Police will keep doing their job

The Pantaleo ruling is an emotional moment on the stage of law enforcement history. But this is not the first decision that prompted public approval and police outrage. It’s an very emotional moment, but we still have to go forward as a city.

I’d expect the cops are going to move through their disappointment. They’re going to do what they always did. It doesn’t matter if it’s a call to duty as big as 9/11 or or finding a lost child, they are going to do their job. When you no longer want to do that job, that’s when you should

no longer wear the uniform.

The NYPD has a tough job, but they also have a higher level of professionalism. If they respond to a domestic incident, they are not going to let someone continue to batter their spouse until backup arrives. They are not going to wait to chase a robbery suspect down the block until a supervisor gives them the approval. At the end of the day, they wear the blue uniform and they fight crime. End of story.

The law enforcement community has a deep admiration for its unions. They respect the voice that came from Pat Lynch, because he is expressing the anger they are feeling. But again: At the same time, they are going to go out and do their job.

The ruling honestly didn’t come as a surprise. I woke up this morning with one belief: I don’t see how the NYPD can get away from doing a dismissal. Things are not in a vacuum as we pretend them to be. Some cases have a higher level of awareness than others and I thought a combination of public pressure and where we are as a country was going to weigh into this decision.

The bottom line is Eric Garner should not have died for a minor infraction at best. If a person dies in a case like this, that is an indictment on our professionalism.

We can’t continue to leave our precincts with a toolbox and tools and only pull out the hammer.