With his relationship with the NYPD close to rock bottom, Mayor de Blasio has scheduled a face-to-face meeting with the heads of five police unions on Tuesday.
City Hall officials said the tete-a-tete was set in motion at the mayor’s direction over the weekend — about a week after the killing of two NYPD officers in Brooklyn broke what was already a frayed relationship between cops and City Hall.
A union source said it was police commissioner Bill Bratton who served as go-between to arrange the summit, which will be held around 2 p.m. at the new police academy in Queens.
Among the union leaders scheduled to attend are Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association president Pat Lynch and Sergeant’s Benevolent Association president Ed Mullins — who have been the most ardent critics of the mayor’s dealings with police.
The heads of the unions for detectives, captains and lieutenants are also scheduled to meet with Hizzoner.
“I think it’s good that the mayor has finally reached out to those who represent the members of the NYPD, but I’m disappointed in the issuance of a press release announcing the meeting, which now raises concerns of sincerity. Is this about politics or is it about working through problems?” Mullins said.
“This is no longer about the mayor, but this is about the people of the city of New York and the people in this nation who are watching. There’s a conflict of policies and an atmosphere of distrust between city hall and the police who serve this city.”
While the mayor’s relationship with the NYPD has never been rosy, tensions grew considerably in early December after protests erupted in response to a grand jury’s decision not to to indict a Staten Island cop for the killing of Eric Garner.
Days after the decision, Lynch said cops felt like the mayor had thrown them “under the bus” because he was siding more with the protesters than with police.
The protesters were given wide latitude in blocking major intersections and bridges, chanted violent anti-cop rhetoric, and eventually assaulted two NYPD lieutenants.
Amid that charged environment, on Dec. 20, two cops were executed in their Brooklyn patrol car without provocation by a gunman from Baltimore who later shot himself.
When de Blasio visited the Brooklyn hospital the fallen cops were taken to that night, dozens of officers who lined the hallway turned their backs on him.
He received an equally chilly reception from thousands of cops outside the funeral on Saturdayfor one of those officers, Rafael Ramos.
Services for the other officer, Wienjan Liu, are slated for this weekend.