6 JULY 23, 2020 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
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 evergrowing
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
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The time to reform the NYPD is now. Photo via Shutterstock
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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