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NY Times: A Healing That Wasn’t: Liberal Activists and the Police Assail City Hall--and my comments
Several comments I posted to this article were published. They appear below the excerpt.
[font size=5]A Healing That Wasn’t: Liberal Activists and the Police Assail City Hall[/font]
[font size=4]After Chokehold Death, de Blasio Seeks a Tricky Balance[/font]
By NIKITA STEWART and MICHAEL M. GRYNBAUM AUG. 6, 2014
Mr. de Blasio had hoped for a healing moment last Thursday at City Hall, gathering police officials, clergy members and social activists to show that New Yorkers could unite after a black Staten Island man’s death in police custody. But the event quickly turned into a spectacle.
The Rev. Al Sharpton, unaware he would be asked to share the stage with William J. Bratton, the police commissioner, delivered a provocative attack on law enforcement as Mr. Bratton sat stone-faced, inches away. With Mr. Sharpton to his left and Mr. Bratton to his right, Mr. de Blasio sounded more moderator than mayor, trying to mollify both.
It hasn’t worked. By Wednesday, as police unions threatened a slowdown, Mr. Sharpton and scores of liberal activists were making plans to ratchet up pressure on City Hall, hoping to force an end to the so-called broken-windows approach to policing — cracking down on little crimes to deter bigger ones — that Mr. Bratton pioneered and that Mr. de Blasio has so far defended. “We really need to step up on this,” Mr. Sharpton told the group, recommending a march this month across the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge.
Now, Mr. de Blasio is turning to his closest advisers, including the strategists who guided his mayoral campaign and crystallized his position against stop-and-frisk tactics, to help him better communicate his message.
< . . . >
[font size=4]After Chokehold Death, de Blasio Seeks a Tricky Balance[/font]
By NIKITA STEWART and MICHAEL M. GRYNBAUM AUG. 6, 2014
Mr. de Blasio had hoped for a healing moment last Thursday at City Hall, gathering police officials, clergy members and social activists to show that New Yorkers could unite after a black Staten Island man’s death in police custody. But the event quickly turned into a spectacle.
The Rev. Al Sharpton, unaware he would be asked to share the stage with William J. Bratton, the police commissioner, delivered a provocative attack on law enforcement as Mr. Bratton sat stone-faced, inches away. With Mr. Sharpton to his left and Mr. Bratton to his right, Mr. de Blasio sounded more moderator than mayor, trying to mollify both.
It hasn’t worked. By Wednesday, as police unions threatened a slowdown, Mr. Sharpton and scores of liberal activists were making plans to ratchet up pressure on City Hall, hoping to force an end to the so-called broken-windows approach to policing — cracking down on little crimes to deter bigger ones — that Mr. Bratton pioneered and that Mr. de Blasio has so far defended. “We really need to step up on this,” Mr. Sharpton told the group, recommending a march this month across the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge.
Now, Mr. de Blasio is turning to his closest advisers, including the strategists who guided his mayoral campaign and crystallized his position against stop-and-frisk tactics, to help him better communicate his message.
< . . . >
And here are my posted comments:
Mark Kessinger
9 hours ago
The hoped-for healing that didn't take place will never, and indeed can never, occur so long as the NYPD considers itself above the law and unaccountable to the citizens it purports to serve. And if anyone thinks that saying the NYPD regards itself as being above the law is an overstatement, consider this: in October 2011, when 16 police officers were arraigned on corruption charges in the ticket fixing scandal (whereby police officers "fixed" traffic and parking tickets for each other, and their families and friends), hundreds of off-duty police officers converged on the Bronx Courthouse to CHEER their corrupt colleagues (all of whom pleaded guilty), to JEER the prosecutor, and to insist that ticket fixing was, in Patrick Lynch's words, "part of NYPD culture." Yes, Mr. Lynch -- it WAS part of the NYPD culture; and that's (part of) the problem! It was a disgraceful demonstration that displayed utter disregard for the law the NYPD is supposed to uphold, and utter contempt for the citizens it serves.
And for me, and I suspect many others, the PBA and Mr. Lynch have long ceased to have any credibility in these discussions because of their history of reflexively defending anything any member of the NYPD does. The louder the NYPD complains about civilian oversight and accountability, the stronger case it makes that such accountability and oversight is, in fact, very much needed.
9 hours ago
The hoped-for healing that didn't take place will never, and indeed can never, occur so long as the NYPD considers itself above the law and unaccountable to the citizens it purports to serve. And if anyone thinks that saying the NYPD regards itself as being above the law is an overstatement, consider this: in October 2011, when 16 police officers were arraigned on corruption charges in the ticket fixing scandal (whereby police officers "fixed" traffic and parking tickets for each other, and their families and friends), hundreds of off-duty police officers converged on the Bronx Courthouse to CHEER their corrupt colleagues (all of whom pleaded guilty), to JEER the prosecutor, and to insist that ticket fixing was, in Patrick Lynch's words, "part of NYPD culture." Yes, Mr. Lynch -- it WAS part of the NYPD culture; and that's (part of) the problem! It was a disgraceful demonstration that displayed utter disregard for the law the NYPD is supposed to uphold, and utter contempt for the citizens it serves.
And for me, and I suspect many others, the PBA and Mr. Lynch have long ceased to have any credibility in these discussions because of their history of reflexively defending anything any member of the NYPD does. The louder the NYPD complains about civilian oversight and accountability, the stronger case it makes that such accountability and oversight is, in fact, very much needed.
Mark Kessinger
3 hours ago
I agree that inviting the Rev. Sharpton to be present at the briefing was ill-advised, for the simple reason that his polarizing presence provides to defenders of police thuggery an all-too-convenient, ready-made distraction to seize upon (as indeed they have) to shift attention away from the issue at hand, which is hyper-aggressive, hyper-violent policing on the part of the NYPD.
3 hours ago
I agree that inviting the Rev. Sharpton to be present at the briefing was ill-advised, for the simple reason that his polarizing presence provides to defenders of police thuggery an all-too-convenient, ready-made distraction to seize upon (as indeed they have) to shift attention away from the issue at hand, which is hyper-aggressive, hyper-violent policing on the part of the NYPD.
Mark Kessinger
3 hours ago
For those who defend the "broken windows" policy of aggressive enforcement of petty "quality of life" violations, a question: can anybody honestly claim that his or her quality of life is diminished one iota by a guy selling untaxed cigarettes down the block?
3 hours ago
For those who defend the "broken windows" policy of aggressive enforcement of petty "quality of life" violations, a question: can anybody honestly claim that his or her quality of life is diminished one iota by a guy selling untaxed cigarettes down the block?
Mark Kessinger
42 minutes ago
In all of the discussion about whether police used appropriate force or not in arresting Mr. Garner, of the pros and cons of "broken windows" policing, and of whether or not Mr. Garner resisted arrest, there remains one question I have not seen addressed anywhere. That is, why was it even necessary to take Mr. Garner into custody at all? Why could not the police have simply issued a summons?
42 minutes ago
In all of the discussion about whether police used appropriate force or not in arresting Mr. Garner, of the pros and cons of "broken windows" policing, and of whether or not Mr. Garner resisted arrest, there remains one question I have not seen addressed anywhere. That is, why was it even necessary to take Mr. Garner into custody at all? Why could not the police have simply issued a summons?
3 replies
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= new reply since forum marked as read
