In a “unanimous” vote of “no confidence” in their mayor, the New York City Police Department’s rank and file spoke via their union boss, Police Benevolent Association (PBA) President Patrick Lynch, whose statement echoed their disdain for the Big Apple’s figurehead and the “political puppet” otherwise known as Police Commissioner James O’Neill.
Speaking on behalf of the unanimous contingent of cops, Lynch voiced a demand for New York’s Gov. Andrew Cuomo to use his lawful authority to remove Mayor Bill de Blasio as well as O’Neill.
But there’s a catch.
It’s like asking the governor — one-third of the three amigos — to cleave the other two-thirds. It is believed the triad largely holds hands when it comes to commandeering the political climate of the liberal-led Empire State containing the nation’s biggest city — which happens to possess the world’s largest municipal police force.
Not sure which political party Commissioner O’Neill subscribes to, but both Gov. Cuomo and Mayor de Blasio are Democrats.
Despite any political strings and platforms upon which these elected officials are bound together, the NYPD force has seemingly had enough of the anti-cop turbulence through which the Big Apple’s cops navigate.
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A swirling undercurrent among the street cops, their union, and the city’s elected leadership’s bond with the police commish has festered for long, according to my contacts in New York City. The undercurrent is compared to other liberal city governments whose elected leaders demonize and deconstruct their police forces, weakening the rule of law by asserting arbitrary applications directed by politicos who debase cops for enforcing statutes they swore to uphold.
The nation witnessed the law and disorder when several NYPD cops were doused with water not long ago — while, elsewhere, another city cop took a water bucket to the head when making an arrest in an intersection.
A news conference that followed these incidents was largely attended by members of the New York City Council in a bipartisan presence.
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Hizzoner de Blasio was not among them.
Those who did attend rebuked such anarchistic behaviors and bellowed about how first responders are protectors, not targets. Also mentioned at the presser was the fact that the liberal-run metropolis’s district attorneys are not enforcing laws against city peace officers.
NYPD rank and file do not feel Mayor de Blasio has their backs — and it seems the combustion point was reached, culminating in the unanimous “no confidence” vote.
Lynch, the PBA president, asserted in a tense statement: “For years, Mayor de Blasio has demonized police officers and undermined our efforts to protect our city. For years, Commissioner O’Neill has cravenly acquiesced to the Mayor and his anti-cop allies. Neither can hope to regain the trust or confidence of New York City police officers.”
“They must resign or be fired.”
Stephen Owsinski, an OpsLens content manager and contributor, is a retired law enforcement officer whose career included assignments in the Uniformed Patrol Division and Field Training Officer (FTO) unit. He is currently a researcher and writer. This OpsLens piece is used by permission.
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