NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton said the Dallas sniper attack on police officers should bring the community together, rather than divide it.
“We need to try to find common ground as we go forward,” said Bratton said in a news conference on July 8. “Out of the tragedies let’s find some good that might come out of it. That’s the opportunity we shouldn’t lose, to take advantage of the opportunity to bring us together rather than tear us apart.”
Bratton said racial injustice should not be tolerated, neither should threats against law enforcement.
In New York City, the NYPD was extra vigilant after the Dallas attack on Thursday night, and all officers in the city were doubled up on patrols. Bratton said police presence will be increased at protests.
Bratton recalled an ambush incident in December 2014, when Detectives Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu were shot and killed in their patrol car. The gunman had previously expressed outrage on social media over the death of Eric Garner, a black man who died after being put in a chokehold by an NYPD officer.
Bratton said the community expressed solidarity when the detectives were killed, and that the shootings this week shouldn’t negatively affect the relationship between communities and police.
“I don’t see this creating an alienation the relationships are still there,” said Bratton, “This often times brings people closer rather than pulling them apart.”
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