Mayor Bloomberg insisted today that the fiery controversy over the Police Department’s use of a film about radical Islam didn’t make his job of protecting the city more difficult.
“The answer really is no,” the mayor said on his weekly WOR Radio show, continuing a public defense of embattled Police Commissioner Ray Kelly.
“You don’t have to trample on people’s rights to aggressively protect this city from street crime or from terrorism. In fact, if you take a look at this video– which I’ve not seen — but Kelly was interviewed for what they said was 90 minutes a long time ago. They used 15 seconds and he didn’t say anything you would not expect Ray to say.”
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Mayoral spokesman Stu Loeser said that while Bloomberg hadn’t viewed the documentary, “The Third Jihad,” several aides had and briefed him afterwards.
The mayor’s tone was even more defensive of Kelly than it was on Thursday, when he backed his police commissioner “100 percent” but still observed that he’d have to work on “re-establishing the credibility he has.”
Leaders of several Muslim organizations have called for Kelly’s resignation, charging the film defamed their religion and should never have been shown at an NYPD processing center.
Bloomberg agreed that the film shouldn’t have been shown.
But he argued that it was time to move on.
“Ray, after a 90-minute interview a long time ago, they just clipped it and put it in. After he found out about it, he did what he was supposed to do. Now, c’mon, let’s get on with it.”
The mayor didn’t address why Paul Browne, the NYPD’s chief spokesman and Kelly’s closest confidante, initially claimed the commissioner’s part in the film had been pulled from other sources and not a sit-down interview with the moviemaker.
On another front, the mayor expressed confidence that Manhattan DA Cy Vance would be able to handle the politically-sensitive investigation of Kelly’s son, Greg, who was accused of rape by a woman with whom he had drinks in October.
“Cy Vance is a tough, smart guy,” said the mayor. “I’m not worried about Cy Vance.”