PLUS: MAYOR, SHEA TRADE FIRE OVER GUN VIOLENCE
Blame game over weekend violence
Mayor de Blasio and top NYPD brass publicly clashed Monday over the reasons behind a horrifying surge of gun violence over the weekend — and things between Hizzoner and police leadership are even more tense behind the scenes, sources told the Daily News.
While top cops largely blamed recent police reforms for the citywide carnage that left nine dead and more than 50 people shot, the mayor sought to take a wider view.
“We need laws that make sense,” Police Commissioner Dermot Shea said on NY1.
He went on to call the City Council’s recently passed bill banning chokeholds “insane,” saying, “Police officers should not have to worry more about getting arrested than the person with the gun that they’re rolling around on the street with.”
Shea also blamed the city’s recent policy of releasing hundreds of inmates from Rikers Island — a move aimed at preventing the spread of coronavirus — for the Fourth of July weekend mayhem.
At a news onference later in the morning, de Blasio said, “There’s not one cause for something like this.
“The court system is not working,” he continued, “the economy’s not working, people have been pent up for months and months — so many issues underlying this challenge.”
He promised the city would take a multipronged approach to stemming the violence, including “doubling down” on neighborhood policing initiatives.
The mayor also called on clergy and other community leaders to join the effort, saying he would meet with local leaders from upper Manhattan — one of the hardest-hit areas over the weekend — via videoconference later Monday.
Speaking alongside de Blasio, NYPD Chief of Department Terence Monahan echoed Shea’s remarks.
“It has our cops hesitating to enforce some of those quality-of-life issues,” Monahan said of the chokehold bill, adding police don’t object to being unable to use chokeholds, but to language that holds them culpable for “sitting, kneeling or standing on the chest or back in a manner that compresses the diaphragm.”
He also slammed the state’s move to end cash bail for a wide range of misdemeanors and nonviolent felonies.
“A lot of different individuals are on the street that should not be on the street,” Monahan said.
So far this year, alleged criminals who were out free because of bail reform have been rearrested 750 times for committing major crimes, according to the NYPD.
De Blasio declined to defend the reforms from Shea’s and Monahan’s attacks, saying he “understands” NYPD officers’ frustrations.
But behind the scenes, a different discussion has played out between the mayor and police commissioner, according to a former highranking NYPD officer.
De Blasio recently admonished Shea for comments he made last week decrying the chokehold bill and other Council legislation as bowing to “mob rule,” the source told The News.
The mayor questioned whether NYPD top brass are in fact happy with the uptick in crime, because it lets them make a case against police reform, the person added.
Meanwhile, local police precincts have not been getting guidance from NYPD headquarters on how to handle the violence, said two sources familiar with the matter.
“They feel the leadership has taken a step back,” the former high-ranking officer said of precinct commanders. “Now you’ve got 77 different commanders doing 77 different things. It’s dan
gerous. It’s really, really dangerous.”
The mayor’s office and NYPD did not immediately answer requests for comment about the matter.
“The mayor has lost control of the police commissioner and the police commissioner has lost control of the Police Department,” said another source. “Shea has lost control of all the unions. He’s lost control of the chiefs. He’s lost control of the precinct commanders.”
On Sunday, the heads of the NYPD’s Manhattan commands publicly criticized elected officials — an extraordinary move for an agency that puts a premium on loyalty.
“Disgraceful the amount of people shot in Manhattan North in the past 24 hours! Where are the elected officials and violence interupter [sic]!! The community is suffering!!” tweeted Assistant Chief Kathleen O’Reilly, commander of NYPD Patrol Borough Manhattan North.
Shea confirmed Monday the messages “did not go out with my blessing.”
Speaking in Albany, Gov. Cuomo said the weekend violence had nothing to do with either the state’s bail reform law or the city’s release of inmates from Rikers.
“I don’t believe those are the reasons for the shootings,” he said at a news conference. “There’s a range of blame game going on.”
Since the pandemic broke out, 3,000 people have been arrested about three times each, according to NYPD Chief of Crime Control Strategies Michael Lipetri.
“We talk about Rikers releases. We talk about bail reform. How about we talk about who’s not going into Rikers? Nobody is,” he fumed at a news conference at Police Headquarters.
State lawmakers passed a bill banning chokeholds last month, beating the City Council to the punch. De Blasio was expected to sign the Council version of the legislation, along with other police reform bills, on Tuesday.
The author of the Council’s chokehold bill called on the city’s top cop to resign.
“You have a police commissioner who is in open rebellion against the elected mayor, the elected City Council, the elected district attorneys and the elected state Legislature, and it is an intolerable and dangerous situation, both for our democracy but also for fulfilling the department’s mission to keep us safe,” said City Councilman Rory Lancman (D-Queens).
Officials’ attempt to blame the surge in crime on courts — where grand jury and other nonessential proceedings have been suspended but other hearings have continued amid the coronavirus outbreak — drew pushback from a spokesman for the state court system.
Lucian Chalfen called the criticism “absurd, patently false and ridiculous.”
“The courts have operated continuously throughout the pandemic, arraigning defendants, holding 100s of hearings, and conferencing 1,000s of cases,” he said in an email to The News. “[De Blasio] should be looking in the mirror, not gazing out a window.”