A Demagoguery Grows In Brooklyn by Richard Cooper
In the wake of the exposure of racist remarks by some NY Police Department officers about West Indian Day parade attendees, the call was renewed by some NY City politicians to require NYPD officers to live in the five boroughs of New York City. Leading the way were Brooklyn Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries and City Councilperson Letitia James. The claim was made that requiring city residency would make officers more attuned to diversity and better serve the public. http://www.wnyc.org/blogs/wnyc-news-blog/2011/dec/11/nypd-facebook-furor-brings-calls-local-residency/ Sunday, December 11, 2011 – 08:26 PM by Arun Venogopal.
Shortly after this brouhaha broke out, Officer Peter Figoski was killed responding to an armed robbery home invasion of a suspected drug dealer in the East New York section of Brooklyn. He could have retired two years ago. He was divorced with four daughters and lived in the village of West Babylon in Suffolk County outside the city’s five boroughs. Lamont Pride was charged with his murder and his accomplices indicted as well. http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/12/12/nypd-officer-shot-killed-at-scene-break-in/
Pride was arrested by Officer Figoski’s partner Officer Glenn Estrada, another West Babylon resident.
New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg seized on the opportunity to demand more gun controls http://m.nypost.com/f/mobile/news/local/brooklyn/dastardly_row_of_cop_killers_CmHpXl1Ferr7fSqIvgKNjN Bloomberg said on his radio program “If you could get Congress to come and sit with me in this church on Monday,” Bloomberg said, “wouldn’t it be wonderful if they finally got some understanding and in memory of this officer said, ‘We can’t bring him back, but we’re going to make sure his kids and parents are protected by getting guns off the streets, out of illegal hands.’ ”
So, we have had in the space of two weeks an outbreak of demagoguery and a murder.
Let’s start with the residency requirement demand. Yes, many police departments have such a requirement. Would requiring officers to live in the five boroughs make them non-racist? It is an assumption without proof.
Officer Figoski gave his life for the largely non-white and non-Anglo residents of East New York. Both Figoski and his partner, Officer Glenn Estrada, lived in West Babylon. If James and Jeffries had their way, they could not have been on the force. Does that make sense? Is it fair to discriminate on the basis of residency? Thousands of officers have served and some have died while residing outside New York City.
Restricting the talent pool to New York City residents is as irrational and discriminatory as barring homosexuals from serving in the military.
Bloomberg rants about guns while remaining silent about the War on Some Drugs. Does he really think that Lamont Pride and his accomplices, all career criminals could not obtain guns? Guns can be smuggled just as easily as drugs. Would there be as many armed robberies of reputed drug dealers if recreational drugs were legal and the war on Some Drugs ended? Who holds armed robberies for credit card receipts?
Bloomberg, Jeffries and James should be ashamed and shunned for their demagoguery. Honor Officer Figoski by rejecting their demagogic policies. -30-
About the author: Richard Cooper is an international trade executive with a manufacturing firm on Long Island, New York, USA. He is active in the Libertarian Party www.lp.org on eminent domain and other issues. He was chair of the Libertarian Party of New York http://ny.lp.org.