On Monday, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said the recent terrorist attacks in Paris should be a “clarion call” to improve relations between him and the NYPD.
De Blasio said that “it is obvious that the events in Paris of the last few days are a clarion call to all of us to unify and move forward because we have to protect the people in this city and the values of this city and this country.”
“And I think our men and women in the NYPD are absolutely motivated to go good and believe in protecting those values,” he continued, adding that he was “confident we’re moving in the right direction.”
Implying that arrests and summonses increased last week after de Blasio reportedly threatened officers with potential transfers and no time off and sick days if the numbers did not tick up, he reiterated that he has been in regular contact with everyday cops and police union leaders in recent days and said that the NYPD is “extraordinary in its ability” to instantaneously respond to global events.
New York has been on high alert this week after ISIS released a video threatening attacks on the city, and de Blasio mentioned that the city is on “alert every single day because we are the number-one terror target” that “has created in us a sense of vigilance every day.”
NYPD police officers turned their backs on de Blasio on numerous occasions in the past weeks–including at the memorial services of executed officers Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu– to protest de Blasio’s embrace of anti-cop activists and refusal to condemn protestors who chanted that they wanted “dead cops now” after Eric Garner’s death.
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