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If you think city government "runs" the police forces in large cities, you may not be paying full attention. I invite you to look at what happened when, in late
by NovemberWhiskey 5y ago
If you think city government "runs" the police forces in large cities, you may not be paying full attention. I invite you to look at what happened when, in late 2014, Bill de Blasio went on the record with the observation that he told his biracial son to be careful around the police.
Two police officers were killed (in completely unrelated circumstances) shortly afterwards, and the NYPD patrolman's union representative declared that the mayor "had blood on his hands". Subsequently, police officers at the funeral turned their back to the mayor and a massive bout of the "blue flu" affected the city, with arrests down 90% vs the previous year over the holiday period and into the new year.
Police unions also donate millions of dollars to state political candidates in order to diffuse oversight responsibilities of the NYPD.
- ROARosen 5y agoSide Note: Both chambers of NY State government as well as the Governorship were in Democratic hands then.
- fredophile 5y agoI don't recall the exact dates those events took place but the New York state senate was not in democratic hands in 2014. Republicans won the majority in the 2014 general election. Prior to that, the IDC worked with the republicans and that coalition had control. Even if democrats had been in control at the time what difference would that make? The GP was pointing out the police union and NYPD actively being against the people in civilian oversight roles.
- merpnderp 5y agoConservatives control the unions. Got it. Totally believable.
- NovemberWhiskey 5y agoThere are three major police unions in New York City. The Police Benevolent Association (which represents line officers), the Detectives' Endowment Association (detectives) and the Sergeants Benevolent Association (supervisory officers). In 2020, the leader of the New York City Police Benevolent Association, Patrick Lynch, endorsed Trump in the presidential election, and appeared at the Republic National Convention to support him. The Sergeants Benevolent Association also endorsed Trump; their leader at the time, Ed Mullins, appeared in an interview on Fox News with a QAnon mug, but has since left the position after his home was raided by the FBI. Prior to that, he was docked vacation time after he tweeted a screenshot of confidential police records concerning the mayor's daughter. The Detectives' Endowment Association endorsed ... please attempt to suppress your surprise ... Trump as well. In short: if your perspective is that police unions are run by liberals simply because they're unions, you are not paying attention to the facts.