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Police Labor Union: De Blasio’s Public Remarks On Race Contributed To Assassination Of Three Officers

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Shelby Talcott Senior White House Correspondent
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  • NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio has come under fire throughout the years from NYPD officers.
  • The Police Benevolent Association (PBA) told the Daily Caller News Foundation that de Blasio’s rhetoric about police is partially to blame for the assassination of three of their officers.
  • The New York City PBA live-tweeted during the 2020 Democratic debate and called out de Blasio for his “hypocritical” comments.

A police labor union called New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s comments during the first 2020 Democratic debate Wednesday evening “hypocritical” and said his rhetoric has sparked hate against police officers.

De Blasio stirred tensions with comments Wednesday night that he tells his black son to be wary when interacting with officers because of racial discrimination and violence. (RELATED: Bill De Blasio Is Apparently Worried That His Own Cops Will Shoot His Son)

“His public remarks about his son only inflamed the false narrative being pushed by race baiters that was based upon lies,” a Police Benevolent Association (PBA) spokesperson told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “We believe that his contribution to the false narrative resulted in the assassination of three of our members, Police Officer[s] [Wenjian] Liu, [Raphael] Ramos and [Miosotis] Familia.”

“They were all murdered by violent people who bought into the false rhetoric that police are intentionally killing black men for no reason. They were executed because they wore the blue uniform of a NYC police officer,” the spokesperson continued.

Racial tensions in America, particularly with police, has been a hot topic with the 2020 Democratic presidential candidates. The politicians who make demonizing comments about the police are “not helpful at all,” Dennis Slocumb, director of Legislative Affairs for the International Union of Police Associations (IUPA), told the DCNF.

“I can just speak in generalities that politicians who make political hay demeaning to the police … are just not helpful at all,” Slocumb told the DCNF. “I think it emboldens people to resist arrest. These guys [cops] aren’t driving down the streets saying, ‘Let’s go pick a fight with somebody.'”

The New York City PBA live-tweeted the debate, calling out de Blasio every time he commented on something it called “hypocritical.”

“He has offered NYC police officers who earn on average 30% less than other law enforcement personnel with whom we work patch to patch (State Troopers, Port Authority Police, [Metropolitan Transport Authority] police and others) raises that are less than inflation and he wants to reduce health benefits at the same time,” the PBA spokesperson said to the DCNF. “He has done the same to other NYC employees as well.”

De Blasio and Democratic Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren were the only two candidates to raise their hands when asked if they support government health care. This sparked anger from the PBA as well. Government health care would mean “that he [de Blasio] will be able to mistreat federal employees the same way he has mistreated city employees,” the spokesperson told the DCNF.

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The biggest frustration between de Blasio and police officers seems to still be the anti-police rhetoric that he has drummed up throughout his presidential campaign. Other comments from NYC PBA on Twitter included that gun crime has increased in Brooklyn despite de Blasio talking about New York City being a safe city.

“The hostile and dangerous environment we now face on the street is a direct result of the demonization of cops by de Blasio and other elected officials,” Pat Lynch, PBA president, said in a press statement Thursday. “By rolling out that rhetoric again on a national stage, it’s clear he wants to take the country down the same path.”

New York City Police Department cops have had a tough time with de Blasio for years. They turned their backs on him in 2014 at a cop funeral after de Blasio allegedly stoked anti-police rhetoric following two officers being shot in the line of duty. PBA cops also protested in Miami against de Blasio ahead of the debate.

Media coverage has followed the path of these politicians, according to Slocumb.

“The news media is just ridiculous,” Slocumb said. “I mean all of us still talk about Ferguson sometimes, an event that was shown to be a legitimate shoot by not only every agency but including [former President Barack] Obama’s … the whole thing was predicated on the lie of ‘hands up don’t shoot.'”

“The mainstream media is just absolutely loathed to condemn … people who march through the streets saying ‘we want dead cops, when do we want them, now,'” Slocumb continued.
“If you said that about any other group you’d be tarred and feathered in print.”

NYPD cops have made comments about de Blasio’s role as mayor, and this recent fight is further indication that they don’t think he should be in office.

“The last thing he wants to admit is that NYC doesn’t like him or support him,” the PBA spokesperson told the DCNF. “Polls have shown that the vast majority of New Yorkers don’t want him as President. He has been essentially, an absentee Mayor even when he is in the City. He is lazy and ineffective and should have never been elected Mayor.”

“No one calls us when the steaks are coming off the grill,” Slocumb told the DCNF. “People call us when everything has gone completely to hell. … We send young men and women who almost every single time are successful in whatever situation it is. … They are almost always successful and when they’re not they’re on the front page.”

De Blasio did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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