Mayor de Blasio slammed leaders of one of the city’s biggest unions for “racist activities,” saying they harm ties between cops and communities.
“The SBA leadership has engaged in racist activities so many times, I can’t even count,” Hizzoner said Tuesday of the Sergeants Benevolent Association.
“Anyone who is tweeting in favor of Confederate monuments is supporting the structural racist history of this country. I’m just sick of it,” he continued, referencing a Monday retweet from the SBA account of a statement criticizing the removal of Confederate monuments.
The comments came as the mayor announced a new policy for police bodycams, the latest in a series of NYPD reforms that has irked cop union leadership.
“I’ve been fighting with these unions from day-one. I am fighting with them today. And I don’t like to be fighting with any labor union,” de Blasio said.
“These police union leaders — not all of them, but too many of them — stand in the way of progress,” he added.
On Monday night, the Police Benevolent Association released a statement saying several officers had been poisoned at a Shake Shack in Manhattan, though authorities later said there was no criminal activity.
De Blasio called for a review of the unions’ activities, though he did not go into detail.
“It’s time for a full review of when their actions reach beyond freedom of speech or the right to represent one’s members, which are absolutely appropriate activities, and do things that are counterproductive to the safety of New Yorkers,” he said.
SBA President Ed Mullions dismissed the diss from de Blasio.
“It’s a shame the mayor is focused on the PBA and SBA when you have a city who hates him,” he told the Daily News. “Petitions are being circulated to remove him and his greatest worry is Ed Mullin and [PBA President] Pat Lynch. It’s good to be him. It’s good to sleep in late.”
Mullins has been under investigation by NYPD Internal Affairs since declaring “war” on the mayor in a February tweet.
With Rocco Parascandola
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