NYPD turns its back on Mayor De Blasio

[branford]

23. The police do not work for the mayor, they work for the City.

Their executive is also the Police Commissioner, not the mayor. They are also not in the military or waived their First Amendment protections. There's no special police exception.

They are municipal employees covered by a strong collective bargaining agreement, and have all the constitutional and contractual due process and good cause protections that such status entails. They can freely and actively oppose the mayor in the political sphere. They did not disobey any proper orders, and neither the mayor nor commissioner could lawfully order any officer to provide political support to the mayor. I would also note that it is quite likely that the majority of the officers were actually off-duty when they turned their backs.

It is common for members of the DU to laud and support public employees and unions members when the take controversial stands or buck authority. However, public employment and unions membership are not always synonymous with progressive politics, and conservative employees and union members enjoy all the same benefits, privileges and protections as their more liberal brethren.

The job of the police is not to support the mayor, it is to fight crime and disorder and protect the populace. If, as you suggest, they were denied promotion or suffered other adverse employment consequences because of their politics, they could file a grievance and almost certainly win.