|
When I think of the courage and dedication of most of the men and women of the New York Police Department, I must protest the offensive cover of the recent New Yorker magazine. Insulting the men and women who put their lives on the line daily to protect our lives and property serves no positive purpose except to exploit a sensitive situation in order to boost magazine sales.
We have a police force that is larger than many national military forces. In my opinion the NYPD is as well trained and as professional as any department in the country.
But when you are dealing with close to 40,000 officers, the law of averages dictates that some have psychiatric and behavior problems that should have kept them off the force in the first place, and from any employment that involves dealing with people.
The obsenity of the vicious attack against Abner Louima was so disgusting that you would have expected a cry of outrage from members of the police department themselves. They should have been screaming, “NOT IN THIS POLICE DEPARTMENT.”
Now we have the shooting of Amadou Diallo--41 shots fired, and 19 hitting their target, a young, innocent, unarmed man. The only thing as shocking as the tragedy itself was the response of some of our government leaders who argued that it wouldn’t have taken as many shots to bring him down if the officers were using hollow point bullets. We haven’t heard anything yet that sounds like an apology.
The Mayor took the outrage even further, declaring at a Congressional hearing in Washington that African Americans were shot by police no more than by other people.
We are well past shouting about a total lack of sensitivity; young victims of police abuse and reckless misconduct are being totally ignored.
I commend the religious leaders who have condemned these outrages. But in my opinion, it should be the decent men and women of the Police Department--the vast majority--who should be shattering the blue wall of silence and crying out in condemnation of those who have defiled the badge. They should be crying out not only in defense of their uniform but of their children who should not have to be subjected to the taunts of their classmates who call their parents “killers.”
We once had in the military service a serious drug problem, and I remember the message that was put out to those whose behavior embarrassed their comrades in arms. “NOT IN MY NAVY,” the warning given on the peer level was so effective in changing attitudes that it stopped the drug problem in its tracks.
This is the kind of thing we need in the New York Police Department, where all the good officers send a strong message that they won’t tolerate it any more, that they didn’t join the force to have defend the wrongdoing of a handful of bad apples, that they are going to stand up to defend their own integrity and the respect of their children. We need these officers to say loud and clear, “NOT IN MY POLICE FORCE.”
That is the message I want to deliver today, and that is why I am getting arrested.
### |
