NYPD meets with Bill de Blasio to 'bring the city together' amid tensions
NEW YORK -- New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio met on Tuesday with the leaders of police unions who say he was partially responsible for a gunman's deadly attack on two policemen 10 days ago.
De Blasio, whose turbulent relationship with his police department has become the gravest crisis of his year-old mayoralty, called the meeting to "foster constructive and responsible dialogue," his press secretary, Phil Walzak, wrote in an e-mail.
Some police officers have taken to turning their backs on the mayor at public events in unusual displays of hostility since two policemen were killed.
In addition, the New York Post said new weekly crime statistics from the policedepartment were evidence that police had begun an undeclared "virtual work stoppage" in protest and out of fear for their safety.
There was a marked drop in the number of arrests and court summonses in the last week, according to statistics released on Tuesday. Police made 1,820 arrests last week, compared with 5,370 arrests for the same week a year ago, a 66 percent drop. The number of court summonses issued for minor crimes dropped 94 percent to 300 last week, from 4,831 over the same week in 2013.
City Hall and a spokeswoman for the department declined to comment on whether there was a police slowdown.
The mayor has angered police by saying he understands some of the concerns of protesters who have vilified the police as being hostile to black citizens at rallies in New York City and beyond.
Police union leaders were outraged by de Blasio's remarks that he has frequently warned his mixed-race, teenage son about the "dangers he may face" in police encounters.
Frayed relations reached their lowest ebb on Saturday, Dec. 27, when a black man fatally shot two policemen as they sat in their patrol car in Brooklyn. The shooter wrote online that he wanted to kill police officers as retribution for the deaths of unarmed black men by police, and killed himself soon after the attack.
That evening, the city's Patrolmen's Benevolent Association, the nation's largest police union, and the Sergeants Benevolent Association said de Blasio had "blood on his hands" for the deaths of Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos, the slain policemen.
Police Commissioner William Bratton, who joined Tuesday's meeting, has said talks were needed to mend deeply frayed relations between police and City Hall. He has attributed some of the tension to unresolved negotiations on new labor contracts.
Patrick Lynch, the PBA's president, was attending Tuesday's meeting with "an open mind", his spokesman said. "We didn't set the agenda," said Albert O'Leary.
Asked about the reports of a work slowdown by police, he said: "I don't know anything about that," adding that no such instructions had come from Lynch.
The mayor has declined to take questions from reporters for more than a week while, his office says, he focuses on trying to "bring our city together."