Mayor Bloomberg slammed the Obama administration yesterday for its support of a federally appointed monitor to oversee the NYPD’s controversial stop-and-frisk policy, saying it was playing with lives.
The mayor, who has steadfastly defended the practice as a crucial crime-fighting tool, teed off on the feds for intervening in an explosive court case that could force the NYPD to make sweeping changes to its patrol strategy.
“It just makes no sense whatsoever, when lives are on the line, to try to change the rules and hamper the Police Department from doing their job,” he said.
“We think that a monitor would be even more disruptive than an IG,” the mayor continued, referring to the City Council’s plan to install another police overseer, this time an inspector general.
“This is just a terrible idea, and it’s not needed. Monitors were forced on Philadelphia, where crime had come down, and then crime went up.”
Stats show the number of homicides rose from 307 to 353 in the 12-month period after the implementation of a monitor in 2011 in Philadelphia. The monitor was put in place after a lawsuit was settled over stop-and-frisk.
“When you have an organization where it’s life and death, you have to have clear responsibility, clear chains of command with no ambiguity whatsoever,” the mayor fumed.
He did not say whether he had directly spoken to Attorney General Eric Holder in recent weeks, and he ducked a question asking him to criticize President Obama.
Justice Department Civil Rights Division lawyers filed papers in Manhattan federal court late Wednesday night suggesting a monitor be appointed if the NYPD is found to have illegally targeted minorities during stops of potential suspects.
The practice is being challenged by a dozen minority plaintiffs in a case that required 10 weeks of testimony. A decision could take months.
Meanwhile, the major Democratic candidates vying to replace Bloomberg came out in support of a monitor.
Council Speaker Christine Quinn also is pushing for an inspector general.
“There really isn’t any reason why the NYPD is one of the only city agencies that doesn’t have that kind of monitoring,” she said.
Bill Thompson blamed Bloomberg and Police Commissioner Ray Kelly for getting Washington involved.
“The federal government is now threatening to intervene in New York City policing for a simple reason: The mayor and commissioner have stubbornly refused to abandon their abuse of stop-and-frisk in an unconstitutional manner,” Thompson said.
Public Advocate Bill de Blasio said the issue “urgently underscores the need for fundamental reform of policing in this city.”