Bill de Blasio. Photo: Joe Raedle/Getty Images
NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio has come under fire throughout the years from NYPD officers.
The Police Benevolent Association (PBA) told the Daily Caller News Foundation that de Blasio’s rhetoric about police is partially to blame for the assassination of three of their officers.
The New York City PBA live-tweeted during the 2020 Democratic debate and called out de Blasio for his “hypocritical” comments.
A police labor union called New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s comments during the first 2020 Democratic debate Wednesday evening “hypocritical” and said his rhetoric has sparked hate against police officers.
De Blasio stirred tensions with comments Wednesday night that he tells his black son to be wary when interacting with officers because of racial discrimination and violence.
“His public remarks about his son only inflamed the false narrative being pushed by race baiters that was based upon lies,” a Police Benevolent Association (PBA) spokesperson told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “We believe that his contribution to the false narrative resulted in the assassination of three of our members, Police Officer[s] [Wenjian] Liu, [Raphael] Ramos and [Miosotis] Familia.”
“They were all murdered by violent people who bought into the false rhetoric that police are intentionally killing black men for no reason. They were executed because they wore the blue uniform of a NYC police officer,” the spokesperson continued.
History repeats itself. @BilldeBlasio said he wants to bring cops and community together. Ask any cop on the street what impact his divisive rhetoric has had #DemDebatehttps://t.co/taSPVfDVKB
— NYC PBA (@NYCPBA) June 27, 2019
The New York City PBA live-tweeted the debate, calling out de Blasio every time he commented on something it called “hypocritical.”
Racial tensions in America, particularly with police, has been a hot topic with the 2020 Democratic presidential candidates. The politicians who make demonizing comments about the police are “not helpful at all,” Dennis Slocumb, director of Legislative Affairs for the International Union of Police Associations (IUPA), told the DCNF.
“I can just speak in generalities that politicians who make political hay demeaning to the police … are just not helpful at all,” Slocumb told the DCNF. “I think it emboldens people to resist arrest. These guys [cops] aren’t driving down the streets saying, ‘Let’s go pick a fight with somebody.'”
“He has offered NYC police officers who earn on average 30% less than other law enforcement personnel with whom we work patch to patch (State Troopers, Port Authority Police, [Metropolitan Transport Authority] police and others) raises that are less than inflation and he wants to reduce health benefits at the same time,” the PBA spokesperson said to the DCNF. “He has done the same to other NYC employees as well.”
De Blasio and Democratic Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren were the only two candidates to raise their hands when asked if they support government health care. This sparked anger from the PBA as well. Government health care would mean “that he [de Blasio] will be able to mistreat federal employees the same way he has mistreated city employees,” the spokesperson told the DCNF.