ROBBERY IN PROGRESS

ALL NEW YORKERS ARE BEING SHORT CHANGED

De BLASIO MUST “FIX THIS” FORTHWITH

Scene were fleeing suspect in the shooting of two Police Officers

in The Bronx last night crashed a vehicle he had carjacked

as his getaway ride.

Three suspects now in custody.

TAGS: NYPD SHOOTING AFTER BRONX DELI ROBBERY, TWO OFFICERS

WOUNDED, THREE SUSPECTS IN CUSTODY, NYPD ANTI-CRIME UNITS,

BAD RELATIONS BETWEEN MAYOR AND MOS OF THE NYPD,

TEMPORARY DROP IN CRIME NOT RELATED TO MORE

CAUTIOUS POLICE ON PATROL

(Tuesday January 6, 2015 181^st St. & Ryer Ave., The Bronx, NYC)  The five member anti-crime unit was at the end of their tour for the night.  They had spent the night working in plainclothes in the street of one of the few remaining Precincts that has not been as amenable to achieving the dramatic decrease in crime as most other Precincts have over the past few years.  Based out of the 46^th Precinct just down the block from here, this Precinct sits in the Fordham section of The Bronx uncomfortably wedged between the neighborhoods of Belmont, Morris Heights, and Tremont.  When the call came in for a “Robbery in Progress” the five anti-crime Cops piled into an unmarked car and drove rapidly to the scene of the crime. Upon arrival at East 184th and Tiebout Avenue they followed common tactical protocol and separated into two teams. Two Officers cautiously approached a lone man idly standing in front of a Chinese restaurant just a few doors down from the deli where the call had originated from.  As they approached and ordered him to position himself to be frisked, a gunman inside the Chinese restaurant began shooting at the Officers through the window of the eatery.  He continued shooting as he ran out into the chaotic scene as the Cops returned fire.  The suspects all fled in different directions.  One showed up at Emergency Room in Columbia Presbyterian Hospital with a gunshot wound in his back after obtaining his getaway ride from a friend. Another fleeing suspect carjacked a Camaro which he later crashed and fled that scene on foot. By 1 o’clock this afternoon the other two suspects were apprehended, without incident, and are currently being held for questioning.  The NYPD’s investigation of the crime is on-going but a source close to the investigation speaking not for attribution commented that the NYPD believes they have the actual perpetrators in custody.

Police Officer Andrew Dossi, 30, was shot in the lower back and arm, and is listed in critical but stable condition in St. Barnabas Hospital while the second Police Officer, Aliro Pellerano, 38, is listed in stable condition in the same hospital.  Both are expected to recover from their wounds although doctors have been careful when discussing the recuperative process particularly for Officer Dossi, an Iraq war veteran and current Reservist. 

There was a time not all that long ago when New Yorkers would hear or read about an incident such as this and simply ascribe it to “The Bronx” as if that Borough was on a different planet where chaos and crime ruled, where danger and disorder lurked in every doorway, alley and subway station.  But, as has been widely reported and rightfully so, the crime rates in all categories of crime are at all time, historic lows.  This did not happen overnight and is the direct result of the concerted efforts of the men and women of The NYPD over the last 21 years. It was just hours before this shooting incident in The Bronx that Mayor Bill de Blasio held a press conference praising the dramatic drops in crimes of all sorts and praising the NYPD at this time of unprecedented strife between a NYC Mayor and the NYPD. 

SHORT TERM TREND OR LONG TERM INDICATOR OF REALITY?

Much is being made in the media and within City Hall that the NYPD is engaged in some sort of “job action” or “work slowdown”.  On the surface, the issuance of summons for misdemeanors, traffic and parking infractions and other activities that might have warranted a “Stop, Question and Frisk” (SQF) being conducted have dropped so rapidly and dramatically that it is easy to correlate some manner of a work slowdown with the numbers compared to this time last year.  Those who have been the most strident and boisterous opponents of the Broken Window theory of which SQF is a key component, are using this drop in arrests, summons, and Police activity in general as proof positive that the City will not slide back to the dangerous, gritty days of the 1980’s, if the Broken Window practices are curtailed permanently.  This notion is akin to whistling through a graveyard; it is an unsound assumption particularly given the short span of time they are using to illustrate their “proof” while all it really amounts to is conjecture and extrapolation.  One would be a fool to believe that these low numbers will hold for any significant length of time or that they are a true reflection that the criminal element in NYC are undergoing a collective spiritual reformation.

It is unlikely that the criminals in NYC, the petty thieves and street thugs, the muggers’ and marauders, the stick-up men and armed robbers are sitting in their apartments watching the imbeciles on MSNBC announcing to their gullible audience that since the Cops have “backed off” and let some infractions “slide” that they will abandon their criminal ways and that the Broken Window theory was wrong; that current data proves that simple-minded point.  Actually, just the opposite is more likely to occur.  Make no mistake about it, the criminal element reads the papers and may watch the news. Moreover, they are certainly especially, acutely attuned to the rhythms and tempos of the streets and they are watching; taking notice, and will soon begin to assert themselves and take advantage of the NYPD’s less aggressive, more “passive” approach.   And, it will not take long.  Criminals, by and large are, by their very nature predators and opportunists, constantly surveying the landscape for easy targets and quick money.  The drug trade in all its ghetto, housing projects distribution and dealing sophistication and complexity, will certainly ramp up their operations while the “coast is clear”, if you will, and the NYPD seems to be on a working “vacation”.  There will be more illegal guns coming into our City and out on the streets that will no doubt be used during the commission of a crime.  Law Enforcement Agencies up and down the Interstate 95 “Gun Corridor” are also adhering to more cautious approaches in stops along the highways for the same reasons Cops everywhere feel the unfamiliar weight of a literal target strapped to their backs.  Nothing happens in a vacuum; there is a connectivity and “cause and effect” relationship inherent in the world and certainly in the often high stakes “cat and mouse” game between Police and those intent on breaking the law.

The facts of the matter are that the Police are not conducting an intentional “job action” and are nowhere approaching violating the Taylor Laws of 1967 that forbid them to do so or to go on strike.  If anything the NYPD is exercising extreme caution out in the streets since two of their own were assassinated as they ate lunch in their patrol car. First to arrive at a call are now often waiting for backup to arrive when responding to a specific type of call in order to minimize the risk to the innocent citizens as well as themselves.  This is solid Police practice given the open hostility on display towards the NYPD and Law Enforcement Agencies all across the country.

INNOCENT NEW YORKERS BEING ROBBED

The fallout from this never before seen division between City Hall and the rank and file members (MOS) of the NYPD is that the City is being deprived of the full services they have come to expect from their Police Department.  While there is no work slowdown in progress and the comparatively low numbers in the statistics from this time a year ago is a blip on the radar screen, the MOS are considering multiple variables before they engage with civilians on the street.  Mayor de Blasio’s support for the misguided, vocal anti-Police activists and demonstrators was the first shovel stroke in creating what has become a yawning chasm roiling with bitterness, rancor, frustration and plain old fashioned anger. 

It is merely a matter of time until the hardcore criminal element begin to assert themselves and try to exploit for their benefit the hostile and tense environment in the streets, in Precinct houses, as well as the more cautious approach in posture and stance the NYPD has adopted in the face of many numerous death threats from gangs, thugs, pretenders, dead enders and wannabes who’d like nothing more than to achieve the twisted “street cred” that is bestowed on any such scumbag who shoots at or kills a Cop.  The last thing Our City needs is an emboldened criminal element, particularly violent offenders of the type who walked into a deli The Bronx last night to rob it and ended it with a wild shootout with the five Officers from the 46^th Precinct’s anti-crime unit.  Cause and effect; for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.  These may be principals of physics and dynamics but they are just as appropriately accurate in society and within our culture, a culture already too violent and often crassly callous.

We can hope that soon, very soon, those in the positions to begin to rectify this awful situation will be able to do so.  If the Cops on patrol throughout the Five Boroughs tonight are feeling a bit more vulnerable than they did a few months ago or, are keeping their heads on swivel mode for their entire tour since last month’s ambush killing of Officers Liu and Ramos, how should the general public react?  How safe do they feel tonight compared to this time last year?  The Mayor who promised to be “the Mayor of all New York City” should realize that the NYPD is the very backbone of this City and he should end his dangerous charade of political expediency that sacrifices the public and Police safety.

The clock is ticking Mr. Mayor…

Shootout In The Bronx Links:

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/07/nyregion/suspect-in-custody-after-shooting-of-2-new-york-police-officers.html?ref=nyregion

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-crime/cops-hunt-suspect-shot-wounded-cops-bronx-article-1.2067126

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-crime/father-shot-nypd-andrew-dossi-pain-article-1.2067498

http://nypost.com/2015/01/06/man-being-questioned-in-shooting-of-2-cops/

http://www.ny1.com/content/news/221432/three-in-custody-in-connection-with-nypd-officers--shooting-in-the-bronx/

Mayor de Blasio Versus The NYPD Links:

http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/editorial-real-leadership-wanted-article-1.2066743

http://nypost.com/2015/01/06/cop-wounded-in-shootout-didnt-appreciate-de-blasios-hospital-visit/

http://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/heart-of-policing-new-york

http://nypost.com/2015/01/06/bratton-goes-into-damage-control-calls-meeting-with-union-heads/

Copyright The Brooding Cynyx 2015 © All Rights Reserved

MEDIA FUELS FIRES IN RIFT BETWEEN DE BLASIO & NYPD

 ANTI-POLICE PROTESTERS THROW FAKE BLOOD ON

NYPD COMMISSIONER BILL BRATTON IN MIDTOWN

MEDIA BIAS AGAINST POLICE ENCOURAGES PROTESTS

  

TAGS: NYPD RIFT WITH MAYOR de BLASIO,

POOR, IRRESPONSIBLE MEDIA COVERAGE,

RIFT IS AS WIDE AS IT HAS EVER BEEN,

PBA, SBA, AND DEA NOT ENCOURAGING “WORK-SLOWDOWN”,

COPS WORKING IN TEAMS, NYC MEDIA HISTORICALLY CRITICAL OF NYPD

(Tuesday December 30, 2014, NYC)  Cops are accustomed to walking fine lines.  The hierarchical structure of the NYPD itself as a civil service Law Enforcement Agency with a well-defined chain of command and control provides the regimentation required to have a 34,000 member force function effectively and efficiently. The NYPD is steeped in tradition and a rich, proud history and in good times and bad the men and women of the Police Department perform their assigned tasks in accordance with the laws that govern the USA, the State of New York, and The City itself.  To many it can be seen as an insular, self-protecting fraternity and, like many large entities both public and private, in some ways it is just that.  While the public presence of the Members of Service (MOS) is highly visible throughout the Five Boroughs, some of its customs and codes are familiar only to the MOS.  There is an internal cohesiveness of the type required among men and women whose lives often can depend on their coworkers. 

In the latest maelstrom with Law Enforcement as a whole and the NYPD in particular convulsing through the country and NYC, it has been interesting to follow the coverage of events in the local media.  Lately every half-assed scribe, hack reporter, and TV talking head most with little or no actual experience or knowledge of the NYPD is suddenly an expert on policing, the NYPD, and the codes and customs, written and unwritten, of the MOS. Some of the trash that has been printed in the papers and spoken on the airwaves has been disingenuous at best, derisive, divisive, and inflammatory at worst.  Those who have written and spoken so callously with the feigned air of the “experts” have generally made matters worse.  Like it or not the media often helps shape public opinion and defines the lines of the debate.  These people given the size of the audiences they can reach are quick to point the finger at the NYPD for being “irresponsible” and “disgracefully disrespectful” towards Mayor Bill de Blasio after two Officers were assassinated in Brooklyn on the Saturday before Christmas are themselves atop the pinnacle of irresponsibility and disrespectfulness.  They fail to recognize, or chose not to see, some of the most relevant facts regarding the relationship between the MOS of the NYPD and the de Blasio administration and the Mayor himself who has done more to widen the already deep rift that has torn the relationship between City Hall and One Police Plaza apart.  One would be hard pressed to find a time in the past anywhere approaching the level of estrangement between a Mayor and the PD.

It did not have to be this way; the NYPD did not pick this fight, so to speak but as the first waves emanating out of Ferguson Missouri began to break on our shores, Mayor de Blasio did as much as any one person could to promulgate and exploit the racial divisions that the killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson could do.  And, as the Mayor of the largest city in the USA, also, by the way, the “Safest Big City” in the country thanks to the efforts of the NYPD over the last 20 years, his words echoed from coast to coast.  And time and again he chose his words with little thought often speaking in terms that painted the NYPD as a reckless street gang of brutal racist thugs who young Black men need to fear.  He shamelessly made these points using his own biracial teenage son as one of the legions of Black youth that have to be taught how to interact with the police if they are ever stopped for any reason.  One might think that the Mayor of the largest, safest City in America that is also the most diverse and has the most diverse PD of any in the land would be possessed of better political acumen but obviously he lacks that skill.  His mayoral candidacy was based largely on an anti-Police platform employing so many of the “dog whistle catch phrases” he and his advisers were sure would reach their intended constituents.  And they did.  But like so many other ambitious, spineless, self-serving, politicians before him he learned quickly that being the Mayor of the City of New York is infinitely more challenging and complex than being a mere candidate in a pool of no-name lightweights.

As the first Commissioner of the NYPD and future President of the United States, Teddy Roosevelt once remarked, it is far easier to be a critic instead of being in the arena, engaged in the fight.  Rather than step boldly into the arena as Mayor, Bill de Blasio remained in perpetual “campaign mode” never missing an opportunity to at least verbally pacify his unruly, clamoring, “broad coalition” of New Yorkers who vaulted him to victory.  When he reached back in time and appointed Bill Bratton as his NYPD Commissioner it was likely with a sense of nostalgia and a political nod to his experience.  Bratton had been the Commissioner in the first term of Rudy Giuliani’s administration and was a very effective, innovative leader who began the concerted efforts to reclaim Our City from the staggering crime rates and poor quality of life that had come to define huge swathes of the Boroughs.  But twenty years has changed Bratton just as we all have changed to some degree over two decades of living, learning, and experiences.  The Bratton of 2014 is nowhere near the Bratton of 1994 and that became painfully obvious almost from his first days on the job.

The highly anticipated “summit meeting” tomorrow with the Mayor and the presidents of the three major Police unions is not expected to yield any results towards repairing the rift.  It would be a start if at least, privately, de Blasio apologized for some of his most egregious anti-NYPD rhetoric but that is not likely to happen.  Some in the media claim that the recent protests against the Mayor by MOS of the NYPD are “union” activity and that the unions are “over-playing their hands”.  This could not be further from the truth.  Turning their backs towards a Mayor who has not supported them is a respectfully silent statement.  The Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association (PBA), Sergeants Benevolent Association (SBA), and he Detectives Endowment Association (DEA), the “Big Three” of the Police unions have not encouraged their membership to conduct themselves in any way that might be perceived as a “work slowdown” or “job action”. Such activity would come dangerously close to violating the Taylor Law, the New York City legislation enacted in 1967 that prohibits any job actions and particularly a strike of the MOS of a “vital civil service” and was aimed specifically when written, at the NYPD.  But that was another time, in another City and the NYPD has never violated the Taylor Law and absolutely no one is suggesting doing so now. Columnists such as the NY Daily News’ Pete Hamill has written many untruths about the current crisis, the NYPD and his views , which he is as entitled to as he is air to breath, are wrong and his opinions simpleminded, idiotic, and misinformed.  But he has the potential to reach a broad readership and he should be more professional in his pontificating and bloviating.  He is but one of a host of media “professionals” who have either inaccurately reported events and/or provided unsound and often unfounded commentary.  But there is not a Cop that has ever expected a “fair shake” from the press or TV media; they are constantly being accused of some grievous wrongs, brutality, racism, and various other “charges” that serve merely to illustrate how little they really know about our City, the NYPD, and life on the streets.

Tomorrow night the NYPD will be out in full force performing a monumental task that they have down to a science.  They will use their tried and true tactics, perhaps as much of an art as a science, and will in a organized manner usher in upwards of one million people into Times Square and the surrounding blocks who’ve come to see in the New Year at this most famous crossroads in America.  Crowd control is one task the NYPD does exceptionally well and has set the standards other large cities have always tried to emulate.  The uniformed Police presence will be extremely visible but there will also be hundreds of other “plain clothes Cops” from a variety of Commands, Squads and Units on site to assure the safety and security of the reveling throngs.  From the Emergency Services Unit (ESU) to the Counter Terrorism Unit, the Police will be on guard for threats of any and every kind in addition to managing a literal sea of humanity.  There will be thousands of tourists from across the country and around the world in Times Square tomorrow night and none need worry about their safety.  Some visitors may not even be aware of the current crisis we are experiencing and, like many others, they usually want to shake hands with Cops and wish them well. For a few hours every year, the last hours of every year, people are grateful and appreciative towards the Cops and that does mean something; it always has.

http://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20140731/civic-center/nypd-union-boss-says-bad-press-has-motivated-attacks-on-police

http://7online.com/uncategorized/video-mayor-has-choice-words-for-media-covering-protests-nypd-tensions/447024/

Copyright The Brooding Cynyx 2014 © All Rights Reserved

NO RESPECT; NO RELIEF

NYPD OFFICERS REMAIN AS STATED TARGETS

ACCORDING TO SOME OF THE WORST OF THE WORST

NYPD OFFICERS AND NEIGHBORHOOD RESIDENTS

GATHER AT IMPROMPTU STREET MEMORIAL

NEAR WHERE OFFICERS LUI AND RAMOS WERE

ASSASSINATED LAST SATURDAY

TAGS: OFFICERS LUI AND RAMOS, TWO NYPD OFFICERS ASSASSINATED,

HATEFUL RHETORIC AND MURDER,

PROTEST ORGANIZERS BEAR RESPONSIBILITY

FOR IRRESPONSIBLE MESSAGING,

THE “CITY” DOES NOT GRIEVE; THE NYPD DOES

NO “CEASEFIRE” OF INCINDIARY PUBLIC SPEECH

FOR HOLIDAY SEASON,

SERIOUS RIFT BETWEEN MAYOR AND NYPD

(Tuesday, December 23, 2014, NYC) A cursory review of armed and unarmed conflict amply documents the observation of a temporary cease fire or brief truce at times of religious days of significance and sometimes merely to bestow dignity to those lost on the battle field by having their bodies retreived for proper burial.  There exists something so profoundly humane in an agreed upon and honored cease fire for these purposes that it speaks more about the combatants and some of the earliest unwritten rules that govern wartime conflict. 

What is transpiring currently in New York City is by no means a “war”, or anywhere yet near an “armed conflict” or anything close to it but, it was not an unreasonable thought as of earlier today to think in the wake of the assassination of two NYPD Officers that both sides of the raging dispute that has been racking our City for weeks,there would be found common cause based in human decency to cease and desist in the increasingly hostile protests, demonstrations and rallies pitting the aggrieved protestors, now largely an anti-Cop movement, and those who still must conduct their duties as Police Officers despite the escalation of the confrontations and rhetoric that comes more from the gutter than from any core belief.  If for no other reason at all we have to bury our dead and this sacred Last Rite has been a time honored reason for a temporary truce.

Perhaps it was just a naive’ hope; a wish based not in reality but in the thought that some of the vile, vitriolic rhetoric would become muted at least until after two families are able to bury their dead but that seems not to be the case.   Since the brutal, cowardly assassination of two NYPD Officers as they sat in their RMP eating lunch, it was only fitting to think that there would be a break, a “cease-fire” if you will, between the Police and the anti-Police movement but, sadly, that is not the case.  Now that some of the most strident and boisterous of the “Black Lives Matter” and “Justice for Michael Brown and Eric Garner” campaigns have received death threats they are fumbling and shaking in their shoes trying to get the violent genie they unleashed back into the bottle.  That simply will not happen.  Blood has been spilled; blood of two Police Officers completely unrelated to the precipitating events that prompted demonstrations and protests in cities and college campuses across the country for the better part of the last five weeks.

Yes, we were determined to take the high road out of respect for Officers Lui and Ramos; we thought these days were not the proper time to engage in the fray or participate negatively but the total lack of respect by the Mayor and some of his closest advisers has changed our mind and given us reason to have a voice no matter how small it is in the cacophonous din of today and throughout the last few weeks.  It is relatively easy to allow the nasty venomous shit spewed from the protestors mouths to just wash off our shoulders; it is quite another when the Mayor of the City that employs you and some of his most visible and vocal “out in front” emissaries from the Black and Latino communities, many who are elected municipal officials, are taking airtime on TV to blame and blemish the men and women of the NYPD and to belittle the Service and Sacrifices everyone in the Department assumes as part of the Job.

Our City has seen its share of inept, incompetent Mayors in the not too distance past.  But one has to travel back to the NYC of the late 1960’s and early 1970’s to find a time when there was a such a serious rift between City Hall and One Police Plaza.  Today that rift is as wide and deep as it has ever been.  Mayor de Blasio has so alienated, disrespected and insulted the NYPD, that he essentially has lost the entire rank and file of the Department.  They do not want him to attend their funeral if they are killed in the line of duty. It was a powerful and extremely disturbing sight to see the dozens of Cops assembled at Woodhull Medical Center where Officers Ramos and Lui were pronounced dead as de Blasio made his way through that gauntlet of Blue of the gathered Police Officers as in unison they turned their backs toward him; a dramatic and stunning silent statement that speaks volumes about the depth of the estrangement between the men and women of the NYPD and the Mayor of New York City.

A FIASCO IN THE MAKING

When then mayoral candidate Bill de Blasio pulled ahead of the field of contenders in last year’s primary, some analysts suggested that it was partially due to an avalanche of TV commercials featuring the bi-racial de Blasio family.  De Blasio really hit his stride when he began to knock the NYPD under the Direction of then Commissioner Ray Kelly and the assertion that Mayor Bloomberg was only a “Manhattan Mayor” who cared little for the struggling middle and lower class working families who were increasingly being forced out of affordable housing due to the gentrification and rebirth of some neighborhoods in the Outer Boroughs in particular.  Candidate de Blasio was merciless in his attacks on Bloomberg and Kelly and he used the “color-coded” hot button phrase, “Stop and Frisk” to excoriate the policy and those who were responsible for it.  The policy from a Departmental standpoint was officially “Stop, Question and Frisk” (SQF).  It was an effective policy and many New Yorkers in the poorest neighborhoods, in the highest crime Precincts came to applaud the increased presence of the NYPD in those areas as well as the SQF tactic.  And, as a result of some clever politicking de Blasio not only shot to the top of the pack but also assembled a “broad coalition” of members of some of the “lesser served” communities.  But this is all just so much history.  The point here is that de Blasio was already revealing some of his deeply held (or conveniently acquired) ideas of what the NYPD should and should not be doing.  Having a mayoral candidate express disdain for Cops while on the campaign trail, and to dismiss their proven strategies and tactics, was an ominous sign to many.   By the time candidate de Blasio became Mayor-elect de Blasio the seeds of future animosity between his ideas and proposals and the NYPD was cemented.

FIRST STEPS AND MISSTEPS

It didn’t take very long before more and more New Yorkers began expressing misgivings about their chosen candidate, now the sworn-in Mayor. His inaugural address was a cleaned up and tailored summary of his campaign rhetoric which did not bode well for the NYPD.  His appointment of Bill Bratton as NYPD Commissioner was seen by some as a positive development but left many in the ranks wondering why Bratton, who had previously held that position during the first term of Rudy Giuliani’s administration, would accept that position twenty years after he left NYC and especially chose to serve under a Mayor who was as anti-Police as any in recent memory.  Even the bungling David Dinkins was not openly disrespectful or overtly critical towards the NYPD until late in his administration.  No, de Blasio was an entirely different political animal who saw his landslide victory as a “people’s mandate”.   His announced first executive action was to be a moratorium on what he called “Stop and Frisk”, a derisively shortened misrepresentation of the official policy of “Stop, Question and Frisk”. Commissioner Bratton tried to paint a different picture over the reality of de Blasio’s intentions in this matter but, he is after all, serving in the position of the second most powerful man in NYC at the pleasure of his honor, the Mayor, and had to defer to his boss.  Bratton had at that juncture lost faith with many who were familiar with him from his first tenure in 1PP.  

FLASHPOINTS

There was likely not one New Yorker in a million that had ever heard of Ferguson Missouri or find it on a map prior to last Summer.  That gritty suburb of St. Louis was suddenly thrust onto the world stage in August after a White Ferguson Police Officer, Darren Wilson, shot and killed an unarmed young Black man, Michael Brown.  The ill-prepared Ferguson PD had to act promptly as nightly demonstrations after Brown’s death drew larger and more violent crowds.  Fires were set, local businesses burned to the ground as anonymous groups of looters had their way.  The situation escalated to such a fever pitch that the President of the United States actually sent the Attorney General, the highest Law Enforcement Official in the country to Ferguson to assure the protestors – peaceful and unpeaceful alike – that “justice” would be served. When the Grand Jury in St. Louis County presented a “non indict” decision for Officer Wilson, the protestors once again took to the streets even more hostile and aggressive than before.

And then, just weeks later, comes the death at the hands of the Police of Eric Garner, a well-known petty crook in Staten Island.  His confrontation with the Police was partially captured on video and Garner could be heard while on the ground repeatedly saying “I can’t breath”.  A Staten Island Grand Jury just like their counterparts in St. Louis County, delivered a “non-indict” decision for the Officers involved.   These two events merged and galvanized what became a nationwide “movement”  loosely united in their charter chants of “Hands Up, Don’t Shoot”, “Black Lives Matter”, and “I Can’t Breath”, all expressions born of the details in the Brown and Garner deaths.  Here in NYC the marchers, some groups of which tied up traffic at key arteries across the City were, for the most part, not violent,but soon began attracting a far more aggressive, militant element often leading “die-ins” and chanting, “What do we want? Dead Cops!, When do we want it? Now”.  When thousands of younger and working class New Yorkers take up a rallying cry seeking “Dead Cops”, this is a sign that social order is beginning to waver no matter how half-halfheartedly or legitimate the threat to Police Officers.

The Intelligence Bureau of the NYPD has a Unit that follows social media and monitors in “real time” surveillance footage from the over 24,000 closed circuit cameras they have at fixed sites across the City.  They began seeing the emergence of an increasing number of Facebook pages, Instagram and Twitter accounts with overt “death to the Police” rhetoric as well as some individuals boldly posting their intent to kill Cops.  With each passing day it seemed as if that dark underside of social media was growing and urging more and more like-minded people to take up the cause of killing Cops.  Such threats cannot be ignored by the NYPD nor should they be.  Even if 99% of those posting such criminal murderous intent are just “key board cowboys” spewing vitriol behind the safety of the anonymity of cyber space, that other 1% represent a clear and present danger and must be taken seriously.

LANGUAGE MORE INFLAMMATORY THAN ANY “CAUSE”

Words matter, language counts.  Not every set of ears that hears the same hyperbolic rhetoric hears the same message.  That is human nature; we can easily pluck from an ocean of talk those phrases and concepts which most comport with and support our own personal ideology.  The speaker of any words also matters.  If a man claiming to be anointed as a reverend, a Man of God, naturally the faithful in his denomination will hear in his words what others not so similarly inclined might hear.  Any individual in a position to speak to a wide audience has a responsibility and needs to be held accountable for actions motivated by his or her speech.  The spoken word and the neural capacity that makes it possible and distinguishes humans from the rest of the creatures of the earth, is a powerful tool. Words expressing various thoughts, directed to a certain audience with an intentionality towards incitement, ought not be dismissed as just so many words. 

And there was certainly no dearth of words after the Brown and Garner tragedies.  From every quarter on talk radio and the cable TV “newsertainment” networks words spilled out from pundits and politicians alike, from self-proclaimed community activists, African American advocates, Law Enforcement spokespeople and something akin to a carnival freak show of belligerents on both sides.  Talk is talk; rhetoric is rhetoric until it crosses a line.  Lines were crossed and instead of dialing back on some of the most racially charged commentary, the “debate”, as it was, continued unabated.  In retrospect we can see all too late what the eventual outcome was from the incendiary face-off between the anti-Police movement and the Law Enforcement community.  Sadly, it reached its ultimate nadir last Saturday when a man from a Baltimore suburb got on a bus heading for the Port Authority terminal on 42^nd and 8^th Avenue with the intention of “giving two pigs wings”.  Within three hours of 28 year old, life long criminal Ismaaiyl Brinsley’s arrival in NYC, he shot dead two Officers as they sat in their RMP eating a mid-afternoon lunch. The cowardly perpetrator driven by the inflammatory rhetoric and pre-existing “mental health issues” took his own life as Police Officers closed in on him at a subway station just a few block from the scene of his bloody, cold-blooded handiwork.  Yes, words absolutely mean something and coded, “dog whistle” phraseology delivered by some of the most rabid race baiters, can and did result in death.  

TOMORROWS

Despite the expressed existence of a cease fire the NYPD family will bury two of our own in the next few days.  The fact that this is Christmas week. a time typically celebrated and enjoyed in the company of family and friends, we have the sacred duty to send our Brothers off in a dignified, honorable, and respectful manner that is an absolute of the pact we share with each other.  Many New Yorkers will awaken tomorrow morning and spend the day with their children, open presents, and share a traditional meal.  The NYPD has traditions of its own that must be represented and observed as well.

Some claim that a lone madman took the lives of Officers Lui and Ramos; others ascribe his heinous actions to untreated mental illness.  Regardless of his mental state or motive his actions have sealed his fate forever in the minds and conscience of every man or woman who has ever, is still wearing or might wear in the future the NYPD Blue and enforce the laws in our City.  They each take an oath but there is a far more transcendent oath between members of that Blue Community; a piece of each of our souls dies off whenever one of our Brothers or Sisters is killed in the line of duty and it is for them and all the others killed before that we uphold the traditions that are ours.

DEDICATED TO OFFICER LUI AND OFFICER RAMOS AND

ALL THE OTHERS WHO HAVE LOST

THEIR LIVES IN THE

SERVICE OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK

MAY THERE SOULS AND FAMILY FIND SOLACE

IN THE WORDS OF THE LORD

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/24/nyregion/across-new-york-pausing-to-honor-police-officers.html?hpw&rref=nyregion&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=well-region&region=bottom-well&WT.nav=bottom-well

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/eric-garner-daughter-lays-wreath-memorial-nypd-cops-article-1.2053833

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2-nypd-officers-killed-brooklyn-gallery-1.2052742

http://nypost.com/2014/12/23/anti-cop-protesters-flood-nyc-despite-de-blasios-appeal/

http://nypost.com/2014/12/23/a-fathers-dark-reminder-of-sacrifice-as-tragedy-revisits-the-84th/

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/two-nyc-cops-dead-brooklyn-shooting-nbc-new-york

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/at-least-4-arrested-for-threatening-police-after-nypd-officers-killed/

UPDATED LINKS

http://nypost.com/2014/12/23/anti-cop-protesters-flood-nyc-despite-de-blasios-appeal/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/12/23/shut-down-fifth-avenue_n_6375124.html

http://nypost.com/2014/12/20/2-nypd-cops-shot-execution-style-in-brooklyn/

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/gossip/no-mistaking-dopes-wise-men-article-1.2055296

http://nypost.com/2014/12/23/nycs-victory-over-lawlessness-being-reversed-by-anti-cop-mayor/

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/24/nyregion/after-shootings-police-union-chief-in-new-war.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=second-column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2014/12/22/nypd-officers-killed-gunman-police-on-alert/

http://www.mercurynews.com/crime-courts/ci_27193384/nypd-officers-killed-de-blasio-calls-pause-protests

http://abcnews.go.com/US/nyc-police-threatened-40-times-cops-killed/story?id=27814265

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