NYPD Commish Supports Mayor de Blasio, Criticizes “Inappropriate” NYPD Behavior at Funeral

To honor the memory of the two NYPD officers killed by a gunman recently, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio addressed members of the NYPD. When officers turned their backs to the mayor, their behavior was later criticized by NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton, reported Raw Story.

Commissioner Bratton spoke on CBS yesterday and delivered his support for Mayor de Blasio.

“This is a mayor who cares very deeply about New York police officers, cares very deeply about the divide in the city and is working hard to heal that divide,” said Bratton.

Raw Story noted that de Blasio has been attacked by conservatives and police supporters in New York and across the nation as being responsible for the shootings, as well as violence committed by police brutality protesters. de Blasio has spoken out against police brutality, but conservatives have misconstrued that position as being anti-police.

While addressing officers at the funeral of one of the slain officers in Queens, officers turned their backs towards the mayor, drawing the ire of Commissioner Bratton.

“I certainly don’t support that action,” said Commissioner Bratton of the dissenting officers. “That funeral was held to honor Ramos, and to bring politics into that event was very inappropriate.”

The tensions between the people of New York City and the NYPD had reached a tipping point with the choking death of Eric Garner, a NYC resident who died at the hands of an NYPD officer. Coupled with the controversy that erupted over a grand jury decision not to indict Ferguson, MO., officer Darren Wilson over the shooting death of 18 year-old Michael Brown, police behavior has been under the microscope.

The NYPD has accrued a nationwide reputation of being a collective of racist police that profiles minorities while leaving whites alone.

It’s important to recognize that not all cops are bad. It’s a simple mantra, but it is true. The two officers gunned down weeks ago didn’t deserve to die, and their death was a tragedy. However, the NYPD officers, as Commissioner Bratton has said, were wrong to allow their politics enable a disrespectful action towards Mayor de Blasio.