NYPD chief of department on attack by anti-police activists
Four NYPD officers injured in clash with counter-protesters; NYPD Chief of Department Terence Monahan speaks out.
The NYPD’s highest-ranking uniformed cop exploded in anger during a CompStat meeting Thursday, telling police brass: “We can’t be afraid of doing what we do!” video obtained by The Post shows.
Chief of Department Terence Monahan erupted during the crime statistics meeting when a deputy told him that cops were worried about a controversial new city law that, in part, makes it a crime to kneel on a suspect’s chest or back while making an arrest.
“They’re concerned about [taking] a bag of crack off the right person, the right dealer, and their knee accidentally — unintentionally — going on their back,” said Deputy Chief Brian McGee, commanding officer of the Manhattan North detective bureau. Monahan had a message for cops worried about new laws: "We can’t be afraid!"
Monahan, who was injured while exchanging blows with an anti-cop protester last week, interrupted McGee before he could finish.
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“You know what? I wasn’t afraid when I was fighting the guy on the Brooklyn Bridge,” Monahan thundered.
“We can’t be afraid.”
Monahan began asking, “Do you know what happens —” when crosstalk briefly drowned out his words during the meeting at 1 Police Plaza.
“What happens to afraid cops is, they end up dead. And that’s what happens,” Monahan continued.
“That’s why there are so many guns out there. We can’t be afraid. You’ve got every DA come out and say they’re not gonna charge that. We can’t be afraid of doing what we do. We can’t walk away.”
Assistant Chief Kathleen O’Reilly, commanding officer of Patrol Borough Manhattan North, tried to back up McGee, saying, “Chief, but we can’t put our people in harm’s way unnecessarily” before Monahan cut her off, too.
“So, not making an arrest on a B felony is putting ‘em in harm’s way? … I’m talking about a B felony,” Monahan said.
“A sale, hand-to-hand sale, that we shouldn’t be afraid to go and make [an arrest for] a hand-to-hand sale,” Monahan said.
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Monahan has been among the harshest critics of the law that Mayor Bill de Blasio signed last week, which also bars chokeholds and any other move that “restricts the flow of air or blood” or “compresses the diaphragm.”
During a TV interview earlier this month, Monahan said he objected to the “diaphragm” provision, which he called a “dangerous, dangerous portion of that bill.”
Monahan told PIX11 that “any cop who’s ever fought with someone on the street, trying to get him into cuffs, there’s a great possibility that your knee is going to end up on that individual’s back.”
“We try to avoid that, but in the midst of a fight, it’s pretty hard to make sure that doesn’t happen,” he added.
De Blasio has acknowledged that the new law will make cops' jobs harder, but said it was necessary because people “need to be safe.”
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In response to Monahan’s CompStat outburst, the president of the Detectives Endowment Association, Paul DiGiacomo, said, “By no means are narcotics detectives afraid of doing their jobs.”
“They’re afraid of the lack of support from the district attorneys and elected officials who enacted these irresponsible laws,” DiGiacomo said.
“It’s the district attorneys that are not prosecuting these arrests when narcotics detectives are risking their lives when they’re out there every day doing their jobs. Nobody’s said they’re not arresting us and most of the district attorneys are not prosecuting narcotics-related cases.”
This story originally appeared in the New York Post.
