Presidents of two New York police unions are firing back in defense of police officers amid ongoing protests highlighting police brutality following the death of George Floyd.
During a press conference in New York City on Tuesday, Pat Lynch, president of New York City Police’s Benevolent Association (PBA), and Mike O’Meara, president of New York State Association of PBA, criticized lawmakers’ efforts for police reform.
Lynch accused lawmakers of rushing to pass “packages of bills in the dark of night without even reading them.”
O’Meara also weighed in to defend New York law enforcement. While O’Meara admits the union does not condone the actions of former Minneapolis Police Department Derek Chauvin, he insists police officers have been “vilified” as a result of his actions.
“We don’t condone Minneapolis. We roundly reject what he did as disgusting. It’s disgusting!” O’Meara said. “It’s not what we do. It’s not what police officers do.”
He also compared his law enforcement agency to Minneapolis, noting the difference between the two, saying “He killed someone. We didn’t. We are restrained.”
He added, “Stop treating us like animals and thugs, and start treating us with some respect! That’s what we’re here today to say. We’ve been left out of the conversation. We’ve been vilified. It’s disgusting.”
See the full press conference below:
O’Meara also dismissed reports highlighting black parents’ fears of their children being killed by police officers.
“We all read in the paper all week … that in the black community, mothers are worried about their children getting home from school without being killed by a cop,” O’Meara said. “What world are we living in? That doesn’t happen. It does not happen!”
O’Meara’s remarks follow multiple discussions about the efforts being made to reform police departments around the country.
On Monday, Congressional Democrats unveiled a bill with multiple, proposed changes that would likely be the first steps toward overhauling United States law enforcement, as previously reported on IJR.
Lawmakers are also discussing possible systems that can be implemented to track the misconduct of police officers which would increase the likelihood of accountability.
A previous study conducted by the Center for Constitutional Right shows a history of racial profiling of blacks and Hispanics by the New York City Police Department, specifically regarding “stop-and-frisk.”
Another report breaks down totals regarding “stop-and-frisk stops” between 2004 to 2009, revealing: “Nearly 200,000 (6.7 percent) of the stops were made without proper legal justification, and 24 percent of the police reports logged in five years lacked enough information to evaluate the legality of the stop.”
According to The Leadership Conference Education Fund, in 2013, “a federal judge found the New York City Police Department’s ‘Stop-and-Frisk’ policy unconstitutional.” It added, “Judge Shira A. Scheindlin ruled that NYPD’s stop-and-frisk tactics violate the U.S Constitution’s 4th Amendment prohibition of unreasonable searches and seizures.”
In 2014, the New York City Police Department also came under fire after 2,000 complaints of racial profiling were dismissed by the department.
Current reports also indicate that most of NYC police misconduct involves police mistreatment with black and Latino youth.
