Report: Most NYPD Officers Would Be Fine with Mayor Bill de Blasio Attending Their Funeral Service

According to this report, only a very small fraction would object to the mayor's presence.

The relationship between the NYPD and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has been contentious since the murder of two NYPD officers in Brooklyn in December. Some members of the police force believe that the killings of Officers Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu was the result of an "anti-police" atmosphere created by de Blasio. But figures claim that the majority of police officers in the city would not mind if de Blasio attended their funerals. 

According to the New York Daily News, the letter specifically asks that the mayor and City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito refrain from attending their services: 


As a New York City police officer, (I) request that Mayor Bill de Blasio and City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito refrain from attending my funeral services, the form letter declares. The document cites the duo’s consistent refusal to show police officers the support and respect they deserve — particularly in the wake of the decision by a Staten Island grand jury to not indict the NYPD officer responsible for the chokehold death of Eric Garner.

The Daily News also reports that just four percent of Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association members have signed the initiative:


Only 850 NYPD officers have asked Mayor de Blasio and City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito not to come to their last rites if they die on the job, police sources said. That means about 4% of the 23,000 active members of the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association signed the missive on the union’s website. That’s low, one of the sources said.

However, PBA Spokesman Al O’Leary told the Daily News that the figure was "totally bogus," adding that the union has yet to collect the letters. A police source did tell the Daily News that PBA President Patrick Lynch had done little to generate support for the letters. 

Animosity developed between the NYPD and de Blasio after he expressed empathy for Eric Garner supporters. Police responded by turning their backs to him on several occasions, including the funeral for Officer Ramos. Despite police commissioner Bill Bratton's request that officers refrain from bold political statements at the service for Officer Liu, thousands of cops did the same at Liu's funeral just a day later.

It has also been reported that Bratton is losing the favor of some within the department for allegedly siding with de Blasio.

[via New York Daily News]

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