Patrick Lynch, president of the NYPD Patrolman’s Benevolent Association, continued to slam mayor Bill de Blasio during an interview with NPR’s “All Things Considered” on Tuesday.
Lynch has targeted the mayor since the assassinations of NYPD officers Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu in December. The union president previously stated de Blasio had “blood on his hands” regarding the officers’ deaths and claimed he disrespected police officers by allowing the Eric Garner protests to continue in November. This led to hundreds of officers turning their backs on the mayor during the slain officers’ funerals, an act de Blasio recently called “disrespectful.“
Lynch defended the officers’ actions, claiming de Blasio’s attitude has caused more friction between officers and citizens.
“When [de Blasio] attacks the New York City police department, he’s attacking his own department and his own policies,” Patrick Lynch, president of the Patrolman’s Benevolent Association, said on NPR’s All Things Considered. “If the policy is wrong then change it. We’ll follow our orders and effectively police that policy. But when he criticizes his department, he’s criticizing his own policy.”
De Blasio is producing friction between the police department and New Yorkers too, according to Lynch.
“City Hall is creating a climate where every interaction with police officers turns into a confrontation,” Lynch said in the interview.
Lynch’s sentiments clash with statistics recently released for 2014. Major crime was down a reported 4.6 percent, while crime was down across all five boroughs.
Meanwhile, Lynch is hoping that de Blasio apologizes for his actions towards the NYPD.
“It would go a long way,” Lynch said. “[If that does happen] we can start the dialogue on how to correct the problem and do our job better rather than constantly putting gasoline on the fire.”
When it comes to Lynch apologizing to the mayor for his “blood on his hands” comment, this is how he curved the idea:
“I will discuss why we feel that way, why our members feel that way and the atmosphere that was created on the street that went unchecked. When we get there, we can have a dialogue.”
In other words, “no.”
SOURCE: NPR, Huffington Post | VIDEO CREDIT: News Inc.
