The head of the city’s sergeants union blasts NYPD Commissioner James O’Neill in an incendiary new letter — accusing him of allowing “lawlessness and complete lack of respect for police officers” to reign on city streets.
“Simply put, Commissioner, things are out of control and seem destined to just get worse,” Ed Mullins, who heads the Sergeants Benevolent Association, wrote O’Neill on Thursday.
“The lawlessness and complete lack of respect for police officers that has been so blatant under your tenure is no longer restricted to the streets,” the letter reads.
“You need not look further than two recent events, one in which officers in the 40 Precinct were verbally harangued by young people ‘armed’ with cell phone cameras,” the union big wrote.
“More disturbing was a man who basically took ‘siege’ of the 28 Precinct, using his cell phone camera to verbally assault a sergeant and police officer who were on duty,” he wrote.
Mullins blames O’Neill’s “lack of leadership and guidance, especially during these times of great social unrest and tumult.”
Cops are left guessing “as to exactly what their duties are, and they overwhelmingly feel as if they are not supported by the NYPD and the mayoral administration,” Mullins wrote.
The letter was sent by Mullins to O’Neill and all deputy commissioners, chiefs, civilian executives and borough commanders, said SBA spokesman Robert Mladinich.
In response, NYPD Assistant Chief of Police Patrick Conry insisted that O’Neill is neither unclear nor out of touch with city cops.
“The Police Commissioner is out each and every day, talking to cops across the Department about their needs and concerns, and hearing from cops directly about the challenges they face on the job,” said Conry, who commands the NYPD’s public information division.
“The truth bears no resemblance to the fiction in this letter, which should be rejected by everyone in the real world.”