’m going with this one: the NYPD are becoming an armed army of occupation amongst a disarmed populace. That is completely unacceptable and needs to be fixed now.

 

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252 COMMENTS

  1. Sounds like it’s time for a new mayor, not new officers.
    Police officers need a strong leader in command, not a pandering coward who will call his own department as well as the jury a bunch of “racist” when the jury doesn’t do what he wants.

    • Until such time as there is a new Mayor, De Blasio is it. As much as I can’t stand the guy, as bad a gun grabber and statist as Bloomberg and all his predecessors, it’s up to BDB to make sure the police are subordinate to the people.

      • So when Sheriffs and deputies in Colorado state en masse that they won’t enforce unconstitutional gun prohibitions, will you apply the same standard? There are certainly differences between what’s happening in NYC and what’s happening in CO, but your logic still fails.

        • Robert
          This is exactly what I,m hoping will occur when the One goes to far and the military must be an armed group in support of the people not the uncontrolled government.

        • Sheriffs in Colorado are not employees, they are elected officials. Cops in nyc are employees, and when they disrespect their boss, they should get fired just like each and everyone of us that has a boss.

          The real issue: de blasio ran on a platform that promise to stop unconstitutional stops and frisks and other illegal police behaviors. The coos didn’t like de blasio reigning them in…. In my experience, most cops would have been Loyalists at the time of the revolution, and they’re not big fans of the Bill of Rights, in general.

          It is really disgusting that some nypd are using these cops’ deaths to their advantage in their employment disputes with de blasio… Really disgusting.

        • What do elected Sheriffs in Colorado abiding by their oaths to uphold the Constitution and not enforce illegal laws have anything to do with rank and file paid employee beat cops in New York who are refusing to do their jobs because they’re pissed off at the lawful outcome of some local current events?

          You can’t just dismiss the massive and material differences between the two situations and then declare that a different approach to each is somehow an inconsistency or failure of logic.

        • No, sir, the oversimplification is on your part, as I suggested a middle option of off duty protest. You oversimplified by rounding three options down to two, then conveniently disagreeing with the truncated array of options that only YOU put forth. Caught you!

          But, yes, resigning is an option, too. Plenty of people have taken principled stands before and still provided for their families. These brsts should be tossed in jail. Tough guy cops, molitary wannabes. Bet now they’re glad they’re just cops. Had they pulled this stunt in the military, their butts would be in the brig.

      • A quality leader doesn’t throw his subordinates under the bus. And he sure as hell doesn’t do it publically. De’blamo has been running around NYC encouraging violent protests. Every NYPD cop should be turning his back on him right now. Cops on his protection detail should be asking for transfers.

        • Every NYPD cop should consider a career change then, rather than continuing to take a public paycheck while betraying the public’s trust.

        • You are worse than the race baiters with your generalizations of nearly 40,000 NYPD officers. The Garner case isn’t done and De’ Blamo knows that. He stoked the flames of discontent and got called out for doing it. He threw 40,000 cops under the MTA bus to grab headlines.

        • What “generalizations”? They all put on the same uniform. They all stand behind the “blue wall of silence”. They act like a collective, so we will start treating them like a collective. There are no good cops. Every cop is a thief and a liar.

        • What generalization? You’re the one who said they should all turn their backs. I’m just going one further and saying they should all turn in their badges, if they really feel oh so betrayed. After all, resigning in protest is a time honored act. Turning your back is an empty gesture that smacks of insubordination.

          If they want to hold protests on their own time, in their civvies, that’s up to them; but disrespect while in uniform and work stoppages while on the clock, especially in a public safety role, is unconscionable.

          I’m just demanding that these cry babies put up, or shut up and get back to work. Nothing race baiting or similar about it. It’s called being a man.

        • A man stands up for what he believes in and still provides for his family. So they should just up and quit to make a point? Oversimplification imho, there are other ways they can demonstrate their frustration and they’re doing just that.

      • I draw a thick line distinction between “the people” and Mayor DeBlasio. If police were turning their backs on “the people” yes, they should be disciplined and even fired. Also, if officers were to disobey direct orders, yes they should be disciplined. In this case, Deputy Bratton didn’t even issue an order for them not to turn their backs.

        • If? IF they turn their backs on the people? I think you aught to read up on the situation, probably starting with the very story you are commenting on.

      • The Mayor has made it very clear that he doesn’t like the NYPD officers. He thinks they are racists and a tool for oppression of the poor.

        While some of the criticism of the department’s tactics is warranted (every time there is a police shooting, the nypd officers seem to adopt a spray and pray tactic), he has made it personal down to individual cops. If they make a mistake, the officers know he will fit them with Klan hoods in the media.

        Those officers are brothers of the nypd officers who ran into the WTC to save my friends. Most of the NYPD officers I have met just want to do a good job and to go home to their families.

        They know that he is showing up at the funerals for political reasons. If he is going to use their brother’s funeral as a political prop, they have the right to protest his plan.

      • Farago has been been teetering on the classification of “disregard anything this dude says, he does not have any idea what he is talking about,” in my personal organization structure. He has now been placed firmly in this category. It should have happened after he was waxing intellectual about the use of deadly force but this is the one that finally did it. I think he may feel differently if his own a$$ was on the line.

    • And if the voters want a new mayor, they’ll get a chance to elect one in due time. The armed part of government pressuring elected officials to resign is the stuff of 3rd-world banana republics.

      • Are we a Third World Banana Republic by now? We have government officials that act completely outside the law, corruption at all levels, the law is applied selectively depending on one’s status, the elections are rigged and falsified and no one does anything about it (like 110% of Philadelphia or 140% in Ohio voting for Obama), stealing going on to the tune of billions… What makes us any different from a Banana Republic? Perhaps only the fact that we have a nice museum where an old parchment is displayed for the memory of the past glory?

      • The voters only get the chance to elect the candidates already bought and paid for by the money people. And that’s where our aim needs to be, because the 0.01% who own the politicians have no interest in an armed populace.

      • “It was important to show the world that America is not a banana republic, where a government can be changed by conspiracy.”
        John McCloy said those words in the Warren Report decades before I was born. The first time I read them was in High School, and from that day on, I realized that’s exactly what we were.

    • I see no problem with what the NYPD is doing. How many times have we heard the “NY Cops” arrest everyone for insignificant infractions like jaywalking? How about the NYPD’s previous stop and frisk policy, you know “walking while not doing anything wrong”? You mean the police are actually doing their jobs as it was intended to be done? I can’t believe that Mr. Farago has a problem with this outcome. I’m sure epileptics, people with heart problems, and a few minorities will appreciate not being harassed for no other reason than the cops just didn’t like the way they looked, walked, stood, or whatever other BS reason they come up with to screw with people. That being said, I have a hard time believing that the mayor didn’t know what’s going on in his city.

      From the reports that I’ve seen and what my sister who lives and works there has said, the police are still doing their jobs. It’s just the petty stuff like jaywalking, smoking too close to a building, and tickets for 1 mph over the speed limit are not being written. Rapists, murderers, and robbers are still being actively pursued from what I’ve heard. NYC might actually be enjoying more freedom right now than has been seen in a 100 years.

      And whomever said that what the cops were doing was disrespectful to authority needs to rethink that. He is a mayor not a king! The citizens have the authority over him, not the other way around!

      • Your last comment is ridiculous. King or no he is a person of authority, more so because he is a direct representation of the will of the people of new York. The mayor answers to the people the police answer to the mayor.

      • The CITIZENS have authority over him, yes. As expressed in the elections. And the CITIZENS voted to put the guy in charge. The cops, insofar as they are also citizens, also had a vote in that. But insofar as they are government employees, they are subordinate to his authority.

      • That’s what this is, it’s all about the money. No more shaking people down for trivial fines for bogus offenses.

        I want to know how we can keep them from stopping. Perhaps they will even report serious crimes as serious crimes, instead of downgrading them to cook their numbers.

      • The crap Garner was being taken in for was exactly the kind of stuff the cops are now not doing. They were TOLD to go after the petty crimes to prevent the larger crimes, and NY was seeing a reduced rate of criminal activity because of it. It was the “broken windows” policy that was cleaning up New York. Now they have decided NOT to enforce those petty laws that Garner was charged with violating.

        • Defacing property with graffiti, public urination and turnstile jumping are real, if petty, crimes, and the relevant laws against such acts should be enforced. The law against selling loose cigs is idiotic and protects no victim.

    • It’s a condomdrum. The liberal politicians wanted an armed army of occupation to control the unarmed populace and now that they have one it’s a little hard to control. Toss our Constitution and reference any country south of the U.S. for a potential solution.

      • Listen, anybody paying attention has seen how Republicans have been as likely, if not more, to ‘plump up’ the cops all over this country, with money, equipment, and countless speeches stroking their collective egos with terms like ‘hero’ when they should just be told ‘keep up the good work’.

        Plus, while Dems may be just as corrupt when it comes to moneyed interests, it’s been the Law & Order GOPers have been more responsible for mandatory minimums, draconian drug laws, stop & frisk, and too many other examples of legal over-reach to list here.

        I’d wager that every one of these ‘back-turners’ is a registered republican. I’ll bet every one has some sh*t hiding in their professional closet, which is probably why they’re so afraid of any mayor even smelling like he/she is going to hold them to account.

        Frankly, as sick as I am of police acting as if they’re god’s gift to the public that pay’s THEM, I think I’m even more sick of people like you – people who can’t get their puss out from in front of FOXNEWS long enough to see how most every important issue in this country is more complicated than ‘Libtards’ vs ‘God Fearing Good-Guy Conservatives’.

        Wake up. If you believe in freedom, then you better accept that armed police showing blatant disrespect for their boss, who was elected by the people in as free an election as we seem capable of managing in this country anymore, is a direct threat to any citizen, whether you’re from NYC or not. The precedent it’s setting in the minds of every cop in America is what you should be getting cold chills about, not whatever social welfare programs DeBlasio ran on.

    • Damn ya’ll certainly will find a reason to bicker at one another. This whole mess is a good thing for our side. What we’re witnessing here is the start of a democrat/liberal split that we can take advantage of. Drop all the anti cop, pro cop crap and see this for what it is. You have a total fascist mayor who in the throws of emotion cried for liberal “social justice” and betrayed his own police army and now that army, which the nanny state liberals have been turning into the vermahct, is turning on them. Remember, the same liberals who are now screaming “F*** THA PO-LICE” now are the same ones who just months ago were screaming “Only the police and military should have guns!!!”. They made this bed now they can lay in it. We can watch this situation spiral down the drain and use it as further evidence of how sickening these folks are.

      • You’re deluded if you think this is a left/right issue. Police politics don’t fall into the traditional American left/right paradigm, they follow the money. Whichever side offers the unions more and gives the best lip service gets the union support.

        This particular issue has been the subject of many screaming matches between my mother (who was until recently a union rep and then board member for the largest Sheriff’s department in the country) and myself. Police agencies aren’t principled, they sell their support to the highest bidder.

    • Um, the NYPD is home a great many trigger-happy bastards, and higher-up bastards invariably cover for them.

      Further, since it’s far easier to get away with shooting brown people, they tend to be the target of choice. That is a form of racism.

      The Mayor of the place has a right to say this.

    • Exactly. De Blasio brought this on with his lack of leadership, pandering to the mob, and generally detestable behavior. Fire himself first.

      • Yep. Right after he fires all 40,000 cops. De Blasio was elected – the cops were not. He was elected on the premise of getting rid of stop and frisk and other general issues with the police. If the police don’t like it – they can pension up and call it a day.

    • So true! But I do agree with one thing–these cope should not be allowed amid an unarmed population. Respect the 2A rights of the citizens of NY and arm them!

      SamAdams1776 III Oath keeper
      Molon Labe
      No Fort Sumters
      Qui tacet consentit
      Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?
      Corruptissima re publica plurimae leges.
      Idque apud imperitos humanitas vocabatur, cum pars servitutis esset.

    • It’s TIME TO GET RID OF OUR SOVIALIST MAJOR! HOW CAN HE ALLOW PEOPLE TO DISRESPECT THE VERY PEOPLE WHO PROTECT US. PERHAPS, U ARE NOT AWARE. SINCE DEBLASIO BECAME MAYOR OF OUR GREAT CITY. THE FIRST THING HE LET US KNOW THAT, HE HOLD A DISTASTE FOR OUR POLICE FORCE@!!! WHAT’S NEXT, CITIZENS GETTING RANDOMLY ATTACKED, AND NO POLICE RESPONSES. I LOOK FORWARD WHEN WE CAN VOTE FOR A STRONG MAYOR, NOT A HATER….IMAGINE WHAT WE WILL LOOSE, NOT JUST IN TOURISM, OR DISRESPECT FOR WHAT USED TO BE THE GREATEST CITY IN THE WORLD. BY THE WAY, DOES OUR GOVERNOR HAVE ANYTHING TO SAY?

  2. DeBllllllaaaaaaasio is a chump. I’m shocked the police and the general public writ large are not mooning hizzzzoner every chance they get. He put Sharpton between Bratton and himself a few months ago, that said it all, and he’s only made it worse since then.

    I applaud the cops who are turning their backs. It’s funny you pitch such a fit, you’ve never been a stickler for politeness before… especially when it concerns a Democrat. Hell you’re more hostile to pro-gun dems than you are to this fervently anti-gun buffoon of a mayor.

    The only difference between his policies and Bloombergs is that Bloomberg is rich.

  3. Yes. If the NYPD was really filled with heroes, they would continue to serve and protect the population and behave with dignity and respect, even if they think the mayor is an ass (an opinion I share).

    • Please. I was in NYC on Saturday. The cops were still walking beats, directing traffic and otherwise doing their jobs. I guess they weren’t writing BS tickets for revenue-generation purposes – what a shame.

  4. I’ve never been to NYC and I understand that there’s an attitude that comes with residence, but I don’t see where doing something as disrespectful of authority as turning your back is anything the NYPD would want to be witnessed doing. It’s beyond being in bad taste, it’s insubordination. Who do they answer to if not the Mayor? Really an ugly chapter IMHO.

    • We have two different things we’re talking about here. I am fine with the turning of the backs, but RF’s stronger point is they are refusing to do their jobs, while still on the payroll, and I agree with him there.

      • I don’t see the “Blue Flu” as being more than the NYPD exercising their discretion.

        • NEVER confuse exercising discretion with the “blue flu.”

          Exercising discretion is not citing somebody for a few miles over or a busted tail light or some such based on the circumstances.

          “Blue flu” is called “sicking out” in other unions. It’s a concerted effort to either A: not show up to work en masse. and/or B. gross dereliction of duty in order to punish someone for some offense to the collective.

          Either stunt would get any honestly employed individual or group righteously shit-canned.

      • While they are wearing those tax payer provided uniforms, they have no freedom of speech. Turning their backs should be a firing offense.

    • Who do they answer to? Their union! The major and the public are minor annoyances that need to be managed.

    • Although funerals are private affairs, politicians in NYC typically attend them to show support for officers (and for political reasons). For the most part, the families and officers welcome them.

      Although they are in uniform, most (if not all) of the officers attending are off duty. In this case, they decided that he was not welcome there.

  6. The cops turning their backs to Kaiser Wilhelm (Warren Wilhelm is De Blasio’s real name) is an appropriate exercise of free speech. I support it. OTOH, turning one’s back on that lowlife snake is a great way to get knifed in the back.

    Anyone who is a political soulmate of Al Sharpton is a POS, whether that person lives in Gracie Mansion or the White House.

    • This–So far they have confined themselves to symbolic actions–and economic ones, if you count the dropoff in revenue-generating ticketing for minor regulatory offenses. Truthfully, I don’t mind seeing the statists have a spat among themselves for awhile.

    • New York City Police Department Chief William J. Bratton on the Sunday talking heads has already said nobody will be fired. In his opinion, there is high emotions — Nothing will happen, they will let it blow over.

      What will be interesting is if there is another incident before it all blows over. What kind of soft shoe are they going to dance at that point.

      • Pascal, that’s the $64,000 Question.

        For $32,000, answer this question: What was Kaiser Wilhelm doing when some of his cops were attacked with a hatchet in October?

      • I can’t see a compromise here. The Mayor ran as a commie a-hole, beat the anointed “establishment” lesbian Dem in the primary on the strength of his son’s massive Afro and cruised to victory in the general election where turnout was 24% of registered voters (so about 12% of adult population).

        The majority of NYers support the cops in this dispute, but don’t think that the Mayor’s actions and words were bad enough to require a resignation. So the parties are stuck.

  7. Few points:

    1. If the Mayor, or any Mayor or municipal body, starts firing employees, they need a reason. This is a political pissing contest and firing cops because of this is going to add flames and issues to an already hosed up situation. Also the police are union so they might all start acting in unison.

    2. As much as I’m in favor of a citizen’s militia rather than a paid police force, if the M of NYC pisses the cops off enough, they could strike or demand higher pay or more privileges and the people will pay the price.

    3. Sometimes the best thing to do is shut up or fess up and let this blow over as time passes.

    4. The Mayor is an elected official. If cops or anyone doesn’t like him, I don’t see why he “deserves” any “respect” from people who hate him. I wouldn’t kiss Barry’s backside if I saw him.

    • Good. I hope the Mayor fires them right and left. Let the remaining lazy and corrupt cops self-select themselves out of uniform, in unison would be perfect.

      NYC can get state police and overtime cops from neighboring towns to fill in. A wholesale scrubbing of that den of iniquity known as the NYPD is just what’s needed. Maybe the public will realize, and the city oblige, that an armed citizenry is the most effective anti-crime measure in our society.

      • …NYC can get state police and overtime cops from neighboring towns to fill in.

        Do you have any idea how absurd that is? Each of the city’s Boroughs (the closest thing to a “town” in NYC) has a larger population than your city. The “neighboring towns” have enough on their plates to be unable to spare anyone to “fill in.” Even if they did, they would have to be trained in the unique NYC laws and regulation they would have to enforce. As for the NYSP – that’s been suggested before (recall the “Blue Flu”) and met with raucous and prolonged laughter by them.

      • NYC can get state police and overtime cops from neighboring towns to fill in.

        NYC has over 8 million people and a police force of about 35,000 (if you think that’s a lot, keep in mind that in terms of police per 1,000 residents, NYC is only 9th among American cities).

        Where is anybody going to find 35,000 cops? There are less than 5,000 NY State Police in the entire force. Neighboring towns? Are you kidding me?

        You’d need two divisions of infantry to police NYC. Personally, I don’t think that would be a good idea.

      • I’ve now seen several commenters say, in effect, that we should get rid of paid police forces, or as some here would call, “mercenary” police forces or paid standing armies. Fact – there is not one square mile of the USA that doesn’t have a paid police force, sheriff’s office/dept, state police, or constable’s office that polices that square mile. If you don’t like that, then stand up, grow a pair and act up to change that, lawfully. Good luck with that. At the same time it is also fact that armed civilians prevent/stop more violent crime and save more lives, than the police, because there are far more responsible armed civilians than LEOs. At most there are approx 700K+ LEOs in the USA. How many armed citizens are there? 20M, 50M, or more? LEOs In the USA are overwhelmingly (I’m talking like Ivory Soap pure %, 99 44/100%), good, honest, hard working citizens, employed by their fellow citizens, to serve and protect. You all know this too be true. There are bad cops, and the damage that this very small % of bad cops does is immeasurable. But please stop this hateful, ignorant and false, broadburush stereotyping of all, or even any meaningful % of, cops are bad, corrupt, etc. It’s a lie and you know it. I’m really surprised to hear this nonsense from my people, the people of the gun culture, who truly know what it is like to be broadbrushed stereotyped by the civilian disarmament crowd.

        • David K.

          No one begrudges police who honorably track down and arrest murderers, rapists, thieves, and violent attackers. We all appreciate and respect that part of their work.

          What almost everyone begrudges are police who blindly enforce the myriad victimless “crimes”, police who break laws, and police who rarely ever hold their colleagues accountable when they break laws. Unfortunately, your 99.44% pure idea falls apart completely here.

          But please prove me wrong. Go stand on a busy street corner in Hawaii, California, Illinois, New York, Maryland, or New Jersey with a rifle slung over your shoulder and tell me how 99.44% of the police cars who drive by limit their reactions to nothing more than a smile and wave at you.

      • Get your facts straight, jack wagon. Only Brooklyn and Queens each have a population *slightly* higher than that of Houston’s. The Bronx, Manhattan, and Staten Island are each much less. Call that Lie #1.

        That comparison further belies the effective size of Houston, given how much the population swells daily, based on the vast influx of commuters, travellers, and other business parties moving throughout the city, as well as the monolithic nature of the greater Houston metro area, including very large suburbs. So call that Lie #2 on your part.

        I’ll give you the 35K figure on uniformed NYC cops, but I never said fire every last one. I said fire them left and right, wholesale even. The rest are either good or will get the picture and shape up. So your premise of having to make up for all 35K, even though there are that many uniformed cops, is Lie #3.

        Trained in the intricacies of NYC law? SERIOUSf’ingLY??????????!!!!! Day after day in here, we read how cops know jack shit about the laws they’re charged with enforcing, especially in intricate places like NYC. So what difference would ignorant scabs make? Not a damn bit. Besides, beat cop work is largely control by mere presence. What law do you have to know to stand there and look official?

        Much of the rest is reactive. What? It takes special skill to show up hours after the fact, write a report and draw a chalk outline? Please. Whatever is left is basic universal law. Purse snatching is purse snatching, same as everywhere. Call this sophistry Lie #4.

        NYC has about 432 uniformed officers per 100K residents. Meanwhile, the rest of New York State, excluding NYC’s population and cops, has approximately 242 uniformed officers per 100K residents. Compare that to similar-sized Florida’s total 237 per 100K residents, if you’re thinking “Not fair, that excludes the big city!” Or compare it to much larger California’s statewide figure of 234/100K, if you want.

        Hmmm…..ever occur to you that NYPD is bloated as it is with lazy asses and that it wouldn’t take anywhere near as many as they currently have to do their peace keeping jobs effectively? Of course you thought of that! That’s why I’m counting your willful omission as Lie #5.

        I could go on, but it’s late, and I’ve already run your cop loving butt through the shredder enough for one night.

        So go spew some more “That’s absurd and laughable!” lies elsewhere. Once again, you jumped on me, without having the facts, and got your ass handed to you. Will you ever learn? *Shake* *Shake* *Shake* Magic Eight Ball says: “NO F’ing Way! LOL!”

        Ouch, that’s gotta hurt.

  8. I wholeheartedly DISAGREE.
    Normally I enjoy your political articles.
    However you are 100% attacking the wrong people with this article.
    I am with you on being anti ALL politicians.
    And it was the mayors regime of tax laws that led to the officer stopping Gardner.
    They had to enforce the law right?
    They did what they thought they were supposed to do, and with that the mayor sold them out, and tturned his back on his cops.
    So after 2 officers were shot because of it, the NYPD is sending a message to the mayor, that they won’t stand for this garbage.
    That the police enforcing his laws and having him condemn them when they do won’t fly.

    I’m sorry I had to disagree with you on this one but it’s not the front line men and women that are at fault in this situation. They’re just the ones getting all the press.

    • The police were not shot because of De Blasio’s remarks. He did not tell anyone to shoot a cop. Nor did his remarks encourage this behavior. This is what he said:

      ā€œItā€™s different for a white child. Thatā€™s just the reality in this country,ā€ de Blasio said. ā€œAnd with Dante, very early on with my son, we said, ā€˜Look, if a police officer stops you, do everything he tells you to do, donā€™t move suddenly, donā€™t reach for your cellphone,ā€™ because we knew, sadly, thereā€™s a greater chance it might be misinterpreted if it was a young man of color.ā€

      Before that, De Blasio expressed his opposition to stop ‘n frisk. What part of that says “kill a cop”? Again, I’m no fan of ANY politician, much less Kaiser Wilhelm. But this disrespect – including the work slow down – is a slap in the face of civilian control over the police.

      • I think you are forgetting that DeBlasio also stopped an appeal to the challenge of the stop and frisk law (the appeal supported by Bloomberg AND the NYPD Union) a tactic proved successful by a marked decline in homicides and violent crime. This was a starting point in the decline of NYPD’s view of DeBlasio- a mayor who abdicated a duty to support a legal and proven tactic to suppress crime.

        NYPD is far from perfect, but they have, as citizens of a the USA, a right to be rude. What do you want, a “trigger warning”? Your implied idea of “shut up and obey” is way more dangerous than the cops turning their backs on a major who has proven by numerous acts and statements he is not their friend.

        By the way, I was a cop in So Cal for 13 years (before I went to the dark side and became a lawyer), so kind of been there and done that; you can’t have an effective police force without confidence in the leaders.

        • That stop and frisk is a “legal and proven tactic to suppress crime” is very hotly contested. And even if it is both, the question remains whether its application is racist in practice.

          Regardless of that, DeBlasio is answerable to his electorate, not the cops. And he campaigned, among other things, on ending “stop and frisk”. People voted him in, so we have to assume that they support the notion. Why do you expect him to drop that part of his platform? It’s what he sold to the voters, it’s only fair to see it carried out.

        • “DeBlasio also stopped an appeal to the challenge of the stop and frisk law … a tactic proved successful by a marked decline in homicides and violent crime.”

          Proved successful? Violent crime across the United States has been declining since the early 1990s and is now at something like a 50 year low … and yet the rest of the nation does NOT employ New York City’s “stop and frisk” policy. I cannot see how anyone can claim that “stop and frisk” is a major factor.

          More importantly, “stop and frisk” violates our human dignity and our Fourth Amendment right to be free of unreasonable searches. Stopping random people and searching them is unreasonable.

      • To try and restate your argument, most of us would object to holding a politicans pro 2nd Amendment responsible for another’s attack on the Atf.

      • The killer would not have traveled up to NYC to murder two random officers but for the racist narrative of the media AND the mayor. His words alone didn’t cause it, but to exculpate him from all responsibility on that basis would mean no one is ever responsible for the mobs they help incite (here is where we could talk about some other socialists).

        He helped foster the culture that killed these two officers. He is a failure as a leader and deserving of no respect, not even that of his office.

      • As I recall, De Blasio made public statements supporting a mob that had a call and response of “What do we want? Dead cops! When do we want them? Now!”
        Then a criminal took the invitation to execute two police officers.
        Those who called for it, and those who supported it, deserve to be held to account.

        The police have every reason to turn their backs on him.
        The police also have the discretion to starve the city of income. It is hardly their fault that the city government made the budget dependent on large fines for trivial violations.

  9. De Blasio is a worthless piece of $@#% and he doesn’t deserve any respect from the police. He’s a no good COMMIE who screwed his officers when they needed him to have their backs. This fool should resign because he will never gain control or the respect of these officers. He can fire the entire dept. and he’ll still be a low life scum. The only solution is for this moron to go away forever.

  10. Can the author explain who Hizzoner is? There is no mention of who he is in this post or in the linked article.

    • I may not agree or even like the mayor but stop and frisk is not a tactic of any honorable group. We are republican citizens of the only country that recognizes inalienable rights, we deserve better treatment than stop and frisk even it comes at a cost to public safety.

  13. While the mayor may not be directly responsible for the murder of the two (racist non-white) officers, he is largely directly responsible for the low morale in the NYPD. This is a mess of his own making and firing a bunch of cops will only sink morale lower. His best option is to grovel.

  14. …deciding for themselves which laws to enforce and which laws are not worthy of their time, they are turning their backs on public accountability…

    Where have I seen that before? The Police are just mimicking the bosses.

    • Dave,

      Obama and Holder have been selecting which laws to enforce for the past six years. What is good for the goose…….

  15. The failure of leadership on the part of DeBlasio is a result his core beliefs. I don’t deny him his beliefs. However, his hatred of law enforcement should without question, preclude him from the office of major of NY. It is both dangerous to the officers under his leadership and the public. He should either resign or be removed from office for a lack of proper qualification to perform the responsibilities of major.

    I find NO issue with the officers expressing their 1st Amendment rights in the presence of “hizzoner”.

    • Yeah, and what’s great about this country is that you can get FIRED for exercising your 1st Amendment rights.

      I’m not a fan of de blasio at all, however, I don’t know where some of you get off saying he hates police based on his desire to clean up rogue elements of the force. Or are you all “if you don’t blindly support police then you’re antipolice”? You’re either with us or against us? That mentality is tired.
      We fought a revolution to rid ourselves of bad police… Ie the British army.

      I guess I should say some of us fought.., what percentage of colonists were loyalists who supported everything that the bill of rights put a stop to???

      • Though perhaps asked rhetorically, offered here for reference.

        Very, very roughly:

        ~1/3 Favored independence
        ~1/3 Loyal to the Crown/Parliament
        ~1/3 Didn’t much care either way (didn’t see it as effecting them directly)

        The specific numbers varied over time, of course.

        Point is independent minded folks, and especially those willing to stand up for that belief, is generally a minority. Between ambivalence and active statism, individualist ideology gets lost in the numbers.

  16. The situation really amuses me. The police in New York City finally realized three things:
    (1) They are nothing more than paid stooges for the ruling class.
    (2) They are expendable.
    (3) We the People will eat them alive when they piss us off sufficiently.

    Reality has a way of biting people in the a$$.

  17. I can agree, to a point. The problem is, they have been an army unto themselves since before the Sullivan Act.

  18. Work stoppage. Like unconstitutional stop and frisk. That would be a great start. Did the rank and file ever stand up to the unconstitutional act of depriving it’s citizens rights to bear arms. No they didn’t.

  19. I disagree. The police are turning their backs on a corrupt, politically correct POLITICIAN….NOT the people. The issue here is that DeBlabbermouth is a police hating piece of liberal-socialist SCUM. DeBlasio has blood on his hands alright (so do a few NYPD officers). Their response is a vote of NO CONFIDENCE in a leader who would hobble them to the point where they were in more danger of being murdered over POLITICALLY CHARGED “RACE” issues rather than merely in the day to day performance of their duties.
    The OP has his head in his rectum as far as I am concerned.

    • These police happily embraced demeaning and unconstitutional tactics at the expense of citizens they viewed as second class. After that I dont see this show as anything other than indulgent theater. The NYPD betrayed the people of the United states, they are doing it again and if it is allowed to continue they will believe they can apply the law as they see fit not as the people see fit as represented by duely elected leadership.

  20. the mayor is the top officer in charge of the entire police department that means when the police department makes a mistake or hurt someone the buck stops with the mayor end of story! Now to get back to what you said you say you don’t trust politicians but yet you say that the mayor uu you back his decision and saying that the police department is corrupt whatever!

    • Don’t post drunk, politicians are a necessary evil and so long as their orders are legal the police have a duty to obey. The NYPD already embraced illegal orders and now is throwing a tantrum because their boss objects to them breaking the law.

  21. Dear Mr. Farago,

    I’m a politician. Or an elected official. Or a public servant. Depending on the day. As you might expect, many of my friends are also politicians. The idea that you would paint us all with the same belligerent brush is more than disappointing. It’s the attitude normally taken by cowards who are too lazy to do the work necessary to affect positive changes in their government.

    • Keep in mind it’s not the people, it’s the office. Outside of holding any power Obama seems like a nice enough guy, he loves his wife and kids. He has a great personality. But within the office of president he wants to imprison me for committing a fabricated crime (probably several) thus destroying my family and reigning me to a life of partial citizenship. I don’t know your party, position or driving influence but I will bet my last dollar my absolute personal freedoms comes well after some moral ideal you hold or some affiliation that secures your career. The one thing I have never seen more heard of is a politician torpedoing his own career because his respect for the sovereignty of a single person overrode his loyalty to his benefactors.

      • “I will bet my last dollar my absolute personal freedoms comes well after some moral ideal you hold or some affiliation that secures your career. The one thing I have never seen [nor] heard of is a politician torpedoing his own career because his respect for the sovereignty of a single person overrode his loyalty to his benefactors.”

        This is perhaps the most poignant, eloquent, profound, and succinct statement that I have ever read to summarize politics. You, Sir, win the Intertubez for the century!

      • John F. Kennedy wrote a book titled “Profiles in Courage.” It was about politicians who did the “right thing” and sacrificed their political careers in the process. My only issue with Kennedy’s book is that it included only examples of Democrats making that sacrifice, and “the right thing” was defined by Democratic Party principles. It’s just as easy, perhaps easier, to find examples of Republicans making the same sacrifice.

        In every election, there are politicians, at all levels, who lose their jobs after voting for what they thought was right. Anyone who thinks it doesn’t happen simply isn’t paying attention.

  22. the NYPD are becoming an armed army of occupation amongst a disarmed populace…

    Are becoming? Tell that to Frank Serpico, Sean Bell, the list goes on and on for longer than I’ve been alive.

    That said, if the former mayor liked to act like a communist twit, the current mayor really is one, even if he is right about NYPD.

  23. So they’er not writing traffic tickets and summonses for minor offenses , just responding to major crimes.

    I’m not sure I see anything that upsets me here.

    • They’re turning a blind eye to many minor offenses, they’re not writing chicken sh!t tickets, but not because it’s the right, pragmatic thing to do. They want to piss off the mayor by forfeiting a good chunk of change from those tickets. I have no problem with that, and as long as they take care of the more serious crime, I think everyone will be better off. The problem is, the cops might start pushing the line of what not to enforce to a point where it’s pandemonium in the streets, just to teach the mayor a lesson. I don’t think it’ll go that far, but who knows where this ends.

      On one hand, I sympathize with the cops because DeBlasio is a socialist a-hole and deserves no respect from anybody, not just the cops. On the other hand, the cops think they’re all heroes, that they’ll all special and deserve special treatment, and the minute they are called on their presumptuous attitude, they throw a fit. I think it’s actually good that they’re policing less, but it’s not good that they have their adult tantrums in a city where legal gun ownership is practically non-existent.

    • How convenient, now that it is established as acceptable because it was nice for the people I wonder what leg is left to stand on when they decide to enforce other laws? Remember, they are protesting the mayor in part because he opposes stop and frisk among other tactics that offend and alienate the people and arguably violate their rights.

  24. Oh come now Farago, you mean you don’t see the inconsistency in your logic here:

    Many TTAG readers think Iā€™m anti-cop. Not true. Iā€™m anti bad cop. For the sake of argument, Iā€™d also like to point out that Iā€™m anti-politician. Not bad politician. Politician. I consider all politicians inherently corrupt

    In what unicorn world, did ANY politician EVER have ANY power, without the enforcer class, animating their dictates?

    If cops are carrying out the orders of inherently corrupt individuals, then just what do you think the nature of what the cops enforce, is predictably going to be, other than too be “corrupt”??

    Time to polish up on your Socratic deductions, Robert.

    If you honestly, NON-arguendo, but truly truly believe firmly and consider “ALL politicians inherently corrupt,” then just how in the world can you qualitatively quantify your cognitive dissonance in NOT assuming those whose salary/paychecks & occupational livelihood depend on satisfying & animating the wishes, whims, and diktats of the politicians??

    Politicians are just a bunch of sociopathic nerd pansies in suits, without the muscle to enforce and put teeth into their whims. That should be a NO DUH! given to any student of history and geopolitics.

    There is no such thing as a “few bad apples,” when the orchard itself is DESIGNED to be toxic.

    There is no such thing as a constitutional police, at fed, NOR at local/state level: they’re a standing army, as such, utterly constitutional. As oft repeated here before, almost every single local PD in Amerika are federalized: they receive Federal funds and directed training, same command/rank hierarchy, equipment and BDU as the ever unConstitutional standing army as per Constitution: every two years the Army must be called into legitimacy by the rationale of forever ongoing wars.

    The entire of notion of govt police itself must be abolished: ARE COPS CONSTITUTIONAL?
    Roger Roots
    Seton Hall Constitutional L.J. 2001, 685

    ABSTRACT

    Police work is often lionized by jurists and scholars who claim to employ “textualist” and “originalist” methods of constitutional interpretation. Yet professional police were unknown to the United States in 1789, and first appeared in America almost a half-century after the Constitution’s ratification. The Framers contemplated law enforcement as the duty of mostly private citizens, along with a few constables and sheriffs who could be called upon when necessary. This article marshals extensive historical and legal evidence to show that modern policing is in many ways inconsistent with the original intent of America’s founding documents. The author argues that the growth of modern policing has substantially empowered the state in a way the Framers would regard as abhorrent to their foremost principles.

    While it is true, the English Common law derived “Sheriff of the Shire” aka county sheriff has been the only true, Common Law apt peace officer position, as it stands today, ALL sheriff’s departments in Amerika too follow are Federalized, receive & follow DoJ guidelines/protocols/doctrines, receive funds, along with the now ubiquitous 1033 DOD wartoy welfare program, as such, are NOT “peace officers,” but simply occupying standing army.

    Second Amendment and local committees of safety were/are the ONLY legitimate forms of constitutional security construct. As is, ‘modern’ police in Amerika only come to be after it was imported directly from the Red Coats’ London Metropolitan Police in mid-1800’s first in Boston & NYC:

    57 If the modern police profession has a father, it is Sir Robert Peel, who founded the Metropolitan Police of London in 1829. See SUE TITUS REID, CRIMINAL JUSTICE: BLUEPRINTS 58 (5th ed. 1999) (attributing the founding of the first modern police force to Peel). Peel’s uniformed officers ā€” nicknamed ‘Bobbies’ after the first name of their founder ā€” operated under the direction of a central headquarters (Scotland Yard, named for the site once used by the Kings of Scotland as a residence), walking beats on a full-time basis to prevent crime. See id. Less than three decades later, Parliament enacted a statute requiring every borough and county to have a London-type police force. See id.

    The ‘Bobbie’ model of policing caught on more slowly in the United States, but by the 1880s most major American cities had adopted some type of full-time paid police force. See id. at 59 (noting that the county sheriff system continued in rural areas).

    The entire notion of govt police that exists OTHER THAN to police other govt employees (ie. ‘Fed Police’ to police out of bound local & state PDs, and vice versa, chase after, arrest and indict actual govt employees acting outside the Constitution, etc), is wholly UN-American, but a monarch-subject paradigm of subjugated subsidiary. Like most of these issues of concern, were debated intensely by the Founders:

    Constitutional arguments quite similar to the thesis of this article were made by America’s Founders while fomenting the overthrow of their government. Thomas Jefferson proclaimed that although Parliament was supreme in its jurisdiction to make laws, “his majesty has no right to land a single armed man on our shores” to enforce unpopular laws.246 James Warren said that the troops in Boston were there on an unconstitutional mission because their role was not military but rather to enforce “obedience to Acts which, upon fair examination, appeared to be unjust and unconstitutional.”247 Colonial pamphleteer Nicholas Ray charged that Americans did not have “an Enemy worth Notice within 3000 Miles of them.”248 “[T]he troops of George the III have cross’d the wide atlantick, not to engage an enemy,” charged John Hancock, but to assist constitutional traitors “in trampling on the rights and liberties of [the King’s] most loyal subjects …”249

    In fact, in the wholly American context, the entire notion of a permanent Police/Enforcer Class is ALIEN to American founding ideals, in fact, it’s the most disastrous abomination to individual liberties and property rights and voluntary commerce:

    The use of soldiers to enforce law had a long and sullied history in England and by the mid-1700s were considered a violation of the fundamental rights of Englishmen.250 The Crown’s response to London’s Gordon Riots of 1780 ā€” roughly contemporary to the cultural backdrop of America’s Revolution ā€” brought on an immense popular backlash at the use of guards to maintain public order.251 “[D]eep, uncompromising opposition to the maintenance of a semimilitary professional force in civilian life” remained integral to Anglo-Saxon legal culture for another half century.252

    Englishmen of the Founding era, both in England and its colonies, regarded professional police as an “alien, continental device for maintaining a tyrannical form of Government.”253 Professor John Phillip Reid has pointed out that few of the rights of Englishmen “were better known to the general public than the right to be free of standing armies.”254 “Standing armies,” according to one New Hampshire correspondent, “have ever proved destructive to the Liberties of a People, and where they are suffered, neither Life nor Property are secure.”255

    In fact, to hope to see a ‘legitimate police’ who conduct themselves constitutionally is akin to asking Bloomberg & Shannon Twat of MAIG to re-write the 2nd Amendment, and hoping they’d clarify & codify MORE natural rights-derived protection guarantees and bar govt from restricting them.

    Good luck with that unicorn.

    You do not have politicians without police, and vice versa. Police are “police” because they’re nothing more than political police who enforce POLICIES crafted by politicians.

    Worst of all, while individual politicians, despite high rate of consecutive incumbencies, they are more or less temporary. But the political construct and the policestate security constructs/bureaucracies long remain, to re-animate their political whims and enforce their dictates, perpetually. Until a state collapses on its own debt and corruption, as we are slo-mo (or fast, depending on POV) observing such destruction of American Constitutional Republic as we know it, real time now.: tyrants aren’t in the business of stopping themselves, from themselves. It’s always economic law that deals them in, in the end: you cannot perpetually punish the productive among your society, build oppressive administrative and physical policestate, expand as a global empire, insane tax burden, intentionally Balkanize your population along race, sex, ethnic, cultural, tribal lines, and not expect the state to go bankrupt. And like the Sterling Pound, global reserve currencies have an eventual expiration date. The currency reset is an inevitability for EVERY SINGLE FIAT currency based economy, throughout history.

    So really, to separate the two is like separating the bullet from the case/powder/primer and expect it to still work. Politician and Police go hand in hand, like how DemCommies and RepugRINOS are two wings of the same degenerate bird, cops & politicians? Same scheisse, different names.

    If you’re skeptical of the State, then ask yourself just who IS the “State”?? It’s a conceptual fiction, without physical human beings whom, like some cult members believe in their false-god of the State, to animate it, ie mainly: politicians/commissars, enforcer class, administrative class, and the judicial class giving them all legal protective cover… all vs you me and everyone NOT in govt.

    You cannot be definitionally be skeptical of State powers, without scrutinizing those who animate the state.

    Funny, how you never see entire families and friends of plumbers, that when they screw up, an entire legion of populace feel the kneejerk need to defend them with: “Well… not ALL plumbers are bad… except for a few bad apples.”

    Plus, just look at that loudmouthed idiot Patrick Lynch or something or rather, the NYPD police union chief. Seriously, for a ‘highly trained’ armed class of individuals, you’ve never seen so many emotively whiny pansies. Also, in a Constitutional Republic, where govt EMPLOYEES are a clear SERVANT of the citizenry, there is no way in hell ANY “public worker unions” could exist. Who the HELL is the boss, here?

    Indeed, as a clear cut commie De Blubbersio is, on this point Farago, with you 100%: yes, indeed, De Blah-sio should fire a whole lot of them. Fire them. FIRE THEM ALL.

    • pardon correction; typo/auto-correct: meant “as such, utterly UN-constitutional, not “constitutional”:

      There is no such thing as a constitutional police, at fed, NOR at local/state level: theyā€™re a standing army, as such, utterly constitutional.

  25. New Yorkers are disarmed because New Yorkers have voted gun grabbing, Liberal f-wads into office time and again. They chose to be subjects and when their thin barrier of so-called protection shows they may not have the public’s best interest in mind, this is as big a sign as you can raise for those clueless idiots that occupy that cesspool, that self reliance is paramount, no matter how much “progress” has been made. DeBlassio deserves as much disrespect as can be mustered by everyone and anyone who can, including people in his “employ”. Working in concert with a dangerous, race baiting slug like Sharpton only shows exactly why. The people of NYC got what they asked for, it’s too bad they are too stupid to grab this opportunity and gain a real understanding of what giving away your human rights to people like the last two hizzoners and Cuomo actually gets you.

    • This is right about how I come down on the issue. The voters have created this situation in NYC. The voters supported politicians who enacted these revenue-enhancement laws, they empowered the cops to enforce these revenue-enhancement laws, now someone has died as a result of said laws, and a segment of the voters are pissy about it.

      Boo hoo.

      Then another segment of the voters are pissy that the man they elected mayor is a cop-hating commie.

      Boo freakin’ hoo.

      And all segments of voters in NYC have backed politicians who are in favor of such onerous gun control laws that citizens are dependent upon the cops for their protection and assistance in even the most mundane situations.

      Well.

      Not even with the use of a scanning electron microscope could I construct a violin small enough to enable me to convey just how little I care about the woes of New Yorkers just now.

  26. I have no problem with the NYPD turning their backs on de Blasio. His comments seem to imply a culture of racism within the NYPD. The man cannot be respected. If my boss made broad statements against the morality of me and my co-workers I would not respect him either. I think our shareholders would understand the difference between me disrespecting our CEO as a man rather than as a surrogate for those who hold equity in the corporation. I think the average New Yorker (and I know a lot of them) understands that the NYPD has no beef with them as citizens, that their constitutionally protected expression is directed against the man rather than against the office or those whom the office should serve.

    That said the NYPD should uphold the law, and any cop involved in the partial work stoppage and selective enforcement of certain laws should be disciplined up to and including termination.

    See this story at the New York Daily News for context: http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/heather-mac-donald-de-blasio-fateful-anti-cop-slander-article-1.2062346

    • So in your world a jaywalking call is of equal importance with an aggravated assault call? Or an armed robbery call?

    • >> I have no problem with the NYPD turning their backs on de Blasio. His comments seem to imply a culture of racism within the NYPD. The man cannot be respected. If my boss made broad statements against the morality of me and my co-workers I would not respect him either.

      The culture of racism within the NYPD is in the numbers. If you’re an asshole, and your boss says that you’re an asshole, why would he care for your respect?

      • Whether or not a culture of racism exists, calling them out as racists in the media does nothing to help the problem while going a long way to ensure a standoff. Leaders lead, fools bash their subordinates in public. In my experience calling people names usually makes those people a lot less willing to do what I want them to do.

        De Blasio should care quite a bit for the respect of the NYPD. He needs them more than they need him, and that is playing out right now.

    • Firing police for not giving tickets… doesn’t that sound like the nasty “quota” system we’re always hearing the anti-coppers yelling about?

      • Golly, it certainly looks that way, doesn’t it?

        Who woulda thunk it? Quotas for revenue-enhancing “crimes.” It’s almost as tho the politicians have included the revenue from fines and penalties in their budgets!

  27. Blasio needs to resign and his successor needs to fire those cops. Or Blasio needs to fire those cops and then resign. Either should work fine.

  28. Something is definitely wrong with the law enforcement in NYC, and a decline in protection over the past few years. Even leftists such as Geraldo have spoken out about it. Under Giuliani one could walk the streets of NYC and feel fairly safe. Situations have become progressively worse under Nanny Bloomers and now under uber-leftist de Blasio. Many friends are no longer willing to walk the streets of NYC, something we all did a few years ago. The recent mayors and perhaps the NYC Police Department would seem to at least bare some of the responsibility for this.

    • I was born and raised in NYC and lived there until 1984. I can remember when people could not walk down the street without an armed escort or the company of their own gang.

      At the worst point during the crack epidemic in 1990, the City had over 2600 murders. In 2013, it had 333 murders.

      NYC is soooo much less crime-ridden than it once was. I attribute that to primarily to Rudy Giuliani.

      • Correct attribution to Rudy. And it was police tactics such as “stop and frisk” that made this happen. Fact. Deal with it. Also, stop and frisk was never definitively help illegal or unconstitutional. It was done away with by Comrade DeBlasio.

        • There is no evidence that “stop and frisk” is what made it happen. NYC crime rates were going down pretty much in lockstep with most other major metropolitan areas in the country. And crime has gone down everywhere, not just NYC – see this graph. The exact cause of that overall drop is still disputed, but it’s fairly clear that it doesn’t have anything to do with local policies such as stop and frisk.

          Regarding constitutionality – yeah, we haven’t had a final say yet (though so far the track record in courts has not been in its favor), but tell me how are random stops based on racial and community profiling, which is what stop-and-frisk as practiced by NYPD essentially is, not directly and obviously counter to the 4th Amendment? Hell, the numbers alone – that 90% of those stops do not result in any charges – is proof enough that the stops are arbitrary in nature.

    • Now do you attribute the relative safety of the city to the unconstitutional and immoral policies and tactics employed during those times and if so do you consider it acceptable to suspend the constitution so long as the result is safety? Someone once said something about people who trade liberty for safety.

  29. I agree with you Mr. Farago. You have it right. That’s what Reagan did to the Air Traffic Controllers.

    • Reagan did not spend his entire political career disrespecting air traffic controllers. Air traffic controllers BROKE THE LAW of the times and Reagan acted in the public interest. DeBlasio is the one at fault in this situation NOT the NYPD.

      • Yes, it is the same. Both were out of control union people that were and are breaking the laws. One by going on strike, the other by not enforce the laws as is their duty. As for Reagan he never allowed the strikers back to their jobs. He was a union buster which is funny because at one time he was a union leader of the actors union.

        • I’d like for you to point out what makes it “breaking the law” for a cop not to give someone a ticket.

      • Sure, blasio was wrong but do you really want a police force so powerful that it can oust the mayor?

    • +1, my thoughts exactly. When a professional force upon which the citizens depend for security (avoiding the discussion of how wrong a relationship that is, but in NYC it exists) blatantly stops doing their job, they are a worthless mob. Allowing them to continue their employment and unofficial strike validates their actions. If they don’t like a mayor, then the next round of elections is the time to voice that opinion, or with a recall election, legal battle, etc. Insubordination that places the populace of NYC at risk is completely unacceptable.

      If a group of soldiers didn’t like their commander in chief and openly expressed this sort of behavior, they’d be brought to a court martial.

  30. From someone who never wore a badge, nor had the brain matter of co-workers splattered over the inside of a car, your advice is worth exactly nothing.

    As a new Texan I think that old expression applies: All hat and no cattle.

    • Are you saying that cops should only be responsible to cops, and that civilians are unworthy of having a say in how police runs things?

    • I can see that in your entire career it never occurred to you WHO you work(ed) for. I can imagine how respectful you must have been to those you served when you consider them all to stupid to have any bearing on you.

  31. Hell I’d rather them not enforce the no victim crimes on a permanent basis. As far as turning their backs I just see it as their Freedom of Expression.

    • They should be, and are, free engage in free expression as private citizens.

      Doing so while wearing the uniform of their office as public employees is a different matter.

  32. A work stoppage would be awesome for the 2A. People would have to learn to protect themselves.

    I don’t think DeBlasio has the power to fire police officers merely for turning their back. The union is deeply protected up there in NY to the point where its hard to fire officers who have broken the law.

    NYC has brought this on itself. Let it live or die on its own. The budget will be a mess in a few years, and the NYPD is sowing the seeds of it’s own demise.

    I am not really pro-coup-d’etat by the NYPD. Well, maybe just a little. If the residents have to fight back against the police they will do what, exactly? Some people will only appreciate the 2A when they see out of control unaccountable government employees with guns.

    • So the NYPD wholeheartedly embraces unconstitutional practices, strikes illegally in part because those tactics are being stopped and partly because they fear retaliation from armed citizens and you think the people taking up the gun is going to go well? I support the right to bear arms absolutely but if you think the police will extend their strike to allowing the peons to fend for them selves you are delusional.

      • The NYPD does not have nearly the power people think it does. Mostly, just a person behind a curtain. Think about it- 30k police in a city of 8 million. people are already protecting themselves, and I bet there are more unregistered firearms than you think.

  33. I don’t live in NYC so I don’t care. I just enjoy watching “New York’s Finest” dissing the most leftist person I’ve ever seen holding office out of a communist block country to his face and in public.

    As for firing people for exercising a right… well the answer to that is no. Not performing their assigned duties might be a different matter.

    • Technically the police could be disciplined (not be the mayor) for 1st Amendment activities.

      But doing so would be, at best, a Pyrrhic victory.

  34. I knew NYC was going to hell when DeBlasio took over, it’s just happening faster than I imagined. Those pampered liberals (many of whom are dear friends of mine, by the way) are about to get a dose of reality to remind them of the foolishness of electing communist sympathizers to office.

    • Maybe. But never underestimate a person’s ability to endure pain, especially if they think it is for all the right reasons.

    • You vastly under-estimate the capacity for liberals to delude themselves for extended periods.

  35. There are two sides to this issues as I see it:

    1) The cops feel sold out by their leadership, in particular De Blasio, because he is essentially laying all the blame for police overreach and abuse at their feet.

    2) There are numerous – to the point of being almost daily – examples of police abuse, racism, and all-around thuggery. De Blasio was pointing out the fact that the police nationwide have a serious problem on their hands because many people view them with distrust.

    To me these are two sides of the same coin. The common thread here is a generalized government overreach of authority, to which we are seeing a strong, albeit mis-directed, backlash. Police forces everywhere certainly have a lot to answer for, including cultures that exact no consequences for officers that cross the line, be it shooting someone’s dog in their own front yard, stop and frisk, or physically assaulting a citizen when they refuse to relinquish their constitutional rights. On the other hand, who enacted the laws they are supposed to enforce? Who is responsible for putting cops in harms way to enforce arguably unconstitutional, demonstrably pointless and ineffectual legislation? Who is responsible for gutting our mental health system? The whole system, top-to-bottom, is responsible for what we are seeing now, and everybody bears part of the blame. The politicians and police unions created an atmosphere where the police could act with impunity, and then were somehow shocked when that culture resulted in some police officers acting like thugs.

    The people who need to be fired are the politicians enacting pointless laws, the police unions who protect bad cops, and the bad cops who think their badge gives them the authority to do whatever they want with impunity.

    • Sold out? Didn’t DeBlasio just give them a contract where Bloomberg refused? Funny way to reward him.

      The politicians and police unions created an atmosphere where the police could act with impunity

      Well, while that is certainly true (and I agree we need more accountability for police), government employees since recorded history have been able to kill you with virtual impunity. That is sort of the definition of police power – they enforce the law, at gunpoint. Sometimes people resist, and die. Police are human, and the law will almost always give police qualified immunity when exercising their police power.

      The only real check on armed government employees is a suitably armed populace.

        • The city sends armed people to enforce the law! If that isn’t a use of its police power, what would be??

        • Police, from the Greek Ļ€ĻŒĪ»Ī· (poli, polis) – city, or city as state.

          The very notions of police and policing embody the idea of a state keeping itself orderly.

          The various organs of the state seek to keep it running smoothly, but have no more regard for the individual “cell” than have you or I for a nail-clipping.

          In some (usually larger) communities, the police are there to keep traffic flowing and solve the troubles of Those who Matter, but for little else; in other (usually smaller) communities, the individual actually matters.

          New York epitomises the former.

  36. 2 quick points…

    1). Turning your back on someone is a form of protest, thus is considered free speech. No further debate is necessary on that point.

    2). As for not doing their jobs, I am sure the members of the police that are not executing their duties to the fullest extent will have top cover from their union. Doesn’t make it right, but no one will lose their jobs over it.

  37. I live in NYC and I’m a firsthand witness to the horrible carnage resulting from the police “stoppage.” It’s like a war zone here. People are selling cigarettes without fear of being arrested, sidewalk weed smokers are mellow and smiling, alley pissers aren’t ending up in jail, and double parkers are all parking double without adding revenue to the city. It’s a ghastly sight! Today I saw an elderly Asian man jaywalk – and I shudder to think that he safely crossed the street without being arrested needing staples in his head from police protecting the hell out of him. Instead of fixing every broken window, police are making arrests “only when they have to.” It’s like the zombie apocalypse! Please, De Blasio, get these officers back to work so we can all forget this strange, relaxing feeling of normalcy!

    • Don’t mistake them as being on your side, they are doing what they can to hurt the mayor. Remember that part of this “protest” is them being unhappy about no longer being able to violate your rights on sight.

    • The politicians write chickenshit laws and the police are required to enforce them. So, do the people harassed get mad at the politicians? No, they get mad at the cops who are required to enforce the politicians’ chickenshit laws. The people who the police confront on the street get angry and resist the police, not the politicians sitting in their easy chairs phoning for dollars.

      So the politicians give the police armor and military grade weapons to smack down the people who resist the enforcement of their chickenshit laws. The result is a military occupation and, like in every military occupation, such as in Iraq and Afghanistan, people get killed for being in the wrong place and in the wrong state of mind, while a cases of PTSD develop in the guys left standing holding the military hardware.

      I blame the politicians for allowing their campaign financial supporters to offshore jobs, to crash the economy, to let house prices and eviction numbers balloon, and for using police to serve and protect Wall Street criminals who organized this fiasco.

      The very actions that police once received praise for, they are now receiving criticism for, so of course theyā€™re feeling betrayed. It took a long time for this ocean liner to pick up momentum and itā€™s not going to turn on a dime. It looks like itā€™s going to get worse out there before it gets better.

      Once wars start they take on a life of their own. Life and death on the front lines take priority over right and wrong, and lawful and unlawful become afterthoughts. Reflect on why twenty-two veterans suicide everyday in the USA.

      I blame the politicians for bringing the wars and the military hardware home.

      Stupid politicians.

    • Kevin, I call BS on you living in the city. Nobody, and I mean nobody gets arrested for jaywalking. That’s one thing cops there do not care about, whether they’re pissed at the mayor or not. But to be fair, comrade DeBlasio proposed making it illegal, and I’m not sure what happened with that.

  38. a) Disrespect is not the same as insubordination. Failure to follow direct orders would be insubordination. I don’t think there is anything in the contract of a cop saying he has to honor the mayor.

    b) Much of the reduction in petty tickets is because there used to be illegal quotas imposed. Now the local commanders are following the law; nothing wrong with that.

    c) Try to fire a cop. It would be about as effective as firing a teacher in NYC. Net result: the city will end up paying full salary for years to someone who is not doing any work at all. There aren’t enough desks to give them all desk jobs.

    d) Cops refusing to go out individually and insisting on a buddy at all times is actually a logical argument. Even cops are entitled to workplace safety. Given the behavior of #Ferguson protesters lately – physical violence, invading and disrupting businesses, can you blame them.

    e) There appears an approach in NYC and other areas to let the #Ferguson protestors work out their aggression without major interference, regardless of the ultimate damage to property and people. I suggest that should also be applied to the NYPD. G-d forbid this descends to some of the interactions between enlisted and officers in Vietnam.

    f) And deBlasio, the mini-Che, has fanned the flames multiple times. Reappointing a judge who lets people who threaten cops go without bail or charge, calling on other politicians to insult the cops … His campaign was based on the idea that the NYPD was racist.

    But did you notice how many non-white cops participated in the demonstration?

    • A: is the NYPD not by its actions racist? And B: don’t point out the non white cops, they can be racist too.

  40. I disagree with the TTAGs take on firing the officers. De Blasio is a big bag of garbage and quality leaders do not throw their subordinates under the bus just because it is politically convenient and serves their own political survival. I am disappointed that TTAG doesn’t feel this way.

    • Speaking of a bag of garbage, if Al Sharpton wasn’t making a fortune shaking down American companies, he might run for NYC’s mayor. After all, Sharpton runs NYC now. Maybe he wants the title, too.

  41. Fire them, for what!?

    Are they doing their jobs when on the clock? If so, than their chosen method of protest is of no concern to you nor anyone else. They are attending the funeral of their fallen brother, if somone who instigated the situation that lead to that death has the audacity to speak there…I think they are entitled to show their disapproval.

    Whats more troubling is the fact that you are in favor of them losing their jobs and career because they are silently protesting a known gun grabber, liar, and race/fear monger.

  42. Whatever anyone’s opinion is, could Deblasio even fire any of the cops for turning their back on him? Also, as long as the cops are performing any of their duties, it would be hard as hell to win that battle with unions.

    • The mayor can do nothing- he has no power over such things. Commissioner Bratton could maybe do something but good luck.

  44. I totally disagree with the Farago’s conclusion. Mayor DeBlasio by his complicity in the protests sided against his own police department. He also lost any respect he may have assumed by not supporting his NYPD officers during the days and weeks of protests that slammed their reputations. NYPD officers have every right to show their lack of trust by doing what they did. Oh, DeBlasio can resign or sleep in his self-made bed.

    • How can he betray the police when he was elected by the people of newborn based on the premise that the police were corrupt and needed to be put in line? Tell me honestly, wouldn’t it be a bigger betrayal to the people he actually represents to support the police after being elected on the promise if reforming them? The mayor works for the people the police work for the mayor, s#it rolls down hill and getting hung out like this is what happens when the people you abuse have enough.

      • you make no sense. “newborn” huh? two officers were murdered in cold blood and you want to talk about unspecified police “corruption” and a Mayor that isn’t doing anything positive to protect his police officers? wake up and smell the coffee.

        • And how many innocent citizens have been murdered by police in cold blood in the past few months?

          We woke up and smelled the coffee a long time ago.

    • Alex, I’m a bit confused why do you find revenue generation for a capitalist “guv” bad, although you seem to be OK with revenue generation for a socialist “guv”?

  46. Can’t think of a better way to organize a society? Please read rothbard’s “for a new liberty”. Free download of the audio book from mises.org.

  47. I see this as the equivalent of U.S Military turning their backs on Obama. Sure, most of us dislike Barry (15% approval among Active Duty), but the Office of the President demands our respect. Barry was democratically elected after all, and if we turn our backs on him then we turn our backs on the citizens who put him there. Additionally, by making such an overt political statement it makes the public question if civilian control of the military still exists. I see no reason why the NYPD should be held to a lower standard. Fire them all.

    • Not the same Pat. Obama as President is by law Commander in Chief of the U.S. armed forces, hence one would expect and understand the respect demonstrated to the holder of THAT office. The New York City Mayor does not have “commander status” of any sort-that is the job of the police commissioner. While many may disagree over the lack of respect shown by cops toward the mayor, cops are not military, and the mayor isn’t president, hence the different standard.

    • 1) they are not the military
      2) even Obama would never treat the military the way Deblouser does in public.

  48. I think that I have had enough of Robert Farago!! You are right about one thing almost all politicians are corupt!! You are WRONG about you not being a cop hater! You sir make me sick to the point that I will never come to this forum again. I hope you Diblasio and the rest of the LEFT don’t ever need a cop to save your bacon!

    I really liked everything about TTAG except Robert Farago!

    • I think that’s the point of being armed and prepared, I would never expect a cop or anyone to save me. That’s my job. The police are for investigating crimes and arresting suspects. That’s all, everything else is extracurricular imo. And that’s not just Ono, legally and morally the police have no obligation to protect anybody, and they rarely do.

    • Fairly certain farrago is affiliated with the police and assists on a voluntary basis. So – I believe he is critical of cops but does not “hate” them.

      . I hope you Diblasio and the rest of the LEFT donā€™t ever need a cop to save your bacon!

      Haha. I would be afraid calling the cops for help. No telling what they are going to do with me when they arrive.

  49. I agree that the cops should be subordinate to elective officials, but when those officials are taking advice from Sharpton and Revcom, all bets are off.

    I don’t like the police unions, but when their own mayor is working with people who call them racist and call for them to be killed, who am I supposed to side with? Protip: whenever commies are involved, the best choice of bad choices is to side agains the commies.

    • No, you don’t call bets off on a representative republic because you don’t like your representatives friends. When he gets elected by the people of new york specifically to address their accusations of abusive racist police failing to address that issue is a betrayal to the people. I would consider that the greater failing than reproaching the police as he promised. And he never called for a cops murder, not once. And yes he is a commie scumbag weasel gun grabber turd as stated elsewhere.

      • What you have in NY is an interesting situation with cops that have abused power for decades, acted completely outside the law and abused citizens at will. Obviously, any understanding or support from the citizens, at this point … Now, enter a sleazy commie scum bag of a mayor whose tactics (typical for a socialist/communist) are to sow division among everyone, with every class at each other’s throats. Laws don’t mean anything to that scum, so quoting those laws is a waste of effort. Let the theater go on; watch from the sidelines and enjoy the show!

  50. The NYPD Officers didn’t do anything wrong in my eyes. Turning their backs is a form of peaceful protest. From news reports I’ve heard, De Blasio supported the protesters, not his police department after the Garner incident. He also reappointed a Judge who released men without bail who had threaten the lives of NYPD officers that occurred after the murder of the 2 officers. Also, De Blasio is a communist, and I grew up during the Cold War so my hatred of communist is ingrained in me.

  51. I’m sorry I TOTALY agree with you until you get to the part where the NYPD is going to chance for the better and the people will once again have the right to have firearms. If it ever dose happen it won’t be in your life time or mine or a few generations from nows lifetime.

  52. New York
    Oath of Office
    you swear to support and uphold the Constitution of the United States, the Constitution of the State of New York, and the Charter of the City of New York.

    You also pledge to faithfully discharge the duties to which you have been elected, appointed, or hired to execute.

    The union is encouraging the behavior of selectively enforcing laws but by doing so a person selling personal be it a a few extra cigarettes or a few unwanted DVDs will be at less risk for a made up crime of selling certain person property.

    • If one accepts that premise then it is much better to have such a (political) battle than to have them in concert.

      • I would say no, the NYPD has already demonstrated that they will embrace illegal and abusive tactics when allowed. Now this protest is partly retaliation against a politician stopping such tactics and speaking out against them. If we know they don’t respect the civil population and we see them testing the civil leadership can any good come from them being in conflict with the mayor and thus unaccountable to anyone?

  54. deBlasio honeymooned in Cuba. Perhaps he prefers the police there instead. They do what they’re told. Or else.

  55. De Blaiso is, and always has been a flaming Communist!

    I wouldn’t want to take shitty orders supporting el crapos like Sharpton, from the “red diaper baby” either!

    Not that the NYPD doesn’t need some straightening out, and the gun laws there suck, no end!

  56. Wasn’t DeBlasio told he was persona non grata at NYPD funerals BEFORE the two cops got killed?

    And then he has the nerve to show up because he doesn’t want to weaken himself politically by being seen backing down.

    If he wants to use cops funerals as a political backdrop, expect to suffer the consequences.

  57. Amazing how fast someone who claims to support the constitution is willing to throw the 1st Amendment under the bus when people he hates engage in the best example of peaceful, symbolic protest that I can imagine.

    The police are not the military. Deblasio is a complete failure as a leader, such as he is. Good luck firing anyone. Let’s see Robert Fargo and the rest of the cop haters take over. It’ll be a social experiment.

    • Allowing the NYPD to selectively enforce laws is a bad idea when they have on countless occasions demonstrated their willingness to s#it on the constitution. Whatever the mayor is he was elected by the people on the platform that the people believed the NYPD were out of control. He may be demonstrating poor leadership but the police are demonstrating that they are an unaccountable and dangerous force of thugs.

      • You shouldn’t even engage this clown… He’ll deflect and misconstrue every line of text in a post to argue with somebody that doesn’t polish the knob of every cop in the country.

        Some people are emotional about any given subject based on principle. They can rationalize and justify their position and provide a sound argument in favor (and frequently AGAINST) it because they care enough to be informed and examine the situation from multiple angles in the process.

        Others are emotional because emotion. This is the way things are, have been, and should continue to be! If you disagree, you’re sub-human.

  59. There seems to be some confusion about what the first amendment entails. When a person puts on a uniform or is on duty representing the government their actions are the actions of the government. Largely what happens is that people can’t tell the difference between your personal views and policy when you protest on duty. So the individual losses some 1st amendment rights while on job or using their work title. There is standing in the supreme court on this. If you are military, you are already familiar with this concept.

    As an example, when you get a speaker or instructor that is currently employed by the government and it is on their personal time; the first thing they start with is a disclaimer that the views expressed are their personal views and not that of their employer. This is to avoid any trouble that might come up. When I’ve listened to such presentations, that point is often repeated and specifically right before any controversial topic.

    If the officers were not in uniform, there wouldn’t be an issue with their actions. However they were and it is a disciplinary action. Weather or not anything will be done is a different story. The Chief has that discretion. It also doesn’t mean disciplinary action would help the situation they are in.

  60. “the NYPD are becoming an armed army of occupation …” That’s overheated nonsense. If there’s an army occupying America, killing thousands of citizens indiscriminately and illegally, it’s the violent criminal underclass, not the police. I have no problem with the NYPD openly, nonviolently, disrespecting a communist, racist, corrupt, inciting, lying mayor, especially when his rhetoric helps lead to their murders. If the race-pandering Obamas/Holders/DeBlasios keep undermining public respect for law and order without some pushback, the criminal underclass is going to run riot.

  61. Frankly neither the Mayor or the NYPD come out smelling like a rose in this. Normally I would be all for for the NYPD to decide to selectively enforce laws due to the fact that so many of them are insulting to a free people; stop and frisk is a travesty. Yet, the NYPD isn’t deciding to stop enforcing bad laws because they are bad laws/unconstitutional, they are playing a political game and hoping to scare the public away from supporting the Mayor. I find that equally as deplorable as the political games their mayor plays.

  62. See, this is what I don’t get. Awesome reviews, and then rants like these. What does this have to do about guns?

  63. My proposal: just transfer the revenues from fines via the LEO system from their budgets to do two things: provide plenty of homeless shelters to give those fellow-citizens some dignity, and fund Eddie Eagle for all the schools.

    Oh, wait, we’re talking about New York City…. >sigh<

  64. While it is possible that the NYPD is unaccountable to anyone and just wants to be the biggest gang in the city… we could invoke Hanlon’s razor here again. It could be pure stupidity.

    It could be that the NYPD is pissed off at their boss because he wouldn’t let them bash the heads in of a bunch of protesters exercising their 1st amendment rights (protesting lack of police accountability ironically), and they think that this lack of head-bashing-authorization somehow directly enabled a documented free-range psycho to kill some NY cops.

    In NYC they think un-capped spay paint cans cause graffiti, gun cause crime, skateboards cause drugs, and big cups cause obesity, so it’s really not much of a stretch at all to assume they may think the 1st amendment causes cop killers.

  65. I totally agree, although I do like the fact they’re not enforcing the stupidest of laws on the books.

    Police officers are a funny bunch. They’re constantly going on and on about how dangerous their job is. The truth is, a large percentage (2/3) of deaths happens not from bad guys shooting them, but from them getting into car accidents. Likely while not wearing a seatbelt. And there are tons of jobs that are far more dangerous than being a cop, yet you never hear any of these people saying woe is me.

    Among the jobs more dangerous than being a police officer (death rate: 21.8 per 100,000): trash/recycling collectors (22.8); truck drivers (28.2); electric workers and roofers (29); farmers and ranchers (39.5); pilots (70.7); fishers (111.8).

    Yet they’re constantly whining about their dangerous jobs and using it as an excuse to use excessive force and buy MRAPs. And their police unions are so powerful because politicians are scared of them and people believe the bull that a police officer’s job is “incredibly dangerous” (yes it’s dangerous but again, there are plenty of jobs far, far more dangerous) and think the police are more necessary than they actually are. Time for that to change.

  66. I have been in law enforcement over 20 years now. And I think that this has less to do with De Blasio than with some underlying changes I have noticed in law enforcement over the past 2 decades.

    When Rudy came into New York and cleaned things up part of his shift in philosophy was to concentrate on smaller crimes. The much touted “Broken Windows” theory of policing. And he was absolutely right. But it seems to me that many departments much like NY have moved a step farther than that. The small crimes seem to preoccupy command staffs to the detriment of serious crimes.

    There are a few main reasons I see things moving this way. The first is the risk reward. Arresting people on petty crimes is a money making enterprise now. And many cities now want their Police to generate greater and greater revenue. It is completely wrong and horribly skews the views of both political and non political decision makers.

    Smaller crimes generally involve less liability and headaches. People are more apt to simply pay fines and move on when you keep them withing a certain level. It becomes an additional tax on residents. Additionally it is also why so many departments pull over out of state plates. Its not for drug interdiction as the usual excuse is. Its that out of state people are less likely to fight it out.

    Law enforcement is increasingly becoming statistics driven. The department I work for routinely uses them for contradictory purposes. Actual crimes are down. And they are happy to use that for political gains. But when budget time rolls around the actual reports are way way up. Because they now insist on a report for EVERYTHING. And I do mean everything. Stopping to use the bathroom is now a “public contact” and you will write a report..

    And lastly attitudes and capabilities have changed dramatically among those in charge of many police departments. In most agencies in my area moral seems particularly low compared to years past. In addition there are far fewer people being promoted based on competence. More people seem to be advancing based on their agreement with the current power structure. And for being VERY risk adverse. High volumes of traffic tickets are viewed as promotional material. Those who do more traditional policing are frowned upon

    • Just to be clear, do you mean “morale” instead of “moral”? I’m not trying to be the grammar “police” but that change does make a big difference.

      Interesting take from the inside. Not a cop, but knew several. Most were small town cops however; I only knew two from big cities, one from Phoenix, the other from NYC. I never talked to them about their perspectives from the inside.

      • Yes that is exactly what I had intended to write. I will need to rely less on spell check when I comment at 2am.

  68. The Honorable Mayor, lacks the intestinal fortitude to come out and say NY City has lots of Mickey mouse laws that get people killed! so how many officers will you fire and under what conditions, historically those fired have no pull and suck ass’s remain like “Holder” in the present administration! only reason they haven’t been impeached is because of “Race”! News Papers, TV newscasters, Race baiters, all in for the Money and personnel enhancement even if they have to twist the truth, Police Jobs are not to protect People individually but Collectively as a general Principle,
    NY city’s problem is too many money making nickle and dime laws with big fines, police do not have time too catch the real bad guy’s they must enforce easy money law! No Man should be killed or fined for something so trivial as loose cigarettes! {sounds like the 30’s prohibition bootleg laws} Police are so afraid they use deadly force when not needed or deadly physical force from half trained personnel! PTSD is around the corner especially when its up close and personnel! I feel bad that the Police were Shot by a Wacko as it gives more fuel to the Anti-American crowd, to say nothing about friends and family feelings! it is time too hold Politicians accountable for their words!
    Fair Winds and Following Seas!

    • I have a problem when the mayor goes on TV and proclaims that he also had to warn his children about the police.
      I also have a problem when the local media shows a picture taken years ago and reports that an unarmed Black teenager was killed by a White police officer. Then reports that two police officers were killed by a crazed gunman. No mention that the “crazed gunman” was a black man extracting revenge on white cops. (This fact was only reported once)

  69. That police conduct is unacceptable. I think DeBlasio sucks, but as a former solider you don’t turn your back on the civilian executive. He’s a dickhead, but you work for the society that elected the dickhead, it’s just part of the deal.

  70. Grannyapple, yes everyone knows there are more dangerous jobs. Some of us see a differance between being murdered simply because of the job you do , and say falling off a fishing boat. Then there is that whole service to others thing.

  71. What the hell are you smoking Robert? The mayor isn’t responsible for the cops death? Many have argued that he is. His comments supporting the anti police bunch, emboldened a coward like Ishmail Brinsley to go to NY and shoot some cops.

  73. This shows the difference between the Military and Civilian Law Enforcement. There is ZERO accountability for Law Enforcement. If I had pulled this crap while in the Army, or if any of my troops had, there would have been swift and ruthless application of justice. This is a freaking revolt by armed authority against the elected government.

    This is insubordinate behaviour to the Senior Elected Official. They are performing a work stoppage, and publicly thumbing their noses at accountability. They need to be FIRED. They also need to be investigated for Fraudulent Time Keeping. They’re not doing what their supposed to be doing while on the clock.

  75. The comments on this article was a really enjoyable read. Good job everyone. Liking it.

    Even some I hate Robert Farago comments came out.

    Robert isn’t into “bad cops” and I’m not into bad cops either and and while it appears De Blasio is performing some political sing and dance, I have no doubt there are some bad cops in the NYPD. If the NYPD were innocent of their abuse and the plethora of ridiculous laws they enforce on a daily basis I would certainly have more support for them and more disdain for De Blasio. Except that is not how it is. As far as jaywalking and other ridiculous crimes not being enforced by the NYPD – I think this is good thing. But if they are not investigating crimes or otherwise performing tasks that truly benefit to the public in their position of “public servant.” Then I agree with Farago – they are part of the problem – De Blasio should get “firing.”

    Either way – it is entertaining to watch their predicament from afar.

  76. Is Farago in the business of penning clickbait now? Is that what this blog has come to?

  77. fire everyone who can be Identified from the photographs turning their back.
    They intentionally ignored their bosses order.
    with any organization with a chain of command public insubordination shouldn’t be tolerated
    They have all the right to protest they want out of their fucking uniform.
    Remember these are the same ass holes who started a fucking riot the last time a mayor tried to hold them accountable.

    • Sorry, they can’t be fired for turning their backs, as the Commissioner said before that he would not. So sad, too bad. Second, there is no provision in law for termination for such minor offenses. So, you are against due process of law for police officers and their 1st Amendment expressions? Typical of someone with some problems.

  78. Why? Is there a quota of traffic tickets and misdemeanor arrests that NYPD cops are held to? Police are not required by law to make an arrest. In fact, it was the Mayor’s policy of making arrests for selling untaxed cigarettes that led to Garner’s death. In fact, arrest quotas are unconstitutional. And cops have due process rights in termination proceedures. The threat to the people in NYC is not the cops, but the criminal class, e.g. blacks and Hispanics, and the politicians that violate the Constitution. There is no threat from the cops who are backing off on traffic tickets and misdemeanor arrests. You are anti-cop while supporting a real threat to the Constitution, De Blasio and his racist supporters like Al Sharpton, and the mass of criminals that De Blasio and Sharpton support, the black and Hispanic criminals that both want to protect from arrest.

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