It’s not about the substance that thugs have thrown at members of the New York City Police Department — it’s about the lack of respect that goes with hurling anything, even a drop of water, at New York’s finest.

Since this summer, officers with the NYPD have suffered several humiliating attacks by people who have thrown water, buckets (actual buckets), and milk containers at cops.

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At least one suspect involved in these acts is reportedly a known gang member. 

The water thrown at the cops may as well have been ice water, given the way officers appeared frozen and unable to act as they’ve been trained to act because they don’t trust the city’s leadership to support them.

One officer even might “consider resigning” over the humiliation, as several outlets noted this past July, including The Daily Caller. 

Related: Trump Rips the Foul Treatment of New York City Police Officers

Some people just don’t get it. I’ve heard many people — even those who support the police — downplay the seriousness of what happened because “it’s just water” and “it probably feels good with the summer heat.”

And it’s not just ordinary people who don’t get it.

Even the worst mayor in America, in my view — Bill de Blasio — refuses to appreciate what these attacks suggest. 

We have an emboldened corps of criminals at work, plus a police force hobbled by city officials’ animus toward cops. “Hizzoner” would rather look at these incidents through a myopic lens than through the necessary holistic prism. How does it affect everyday citizens (and even visitors) when they see other people so disrespect the city’s guardians — even those in America’s largest and most celebrated police department? Not positively, that’s for sure.

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This contemptible behavior didn’t happen in a vacuum. Last year, in one incident, a group of goons launched a verbal barrage, including threats, at a group of New York’s finest, as The New York Post reported. The incident culminated in the cops’ decision to simply walk away.

Watching the video of this incident is infuriating.

Related: Man Hurls Half a Gallon of Milk at NYC Cops

How does the average New Yorker feel about seeing city police officers walk away from people who treat them so disrespectfully, even those who make threats? If people can get away with treating police officers this way — what can’t they get away with against ordinary city residents? 

Thus, what began with verbally disrespecting cops has escalated to physical attacks. The water assaults may seem relatively minor, but they are physical assaults — which become serious crimes when committed against on-duty police officers.

Anyone think those drenched officers had to be taken out of service to return to the precinct to change into dry uniforms? And another question is, What’s the next escalation? 

I remember working a particular demonstration late one shift during my last year in the department. Protests in Seattle were (and still are) routine throughout my career — WTO, Occupy Wall Street, and Antifa come to mind.

That city is so protest-prone, in fact, that demonstrators once showed up at the city’s east precinct to protest the U.S. Navy’s conducting of aerial bombing training — in Puerto Rico. 

That demonstration last year was unique for a terrifying reason.

We’d received reports that some protesters had armed themselves with buckets of a flammable liquid and ignited torches. I don’t have to tell you what this could mean for officers tasked with crowd control.

How far is it from throwing buckets of water on cops to dousing cops with buckets of flammable liquid and lighting that liquid? What about tossing buckets of acid or some other caustic or hazmat substance? 

During the height of the NYPD water assaults this past July, Avrohom Gordimer of AmericanThinker.com pointed out a few poignant city actions. He reminded readers that Mayor de Blasio and the New York City Council have “decriminalized a serious selection of quality of life violations in New York City.” 

He elaborated, saying the mayor has nixed narcotics raids, won’t allow cops to make arrests in schools for minor crimes, won’t let police arrest drug suspects under 40 years old, and says subway fare dodgers are off-limits.

So is the city’s hands-off-criminals policy responsible for creating an atmosphere in which dousing cops with water is acceptable?

It’s hard to imagine how it couldn’t be to some degree.

Remarkably, rather than coming to their senses, New York City’s leftist political leaders continue their onslaught against reason.

Instead of scaling back on this nebulous nonsense, they triple-down on dumb. 

Well, there’s an old law enforcement tenet that says a community will get the policing it deserves.

And you can’t deny New Yorkers keep voting for those on the far Left.

One thing that’s true is this: Officers with the NYPD do not deserve what the community is doing to them by electing so many cop-hating individuals. 

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