THE HEAD OF NYPD'S SERGEANTS UNION SPEAKS OUT

A ‘new normal’ of criminality will outlast COVID unless NYC pols wise up

 

By Ed Mullins

 

New York Post

April 14, 2021

 

 

 

A violent beating caught on tape. 

Man dies from multiple gunshot wounds in East New York. 

Man dies after broad daylight stabbing in Upper Manhattan. 

The headlines above are just a sampling from the past weeks in New York City. They don’t even take into account the recent uptick in attacks against Asian Americans. Taken together, the headlines represent a new normal far more alarming than the one defined by masks and social distancing. 

This new normal of criminality is what we saw in the Gotham of a bygone era, what old-timers call the “bad days.” Those days aren’t part of the civic memory of the millennials and younger activists who have captured City Hall and the state Legislature: muggings, stabbings, shootings, vagrancy, rampant homelessness, mentally ill men and women left to fend for themselves on the streets, all while political leaders order law enforcers to stand down.

In 2020, there were more shootings in the five boroughs than in the previous two years put together. Now, a quarter of the way through 2021, we’re on track to beat that dubious record.

Assaults, robberies, rapes, murders, grand larcenies and auto thefts continue to rise week to week, some by as much as 125 percent. The only type of criminal not seeing a boom in “business” are home burglars, and you don’t have to be a detective to figure out why (many people are home all day).

We long for the days of clean streets, wandering tourists, police officers on the corner and in most subway stations. Virus aside, we miss the other old normal: order. 

In 2013, Bill de Blasio was elected mayor, in part, because he confessed that he told his black son to fear the police. Ever since, he and his ideological coterie continue to push the false narrative that the enemy is not the permanent criminal class, but those sworn to protect us from it.

Cops — like the ones I represent — are now the bad guys, while the real bad guys are set free, because, we are told, bail is unfair. That notion is simply absurd, and the left knows it. It’s much more unfair to permit millions of law-abiders to live in fear. Bail requirements to ensure criminal suspects show up in court are no human-rights violation.

Then, in response to last year’s rising tide of sheer anarchy, the City Council slashed the NYPD’s budget and did away with a highly successful plainclothes anti-crime unit. Then, more brazen legislative stupidity: The council voted to end qualified immunity for New York’s men and women in blue, the most diverse police force on earth.

Ending immunity won’t hold accountable the bad apples among cops, as some politicians insist. It will merely stop good people from wanting to become police officers. Why would anyone risk her own life for a career in law enforcement, if she knew doing her job would leave her vulnerable to a gush of litigation for every perceived infraction? It’s a bonanza for lawyers but an enormous loss for public safety. 

As if all that weren’t enough to deal with for the forces of order and decency in the city, the state Legislature legalized marijuana to boot, allowing intoxicated, consequence-free behavior that, we officers know, encourages other reckless and dangerous activities. Managing this new aspect of the new normal will be an enormous challenge.

It doesn’t have to be this way.

As the weather warms and the COVID-19 vaccines help us conquer this awful disease, New Yorkers look forward to a summer spent with friends and family outdoors. No one wants to be fearful of walking down the street or sitting on a park bench or his stoop. The new normal of the past few years must come to an end, and common-sense policing must be reinstated. It’s the only way to stop the fear of random violence permeating our communities.

We can resist the new normal of criminality. We must. 

Ed Mullins is president of the Sergeants Benevolent Association of the NYPD.