Let me welcome the new kids on New York City’s criminal-justice block — Philip Eure and Joseph Ponte, tapped by Mayor de Blasio as, respectively, the inspector general of the NYPD and the commissioner of Correction.
Once I, too, was a newcomer to Gotham — and, despite working in and around the criminal-justice systems in four states, I had a lot to learn.
One discovery was the power of the municipal public-safety unions. When they clash with mayors and commissioners, they usually win. Ask some old-timers about the 1960s referendum, when the PBA nixed the Civilian Complaint Review Board imposed by Mayor John Lindsay.
Deep down, New Yorkers respect the police for the tough and dangerous job they have to do. This week the death of one police officer and critical injury of another has saddened the entire city.
Too much criticism of the cops can boomerang. In the 1980s, on the night before a press conference was to be held at City Hall to announce some new restrictions on the police, six officers were gunned down by a wanted murderer in The Bronx. The scheduled announcement was scratched.
Full disclosure to the new IG: I was one of the many New Yorkers who did not see the necessity for your position being created, but now that you’re here everybody should try to make the best of it.
That said, Mr. IG, there was apparently some bad feeling when you didn’t touch base with the police unions. The cops have a habit of staging mass demonstrations when they are unhappy. During a 1970s PBA protest against the mayor and police commissioner outside Yankee Stadium during a heavyweight championship fight, some police brass were pummeled by rank-and-file cops. When local youth gangs joined in the melee, Howard Cosell lost his hairpiece. Later the cops relieved themselves on the lawn of the mayor’s mansion.
Oh, and the 1980s saw a mass march on the office of the Bronx district attorney because he’d indicted a police officer from the emergency service unit for what the cops regarded as a legitimate shooting.
The 1990s brought a protest by police officers outside City Hall that some people characterized as a riot. So tense was the situation that the doors of the Hall were locked and City Council members watched from the windows as angry cops jumped up and down on the roofs of lawmakers’ cars.
Mr. Correction Commissioner, even before you arrived, Norman Seabrook, the president of the Correction Officers Association (who is generally regarded as the most effective union leader in the city), urged you not to come. Apparently, the guards in the system you headed in Maine told their New York colleagues that your programs up there could be described as “hug a thug.”
Rikers Island is a much more volatile place than the average prison because its population is constantly turning over. Though I was an active cop in a pretty tough town, the first time I stood with two unarmed Rikers guards amidst 30 or 40 accused murderers and stickup men, I couldn’t wait to get out of there. It takes real courage for correction officers to go unarmed among inmates day after day.
I understand that you’ll be allowing prisoner advocates to have free access to the jail facilities. Be careful: As an experienced correctional official, you know that a tiny spark can trigger a riot in a penal institution. A riot once broke out at Rikers because a prisoner didn’t get an extra orange juice while he was going through the food line. I hope the advocates will also be aware of this reality and not inadvertently cause a problem.
Union chief Seabrook has warned that if a guard or inmate is killed in the jail system, he’ll deliver the body to the steps of City Hall. That’s emotional rhetoric, sure — but the emotion is real, and no one should underestimate his fears for officers’ and inmates’ safety.
Gentlemen, I hope you’ll benefit from my history lesson and recognize that it will be best to proceed in your work with a due regard for the feelings of our uniformed services. One way to win cooperation is to look at ways of improving the safety of police, correction officers and inmates.
Thomas A. Reppetto is the former president of the Citizens Crime Commission of New York City.