NYPD turns its back on Mayor De Blasio

[branford]

104. My knowledge is of the actual constitutional and labor law.

I'm a trial attorney and actually practiced in these areas in NYC. Would you kindly care to explain your purportedly superior bona fides about the subject of military law and procedure, labor law as it applies to public employees and the disciplinary process, the mayors role and relationship to the police department in NYC, etc.?

Specifically,

First, the military is virtually unique in that its members voluntarily abrogate many of their constitutional rights while actively serving. Police and other municipal workers maintain their constitutional protections even though their organization is perceived as paramilitary.

Second, the police are unionized and subject to a collective bargaining agreement. They cannot be arbitrarily disciplined, and the reasons, type and extent of punishments are strictly regulated and subject to appeal.

Third, the police conduct constituted collective action by covered workers and therefore subject to additional labor protections.

Fourth, except under the most extreme exceptions, members of the military also cannot be subject to arbitrary discipline. They have an wide array of protections, both as to guilt and levels of punishment, dictated by the U.C.M.J.

Fifth, the police do not work for the mayor, they work for the City. Their executive is the Police Commissioner, and they answer to him, not the mayor.

Sixth, unlike the military, the Constitution and related law permits police officers to freely and actively oppose the mayor and other elected representative in the political sphere just as any other "civilian."

Seventh, the involved officers did not actually disobey any proper orders, and in any event, neither the mayor nor commissioner could lawfully order any officer to provide political support to the mayor.

Eight, it is quite likely that the majority of the officers were actually off-duty when they turned their backs, which would yet provide an additional, and quite substantial, layer of constitutional protections to their activity.

You are certainly free to believe discipline is warranted or anything else, but as I've explained numerous times here and elsewhere, the situation is not comparable to the military chain of command and discipline, and the officers will not face any discipline due to both legal prohibition and political impracticality.