EDITORIAL
END THE HOSTILITY
OVER POLICE REFORM
Police officers go out there every day and risk
their lives for the collective safety of our city.
They certainly need our support. Yet there
have been far too many instances of police
brutality not just in New York City but also in America
— and there’s an ever-growing public demand for
change in how cops approach and do their jobs.
The top brass at the NYPD have said publicly they’ve
heard that appeal and are working to reform from within.
Those statements, however, seemed to conflict with
what Police Commissioner Dermot Shea told police executives
at a crime statistics meeting last week.
In a video tape of that meeting, obtained by the Daily
News, Shea seemed to call leaders at City Hall “cowards
… who won’t stand up for what’s right” and “don’t have
a goddamn clue what they’re talking about.”
Shea didn’t mention anyone by name, but we imagine
he’s referring to many City Council members who
support “defunding” the NYPD — shifting resources
away from the agency toward other departments within
city government.
What kind of message does this send to the rank and
file of the NYPD when their own boss
suggests that lawmakers are “cowards” who “don’t
have a goddamn clue what they’re talking about”?
It’s bad enough that some protesters have taken to
name-calling and cursing out NYPD officers on patrol.
Must we now have the head of the NYPD doing the very
same thing about lawmakers and activists seeking
change?
Why must there be such hostility among the NYPD
and police unions toward any call for reform? Can they
not acknowledge that New Yorkers not only want a
peaceful, safer city — but also a better NYPD than the
one they already have? Is that too much to ask?
Civil rights and policing New York City are two topics
too important to be diminished by name-calling and
vilification. For once, let’s stop the rhetoric and work together
toward meaningful, long-lasting police reform.
This city’s leadership, in government and community,
and the NYPD must swallow their pride and get this
done for the good of us all.
This is our city — by our, we mean the more than 8
million of us who call New York home. And the NYPD
is ours to reform, as are the consequences. We must
meet that challenge at last.
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