By Bob Friedrich
On May 2, a young NYPD officer from the 105th Precinct was viciously shot and killed while on patrol in an unmarked car in Queens Village. We mourn and pray for the family of 25-year-old Brian Moore. The attack unfolded after two officers seated in their unmarked car spotted a man whom they knew to have a long police rap sheet. The officers witnessed this man making a furtive movement (adjusting his waistband suspiciously) and proceeded to follow him in their vehicle. The suspect suddenly turned and fired on Officer Moore.
New Yorkers are right to wonder if this brutal attack could have been prevented. The mayor’s “new” rules of engagement for the NYPD implemented with lock-step support of the City Council are putting the lives of police officers in jeopardy. Obvious signs of lurking danger exhibited by a known recidivist coupled with visible hand gestures commonly made by those concealing weapons are no longer a standalone “justifiable” reason to stop, question and frisk an individual. Prior to Mayor de Blasio’s tenure, these cops would have been in full defensive-mode posture, preparing for a Stop, Question and Frisk encounter. This defensive posture can mean the difference between life and death.
The NYPD, our nation’s most skilled and successful police force, has been second-guessed repeatedly by the Mayor and City Council. A grand social experiment advocated by ideologically driven elected officials with no police enforcement experience has put our officers and neighborhoods in danger. They are marching us back to the days when police officers were passive and reactive instead of proactive and in crime-prevention mode. This threatens our safety each day, as demonstrated by the uptick of shootings and homicides this year. The Mayor and Police Commissioner may claim that other, less violent, crime has decreased, but police experts acknowledge that these “other” crime stats simply lag behind.
A family now lays to rest a young Police Officer killed in the line of duty because our elected officials have stripped him and the NYPD of the commonsense tools necessary for police to protect themselves and our communities – tools that over the past two decades have measurably reduced crime in ALL of our neighborhoods.
Where are the well-known agitators rallying with calls of “No Justice, No Peace” on behalf of PO Moore? Are demands for justice not applicable when a young cop is shot in cold blood by some “misguided youth”?
The May 2 attack should be a wake-up call to New Yorkers of all colors. The journey that made New York America’s safest large city and saved thousands of lives along the way – mostly in minority communities – is at risk. We have made a sharp U-turn to satisfy the Mayor and Council Speaker’s call for “social justice.” City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito and Fresh Meadows Councilman Rory Lancman are working overtime to shove us back into New York’s ugly past. Their call to decriminalize public urination, farebeating and flagrant public drinking do not make our communities safer or more desirable. When these activities are no longer criminalized, you can forget about dialing 911 to complain about neighborhood bar patrons urinating on your building or lawn. Even more frightening, in the past two months, subway turnstile-jumpers were apprehended by NYPD officers and found to possess loaded handguns. A stop-and-frisk search would not have been permitted by this new legislation, giving free rein to violent criminals who ALSO often engage in petty lawlessness which caused them to be stopped under “Broken Windows.”
According to the NYPD deputy commissioner for legal matters, Lawrence Byrne, a suspect committing a non-criminal offense “does not have any legal obligation to identify himself or herself…they can simply say nothing or tell the officer, ‘My name is Donald Duck and my address is One Disney Place,’ and that becomes the basis to issue a civil summons, which will never be enforced by any civil court.” With no ability to check for prior criminality or warrants, enforcement becomes unenforceable. This legislation will prevent officers from “policing the streets effectively,” said Commissioner Bratton.
Now Councilman Lancman is asking taxpayers to fund the hiring of an additional 1,000 cops while his legislative partner, council speaker Mark-Viverito, is sponsoring a bill to provide taxpayer funds for bails set below $2,000. Let’s understand how this would work: The taxpayer-funded police will use its resources to lock-up miscreants and then those same taxpayers will provide the funds to bail them out and return them back to the streets as soon as possible.
Welcome to the new reality that is New York, a city driven by ideology instead of common sense. With cops being assaulted in broad daylight and violent crime on the upswing, is this really the best that our elected officials can do?
Bob Friedrich is President of Glen Oaks Village, a Civic Leader and former candidate for NYC Council.
