NYPD COMMISH PEED OFF
Rips Brooklyn College cop-toilet policy
Police Commissioner James O’Neill on Monday slammed Brooklyn College for restricting officers who have to relieve themselves to a run-down bathroom on the far end of campus to keep them out of view.
“Now is the time for everyone to get together. If you take a look at what is going on around the city, now’s the time for people to get to know their police officers, not to push them away,” O’Neill said.
“God forbid anything does happen in Brooklyn College, we want to make sure our cops — not only those from the [70th Precinct], but from whatever other divisions or bureaus might respond to that — we want them to know the layout of Brooklyn College.”
O’Neill was responding to a Post report Monday saying that officials at the taxpayer-funded CUNY college were trying to keep cops off its two quads amid a student petition drive to ban the NYPD altogether.
The top cop’s remarks also followed a ceremony in Queens to rename the NYPD Academy Library after the late Ben Ward, the city’s first black police commissioner.
“He went to Brooklyn College, so I don’t think he’d be really happy about it,” O’Neill noted.
At the same news conference, Mayor de Blasio said the school “should never ban any police presence on campus.”
“That makes no sense whatsoever,” Hizzoner said.
NYPD records show 75 calls to 911 for emergencies at the school — which has its own security force — so far this year.
Brooklyn College Director of Public Safety Donald Wenz last week told The Post that while all bathrooms were technically open to cops, the school preferred them to avoid being seen on campus because “some may interpret that as an emergency going on.”
Student-body President Nissim Said also blamed anti-cop sentiment among students on an NYPD operation that sent an undercover cop to infiltrate the school’s Muslim community in search of terrorists.
In 2010, Brooklyn College grad Syed Hashmi was sentenced to 15 years in prison for sending waterproof socks and other gear to al Qaeda insurgents in Afghanistan, whom he called “my brothers the noble mujahedeen.”
Brooklyn College freshman Farih Chowdhury, an observant Muslim who wears a traditional head covering, said Monday that she didn’t object to the NYPD’s presence on campus.
“I think they should be allowed to use any bathroom,” said Chowdhury, 18.
In a statement, college President Michelle Anderson said she met with NYPD brass on Monday to “reassure them that members of the New York City Police Department are welcome to use our bathrooms.”
Hand it to Peter Zimroth, the court-appointed NYPD monitor: He’s effectively exposing the idiocy of the ruling he’s supposed to enforce.
His latest report says that cops are no longer sure what’s expected of them when they stop a civilian and fear the brass won’t stand by them if something goes wrong. Plus, the court-mandated paperwork is too time-consuming.
A year ago, Zimroth reported that officers weren’t stopping, frisking and arresting suspects properly, and laid the blame on poor training. Well, the department revamped the training, yet cops still tell Zimroth that the rules are confusing and the forms maddening.
And, as the monitor paraphrases their remarks, “It’s not worth stopping anyone because the department won’t have our backs.”
In short, the remedies agreed to by Mayor de Blasio in settling the stop-and- frisk lawsuits — even after the judge behind the adverse rulings was kicked off the case for bias — have crippled a basic policing tactic.
It’s to the great credit of all 37,000 members of the force that the NYPD still manages to keep driving crime rates down anyway, thanks to innovative approaches, including ever-better use of information.
But this leaves the critics eager to find new ways to handcuff the city’s police — such as the “Right To Know Act,” which would practically require cops to invite anyone they stop to file a complaint, if not a lawsuit.
The mayor could start sending the right signal of support for police by not just opposing this legislation, but making credible threats of consequences for members who vote for it anyway.
And de Blasio can follow up by asking the court to lift its burdensome stop-and-frisk paperwork, since the court’s own monitor faults it.