Mayor’s presidential run is infl uencing his NYC decisions
BROOKLYNPAPER.COM
COURIER L 34 IFE, AUG. 30-SEPT 5, 2019
OPINION
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The decision to fi re Daniel
Pantaleo was about Mayor
de Blasio catering to farleft
and minority voters during
his near comical presidential
run. Indeed, his actions as
Mayor this term have all related
to his campaign and not
the welfare of and fi duciary responsibilities
he has to the taxpayers
and residents of New
York City.
During the Democratic
Presidential debate on July
31, Mayor de Blasio not only
reminded the country about
“the talk” he had to have with
his son to fear police, but also
promised that “justice will be
done” within 30 days for the
Garner family. Sure enough,
as promised, the Mayor’s perception
of justice was done on
Aug. 19, when Daniel Pantaleo
was fi red nominally by Police
Commissioner James O’Neill.
When the Commissioner
was asked during the announcement
if he received any
pressure from City Hall, his
response was that “there was
pressure from all sides.” Certainly,
he could have said a
blanket “no.” The pressure of
the one who has the ability to
fi re you would carry the most
weight with most.
During O’Neill’s remarks,
there was a huge disconnect between
what he was saying and
the fi nal verdict to fi re Pantaleo.
He said as a cop for more
than 30 years, “I may have
made similar mistakes” in the
same situation and pointed out
how Garner “should’ve decided
against resisting arrest.”
One of the arguments being
increasingly made in 20/20
hindsight by those who support
the Pantaleo fi ring is that
when Garner resisted arrest,
offi cers should have sat back
and waited for back up. In fact,
this argument was even made
by Errol Louis, the news anchor
of NY1’s Inside City Hall.
He further justifi ed this by
saying police “knew where he
lived” because of his history
with the NYPD.
Using this logic, if one or
two offi cers attempt to make
an arrest and a person resists,
the cops should just let him or
her mosey on away because
there is no back up.
We do not have a right to resist
arrest by law enforcement,
period. Imagine if we did —
police would have to patrol in
groups of fi ve or six to ensure
they have enough back up to
make arrests.
Predictably, with the Pantaleo
decision and the resulting
emboldenment of police antagonists
and legitimate hesitation
by cops to act, viral videos
of people resisting arrest have
been seen over the past weeks.
One recent instance shows a
young African American male
attempting to be arrested and
but refusing to get in the cop
car as an increasingly restless
crowd gathers and pulls out
their cell phones.
This is becoming the norm
as offi cers know any bit of extra
force to arrest someone
will be scrutinized and City
Hall will not be siding with
them — and criminals are
emboldened as they know the
same thing. Is it really a surprise
that arrests have declined
27 percent since Pantaleo
was fi red compared to the
same period last year?
Even worse, for some there
is not even fear of arrest as seen
by those going right up to cops
and dumping water or throwing
Chinese food on them in recent
weeks. Many who vociferously
applauded the Pantaleo
fi ring are silent on these acts
against our police.
The de Blasio-inspired Pantaleo
decision is the most glaring
and recent example of the
Mayor using his position to increase
his progressive bona fi -
des and appeal to far-left and
minority national voters at the
expense of our city. Here are
just a few others:
• Proposing to dismantle the
public school gifted programs
in the name of desegregation.
• Giving free health care to
illegal immigrants, projected
to cost law abiding taxpayers
$100 million.
• Allowing undocumented
immigrants to enter the city
taxpayer subsidized affordable
housing program.
• Pushing a NYC “Green
New Deal” limiting glass and
steel in buildings that would
drastically increase costs
for owners, who already pay
plenty of taxes. They must
comply or face fi nes of over $1
million per year.
• Attempting to make us
the fi rst city in the United
States to require private small
businesses to provide paid vacation
(2 weeks) to their employees
that will only make it
even more diffi cult for them to
survive.
• Creating a Statues Committee
to consider removing
ones like Christopher Columbus
and other monuments dedicated
to those who are white.
It would be better if Mayor
de Blasio just ran for president
without implementing
policies that will take New
York City down along with
his campaign.
Bill Bratton, who served
as de Blasio’s Police Commissioner
from 2014-2016, worried
that we are at an “infl ection
point” with criminal justice
reform. He told John Catsimatidis
on his radio show “Cats
at Night” last week on AM
970 that we are “going too far,
too fast” on these reforms and
must “be very careful” that
we don’t “relapse” to the bad
old days by reducing crime enforcement
too much.
We should not let our city
become another Baltimore
or Chicago because Mayor de
Blasio enjoys talking to corn
farmers in Iowa rather than effectively
governing the city he
was elected to serve.
Bob Capano has worked for
Brooklyn Republican and Democrat
elected offi cials. Follow
him on Twitter @bobcapano.
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VIEW
Bob Capano
/BROOKLYNPAPER.COM
