As we’re still at the beginning of this new year, there’s no question that these are very fraught times, both at home and abroad.
The city continues to feel tense after the non-indictment of a police officer in the death of Eric Garner during Garner’s arrest this past summer. There are ongoing protests — with marches and die-ins still “alive” more than a month later, even after the cold-blooded execution of two police officers in Brooklyn.
In a low point, the sight of cops turning their backs on Mayor de Blasio at the two slain officers’ funerals is one that will not soon be forgotten.
There has been a slight thaw, with de Blasio seemingly now making every effort to ingratiate himself to the cops, and Patrick Lynch, of the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association — realizing he was pushing it too far, too stridently — no longer demanding the mayor apologize to the police.
Police have been ratcheting their arrest numbers back up after a stunning slowdown following the execution of Officers Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu.
Ironically, this all comes amid the fact that crime in the city — such as, most important, murders — is at historic lows. In short, police are saving lives — a lot of lives, black, white, brown and every other skin tone in the spectrum — simply because the city is that much safer. And where the most lives are being saved is in the most high-crime inner-city neighborhoods.
Clearly, de Blasio’s clash with the cops is threatening to undermine his entire progressive agenda. In his first year, he has had successes on pre-K, paid sick leave, creating an affordable housing plan and, most recently, municipal ID cards. His forward-thinking Vision Zero plan is paving the way for greatly increased street safety.
Yet all everyone is talking and thinking about — what is being felt most viscerally — is the mayor’s rocky relationship with the police. It all gives the city a surreal feeling of tremendous instability.
De Blasio came into office saying he would end “The Tale of Two Cities” by addressing income inequality and, in general, New York’s affordability crisis. Yet new polls, for whatever they’re worth, show that his approval rating is down sharply among many voters and that many now feel race relations in the city are actually worse than before.
Is it any coincidence that other leaders are suddenly emerging to grab headlines, such as former City Council Speaker Christine Quinn — last year’s onetime mayoral frontrunner — being appointed a special adviser to Governor Cuomo. And an article recently highlighted how City Comptroller Scott Stringer’s campaign war chest is near bursting, and how he’s likely raring to run for mayor if de Blasio stumbles further.
As many have noted, now, particularly, is not the time for the mayor to be in conflict with the police, not in the wake of Muslim extremists’ sickening slaughter of the cartoonists at Charlie Hebdo. Not now, with Europe on high alert as police hunt down sleeper cells of more homegrown terrorists — many of whom have honed their hatred and killing skills in Syria — and with anti-Semitism at truly frightening levels in France and elsewhere.
Getting back to New York…we support the protesters’ right to march, hold die-ins and air their views. But at this point, we think there are more constructive steps that can be taken. For example, one idea we like is a series of town halls and “digital youth dialogues” on police-community relations that Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams — a former cop — and civil-rights attorney Norman Siegel recently kicked off. This is exactly what we need more of — dialogue, and a search for real solutions.
In an encouraging note, an op-ed in the Daily News a few weeks ago noted that police reform in New York City tends to occur in 20-year intervals. Almost always, it’s sparked by protests over what is seen as an unjustified killing by police. The good news is that, after each wave of reform, the Police Department actually emerges better off, and, thus, so does the city.
Hopefully, after all this discomfort we’re going through, that’s where we’ll end up — as a safer, more unified city. That’s the place we do need to get to. Because, frankly, given the state of the world today, we don’t have much choice.
