DISARM COPS TO KEEP PEOPLE SAFE FROM POLICE VIOLENCE?

Maya Wiley won’t say if she would let cops keep guns when questioned at mayoral debate 

 

By Nolan Hicks

 

New York Post

June 10, 2021

 

 

                                             Maya Wiley

 

Al Sharpton (left) listens as Maya Willey addresses his National  Action Network   

 

Pressed in a debate Thursday among the top five Democratic candidates for mayor, Maya Wiley would not say if she would let New York City cops keep their guns.

Wiley was pressed on the issue by WCBS-TV/Ch. 2’s Marcia Kramer, who premised the question around recent recommendations by state Attorney General Letitia James to make use-of-force a decision of last resort by law enforcement.

“Well, look, one of the things we have to do is acknowledge that the Mayor’s job is safety — safety is job one and I’m going to keep New Yorkers safe when I’m mayor,” Wiley began.

But Kramer quickly interjected: “Will you take the guns away from them?”

Wiley, a former de Blasio administration official and Civilian Complaint Review Board chair, attempted to dance around the question once more but Kramer pressed: “But will you take the guns away from the NYPD?”

“I am not prepared to make that decision in a debate,” Wiley conceded.

“I am going to have a civilian commissioner and a civilian commission that is going to hold the police accountable and ensure we’re safe from crime but also from police violence.”

The other candidates on the stage — Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, former Sanitation Commissioner Kathryn Garcia, city Comptroller Scott Stringer and tech entrepreneur Andrew Yang — pledged to let the cops keep their guns.