In the wake of the murders of two police officers in New York, some NYPD cops are letting minor crimes slide and a two-car response directive from the police union is hindering response times, according to the New York Post.
An NYPD supervisor told the Post that his policemen are writing almost no summonses and “probably only making arrests when they have to - like when a store catches a shoplifter.”
The Post said the officers were behaving in a “scared” after two of their colleagues were assassinated while sitting in a patrol car two weeks ago.
The Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association’s directive for police to respond with at least two patrol cars is also creating a manpower shortage that’s delaying response times to non-emergencies like burglaries or car crashes to as much as four hours, according to the paper.
Tensions between police, the city’s elected leadership and residents have been heightened since the Dec. 20 slayings of two police officers at the hands of Ismaaiyl Brinsley, who referenced the police-involved killings of unarmed black men in Ferguson, Mo. and Staten Island, N.Y. on social media before shooting a girlfriend near Baltimore, traveling to New York to kill the officers and then committing suicide.
Many policemen turned their backs on Mayor Bill de Blasio as the mayor delivered remarks at the weekend funeral of Officer Rafael Ramos, who was killed along with his partner Wenjian Liu in their patrol car.
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“It’s a national protest against the mayor of New York,” an ex-cop in the crowd told the Post.
New York City Police Commissioner William Bratton called the move “inappropriate” on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” but also said his department has investigated more than 50 threats against its officers since Dec. 20.
“I think we need to broaden the conversation to include the dangers being presented against them, also,” he said.
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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