Rory Lancman’s police flip-flop

Email to or post your letter to or send fax to Please include full name, address and daytime phone number. The Daily News reserves the right to edit letters.

Manhattan: Re “The NYPD vs. City Hall” (op-ed, July 8). City Councilman Rory Lancman accuses police — from cops on patrol through to the commissioner and supervisors and chiefs — of engaging in a sort of military coup against civilian rule of New York City. Leaving aside his preposterous argument, the councilman counts on everyone having a short memory. Is this the same politician who ran as a pro-cop candidate for Congress in 2012? Is this the same politician who was criticized in that campaign for using scare tactics to attack opponents who supported defunding an NYPD surveillance program? As I remember, his campaign activities then were the focus of extensive print and television coverage. Please, councilman, next time you stick your finger in the air to see which way the wind is blowing, take a moment for self-reflection. Ed Mullins

president, Sergeants Benevolent Association of the NYPD

Whitestone: Councilman Rory Lancman does not understand, or does not care, what police officers in busy precincts face on patrol. What will happen if all forms of the chokehold are criminalized for police officers under any and all circumstances? How should an officer restrain a criminal suspect? This is not to excuse the negligent actions of the officer in the Eric Garner case, or the malicious, criminal conduct of the officer in the George Floyd case. However, it must be recognized that police officers sometimes have to briefly use a headlock (which could result in neck compression) to bring a violent criminal suspect under control. Michael J. Gorman

retired NYPD lieutenant

Substitute teacher

Manhattan: Perhaps Councilman Lancman could attend NYPD training sessions and demonstrate exactly how he would take down and restrain a violent, emotionally-disturbed person who is resisting arrest or assaulting a police officer. He could also explain the fine line between a chokehold and a headlock, which any kid who grew up in Queens and had a schoolyard fight would know (control the head, and the body usually follows). The entire Council and the mayor should attend, too, and participate. Then they could continue their search for a kinder, gentler bullet.

Bruce Robertson

Wrong lane

Brooklyn: What makes Councilman Lancman think he knows better than members of the police department how to fight crime in the city? That’s like members of Congress trying to tell military commanders how to fight a battle. George Nader

Wrong reason

Manhattan: NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea disingenuously

blames a surge in shootings over the July 4 weekend on decarceration and NYPD divestment efforts. This is an attempt to undo hard-won progress toward closing Rikers. The fact is, most people being held on Rikers have not been convicted, and many are held on charges unrelated to guns. The reasons for violence are the inequities and racism inherent in the legal system, and the lack of resources in communities. We have the most well-funded police force of any large city and one of the most abusive, with 6,472 lawsuits settled against them in 2018 alone, costing roughly $230 million. Communities need resources to keep us safe — not Shea’s racist policing.

DeAnna Hoskins president and CEO Just Leadership USA

Legal trouble

Long Island City: Re “Dermot Shea’s time is up” (op-ed, July 9): While I am no fan of Commissioner Dermot Shea, Maya Wiley is off-base in attributing the recent crime spike to people who are suffering because of the pandemic. The hard-working

New Yorkers who are now forced to go to food pantries, or are in danger of being evicted, are not the ones shooting innocent people, including children. There is something wrong with our legal system when Ricky Bellevue is not charged, but the police officer doing his job is arrested; then, a few days later, Bellevue is arrested for allegedly slashing a man’s face with a box cutter and uttering anti-gay slurs.

Paul Camilleri

Blue ‘benefits’?

Rockaway Park: Voicer Don Adler opines that police officers receive a “robust” paycheck. Mr. Adler claims to be from Brooklyn, so I assume he is referring to NYPD officers. I would like to know how he thinks someone can not just live, but support a family, on a salary of $85,000 per year in New York? And that salary is only reached after nearly seven years of service. Mr. Adler also thinks that there is a “long line of unemployed” waiting to take a low-paying job whose members are spit at, have rocks and bottles thrown at them, and are not supported by their superiors when forced to make split-second, often life-or-death decisions. I would like to see how long Mr. Adler would last “in the bag” before giving up in disgust. Police officers stay on

ANGUS MORDANT/FOR NEW YORK DAILY NEWS the job purely out of devotion defender, and mentioned to their oath and duty, but actual cases in which Ms. that calling is changing as we Harris abused, covered up, or speak. ignored police disciplinary Peter Galvin, retired NYPD records (50-a material), instead of employing unsubstantiated generalities. Gerald Sanchez

Butt-dial

Brooklyn: Boy, do I miss Rudy Giuliani! In six years, Mayor de Blasio has destroyed the fabric of the city, the rule of law and order, and made New York a place we are gladly waiting to leave. He actually wanted to be president!

Epic fail

Lindenhurst, L.I.: Reportedly, Donald Trump paid someone to take his SATs. Trump should pay someone to take his presidency. He’s failing the test.

Susan Marie Davniero

Objection!

David DiBello

Osprey, Fla.: Anisha Gupta’s article “Prosecuting Kamala Harris” (op-ed, July 3) on why she’s the wrong choice for VP was an unfounded indictment of Harris and of all prosecutors throughout the country. While there are allegations of police abuse being covered up by prosecutors, the percentage of such alleged behavior is so small, it hardly seems fair to paint all prosecutors with the same brush. Gupta would be more credible if she spoke of her experience as a public

Protest too much

Rockaway Point: How dare politicians say that people who disagree with painting Black Lives Matter in the streets are racist. They are shoving that phrase down our throats, and it’s getting downright annoying. I am not a racist, but it should say “ALL LIVES MATTER.”

Regina Mangan

Paint job

Bronx: Two people charged with hate crimes for painting over the racist mayor’s street graffiti, while anarchists walk free after tearing down statues, paintings and the American flag. A true hate crime against all Americans.

Robert Neglia

Public health

Manhattan: The recent Supreme Court decision, that religious organizations cannot be compelled to provide birth control against their will, is absolutely just. If the state considers free birth control to be of such importance, then it should pay for it out of public funds.

Joseph McCluskey