This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. Distribution and use of this material are governed by our Subscriber Agreement and by copyright law. For non-personal use or to order multiple copies, please contact The Epoch Times Reprints.
What can NY Mayor Bill de Blasio do to heal his deepening rift with the New York Police Department?
As city officials work to soften the New York Police Department’s image and change how officers engage with citizens through reforms and training, part of the effort is happening online.
De Blasio’s characterization of New York City under his predecessor and billionaire businessman Michael Bloomberg’s tenure as a “Tale of Two Cities” won the progressive Democrat a landslide victory. The issue resonated, as did the candidate’s vision for a more equal city.
Police are assigning additional officers to patrol Times Square at Wednesday’s New Year’s Eve celebration, in anticipation of protesters who plan to demonstrate against police brutality there.
For many New Yorkers who viewed the video capturing Eric Garner getting restrained by police officers in Staten Island moments before he died, the initial reaction was shock—at the sheer amount of force the officers used to subdue the man, and at how Garner repeated 11 times, “I can’t breathe,” while an officer kept his arm tightly wound around Garner’s neck.
Recent tragic incidents involving the New York City Police Department (NYPD)—including the summer 2014 death of Eric Garner, who was being arrested on Staten Island, and the autumn 2014 death of Akai Gurley, shot accidentally by a young police officer in a housing project in Brooklyn—have reinvigorated police critics, especially in the context of a broader national discussion about crime and race prompted by events in Ferguson, Missouri.
An estimated 23,000 police officers, many traveling from other cities, paid their respects in Queens Saturday at police officer Rafael Ramos’ funeral, attended by Vice President Joe Biden.
“Daddy, why does everybody hate the police?” NYPD Detective Martin Green’s son posed the question to his dad three days after two police officers were shot and killed in Brooklyn by an emotionally disturbed individual, targeted for their uniform.
NYPD assistant chief David Barrere was skeptical at first. At a workshop for encouraging positive relations between police and young teens from the city’s toughest neighborhoods, the two groups were first told to do a couple of breathing exercises.
City Hall honors fallen police officers Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu with a moment of silence at 2:47 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 23, marking the instant at which the officers were shot on a Brooklyn street corner
Patrick Lynch was hollering. Standing outside a Brooklyn hospital after the bodies of two slain police officers were taken away, the head of the nation’s largest police union railed against Mayor Bill de Blasio for failing to support the rank-and-file, enabling protesters, and creating a climate of mistrust that allowed the tragedy to happen.
The killings of Officers Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu while they sat in their patrol car in Brooklyn created a heightened sense of danger for law enforcement officers nationwide, in what had already become a tense standoff with the public over police use of force.
The NAACP is calling for increased gun control measures following the slaying of two New York City Police Department officers on Saturday.
