Thursday, January 08, 2015

At a Police Funeral, Backs Turned on the Mayor A Letter to the Editor NY Times 1/5/15

To the Editor:

Re “Silent Protest as 2nd Officer Is Laid to Rest” (front page, Jan. 5):

When a group of responding officers can’t subdue an agitated, unarmed man being arrested for a nonviolent offense without killing him, the New York Police Department has a training and supervision problem that needs fixing.

Instead of even a minimal recognition of the problem and the broken relationship between the police and minority communities, the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association, rank-and-file cops and pandering politicians have opted to lash out at Mayor Bill de Blasio as “anti-cop” because he made balanced statements respectful of both the police and peaceful protesters.

Officers who turned their backs on their civilian commander in chief at the funerals for Officers Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu committed shocking acts of public insubordination — a troubling statement that this local and national problem will get worse long before it gets better.

ROBERT M. SALZMAN
Brooklyn, Jan. 5, 2015