'DE BLASIO, OUR BACKS HAVE TURNED TO YOU' Cold war between NYPD cops, de Blasio takes to skies

[branford]

38. Read about the mayor's current polling and trends as he approaches just one year in office.

More importantly, listen to his current statements. For heaven's sake, he went from campaigning on police reform, meeting with the protesters and personal anecdotes about his son, to asking protesters to stay home and strongly criticizing them. Listening to the mayor over the last couple of days, despite the unions' rhetoric, one would think that the NYPD just cured cancer and ended world hunger, and that Commissioner Bratton (Giuliani's former police commissioner) actually walks on water. It's enough to give anyone political whiplash.

Do you think that maybe Mayor deBlasio has a better sense of how the NYPD is viewed by a majority of city residents and their political impact that you?

As to your absurd and hyperbolic claims that the officers of the NYPD, one of the most diverse police forces in the world with over 34,000 active officers, "hate the city with all their hearts," all I can say is that you really need to meet far more NYPD's officers and the majority of residents who have an amicable and professional relationship with them, day in, and day out.

I, too, believe the recent police union rhetoric inflammatory and unhelpful, but I will not ignore reality because it may not suit my political preferences, nor adopt short-sighted positions that could hurt the entire labor movement.