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| NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea |
SEE IT: NYPD commissioner bashes city leaders as ‘cowards’ in police brass meeting: ‘They are failing at every possible measure to be leaders’
In a stunning seven-minute video taken during a CompStat meeting Thursday at NYPD headquarters, Shea poured out his frustration with the lack of support for the city’s police.
“I don’t know if there’s ever been a period like this where so many systems of government are literally cowards and won’t stand up for what’s right,” Shea said while standing at a podium. “They’re failing at every possible measure to be leaders and throw it on the back of the police department.
“They curse them with one hand and blame them with the other,” he continued. “How dare they.”
Shea already publicly shot down a series of police reform bills signed by Mayor Bill de Blasio Wednesday, claiming they would adversely impact public safety as the city has suffered a massive uptick in shootings over the last month.
The new reforms make it criminal for NYPD cops to put suspects in a chokehold, which is already banned in the department. It is now also illegal for cops to sit, kneel, or stand on someone’s chest or back in a way that could obstruct their breathing. If police are caught doing so, they could face misdemeanor charges.
On Friday, the Suffolk County Police Department joined a growing number of law enforcement agencies that directed its officers not to take enforcement action in the five boroughs, fearing they could get into legal trouble.
Westchester County and Yonkers police made similar moves earlier this week.
“People that don’t have a clue about how to keep New Yorkers safe suddenly think they know about policing. I have another thing to tell them, they don’t have a god damn clue what they talking about,” Shea said.
“But we are not going to let them destroy this city,” he said.
Bail reform and efforts to reduce the city’s jail population is also putting the city at risk, Shea told leaders from Patrol Borough Brooklyn North, which has seen a nearly 73% jump in shootings over the past year.
“You have political pressures pushing everyone out of jail and putting systems in place to keep people from going into jail,” Shea said.
“(Then they say) cops, fix it. (That’s) impossible until people get their heads out of their you know what and get their heads out of the sand and come out and make hard decisions and tell that 1% of fringe lunatics that this is our city,” he said.
Councilman Rory Lancman (D-Queens), who drafted the chokehold bill, fought back against Shea’s comments Saturday, saying he should look in the mirror before calling anyone out.
“It’s frightening that Commissioner Shea is part of the lunatic fringe who thinks it’s acceptable to choke or stand on a suspect, and it’s dangerous that the mayor still has his back,” Lancman said in a statement.
Lancman last week demanded that Mayor de Blasio fire Shea over the skyrocketing shootings. But de Blasio has continued to support his police commissioner, and on Tuesday called him “one of the people who made this the safest big city in America.”
During his speech at the CompStat meeting, Shea said his position in the department was secure.
“No, I’m not going anywhere short term,” he told his officers. “You’re stuck with me for a while.”
Shea also made a pitch to start holding grand jury procedures again, claiming that just 20 people — which he considered “high-value targets” — are responsible for at least 100 shootings in the city in recent weeks.
“Sixteen of them have open cases right now. These 20 people touch 100 shootings,” Shea said.
“These god damn 20 people need to go to jail,” he said.
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