‘Honestly, we feel alone out there…’
(Claire Russel, Liberty Headlines) A growing number of New York City police officers are preparing to leave the force because of the way city and state government officials have treated them in the wake of recent protests.
Because of the ongoing protests, NYPD officers have had to work 12-hour shifts, endure constant conflict with rowdy protesters, and deal with the vandalism of their own vehicles.
It’s no longer safe to be a cop in the city, according to one NYPD sergeant, and the people at the top don’t seem to care.
“At our level, It’s hard to say, but in the past, you felt like chiefs like [Joseph] Esposito had your back. Even Ray Kelly. Without Rudy [Giuliani], or even with [Michael] Bloomberg, things have changed,” the sergeant told the Washington Examiner, referencing former police chiefs and two of the city’s recent mayors.
The city’s current mayor, Bill de Blasio, has failed to treat the NYPD with the same respect, and some of the upper management in the NYPD are scared to speak out for fear of retaliation, said Ed Mullins, the president of the Sergeants Benevolent Association.
One recent example of this was when de Blasio condemned a New York City police officer for pulling his gun on a group of protesters and demanded that he be fired from the department.
Additional evidence, however, proved that the cop was acting in self-defense after violent rioters threw a brick at his head, knocking him to the ground.
That police officer should have had the city’s support, but it’s no longer there, Mullins said.
“Honestly, we feel alone out there,” he said. “You go out and spend 17 hours on this day, and then you check your phone, and you have certain members of Congress, the governor, the mayor, and they’re saying that we’re not doing a good job.”