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NYC Mayor Bill De Blasio Meets With Police Union, Solves Nothing

By JenniferP
Published on: 04:33 PST, Dec 31, 2014

Mayor Bill de Blasio met yesterday with New York City Police Union leaders to ease tension between the two. According to CBS, though, the “rift remains.”

De Blasio met with the officials in a private meeting yesterday that lasted for more than two hours. It was an attempt to “heal wounds opened by protests about police conduct.” After leaving the meeting yesterday, though, Patrick Lynch, head of the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association told CBS, “There was no resolve.”

De Blasio has had a less than ideal relationship with the police department, especially after comments he made sympathizing with protesters marching against the grand jury’s decision in the death of Eric Garner. Also, his comments to his biracial son urging him to be careful in his dealings with police were not taken well at all and have caused more backlash than De Blasio might have expected.

After the fatal shootings of two police officers, Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu, many people placed blame on De Blasio. According to New York Magazine, even former Governor George Pataki, along with other police union leaders, blamed De Blasio, saying that he had caused this senseless act by “fostering an anti-NYPD atmosphere.”

Even though De Blasio has been commenting and tweeting about his support of the NYPD, they don’t seem to be believing it.

NYPD officers heckled de Blasio at the NYPD graduation ceremony, even though de Blasio commented on his respect, saying that the city “got a little safer” and referred to the graduates as “New York’s Finest and New York’s Bravest.”

Well, the finest and the bravest didn’t feel the same, with some even turning their backs on the mayor as he spoke.

NYPD officers also let De Blasio know just how they felt by turning their backs on him at Officer Ramos’ funeral, too. It was clear that they were there to support their fellow officers but not the mayor.

De Blasio has seemingly been working to repair his relationship with the NYPD, setting up a Mayor’s Fund for the families of the two fallen officers.

The fund and his words now have no effect, though.

Neither side is said to have apologized for their actions, leaving things un-mended. While De Blasio was unable to repair the rift at this time, he has agreed to meet with police union leaders again to try and repair their relationship.

[Photo Courtesy of Wikipedia]

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