Occupy Wall Street - NYPD, Ray Kelly and Pat Lynch can’t win
Posted on Thursday, November 10, 2011 at 09:25 AM
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| New York City Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images) |
But the crime-fighting duo are also the Irish face of New York City law enforcement.
The NYPD is not nearly as Irish as it used to be, but to have a guy named Kelly running things, and a guy named Lynch representing thousands of officers illustrates how Irish the NYPD remains.
That being said, these are tough times for Kelly, Lynch and the NYPD. The department is currently enduring a ticket-fixing scandal in the Bronx. This comes as cops have also endured other sleazy allegations ranging from rape to racism.
In an article entitled “Is Ray Kelly’s NYPD Spinning Out of Control?,” The New York Observer recently wondered, “Between racist cops, rape cops, ticket-fixers, gun-runners and 'white shirts' gone wild, New York's Finest are losing their shine. Is the commissioner to blame?”
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True, as that same article noted, Kelly is still viewed quite favorably by average New Yorkers. In fact, 25% of New Yorkers in a recent poll said they would vote for Kelly for mayor, the best showing of any local politician. (Kelly has said he has no interest in City Hall.)
Still, there is trouble looming. Perhaps the biggest problem for Kelly – as well as Lynch’s beat cops – is the ongoing occupation in downtown Manhattan at Zuccotti Park.
Already we’ve seen ugliness as cops wrestle, pepper spray and otherwise not-so-gently subdue Occupy Wall Street protesters.
It should go without saying that there is plenty of blame to go around here. No American’s right to assemble and express should be infringed, even if some of those people are peeing and pooping on the street.
On the other hand, you can imagine an average beat cop’s sentiments towards the protesters. They have been reassigned from locations all across the city to essentially babysit a ragtag group of folks who (at least some cops might think) don’t seem to have anything better to do.
That, to me, is where things get really interesting. What do Lynch and other PBA officials think about the Occupy Wall Street movement?
After all, yes, cops are charged with keeping the peace and keeping the city safe. But they are also union men and women.
As one 21-year-veteran of the NYPD told the Observer, “We’re working stiffs, we have families to support. People seem to forget that we work as hard as everybody else.”
Furthermore, they are “working stiffs” in a cash-strapped city which actually delayed the hiring of a new class of NYPD recruits back in April.
Other unions, from the United Federation of Teachers to the Service Employees International Union, have expressed support for at least some aspect of the Occupy Wall Street movement. And yet, police officers have essentially been put into a position where they are in direct opposition to the movement.
In fact, you might go so far as to say the cops are in a position where they literally cannot win. Their bosses are telling them to monitor the protestors closely, so much so that any messy attempt to keep the ultimate peace might be taped via cell phone camera and end up on YouTube or the front page of the New York Post.
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More stories on the US politics from IrishCentral
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On the other hand, let’s say the police succeed in essentially muting the pro-union themes among the many messages coming out of Zuccotti park. Are cops, then, acting against their own best interest?
I hate to sound like an old-fashioned Marxist class warrior, but for the longest time, police officers – for all of the flaws people like to bring up about them – have been asked to protect the interests of the elite, even though they themselves live far from elite lifestyles.
To use the terms currently in vogue, your average police officer is without a doubt a member of the 99%. And yet, it seems as if they are acting on behalf of the 1%.
That old union song asked, “Which side are you on?” For now, it looks like New York’s Finest have two choices -- bad and worse.
(Contact “Sidewalks” at tomdeignan@earthlink.net)
8 Comments
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Beeblebrox | Nov 11, 2011, 09:04 AM EST
@eiriamach
In your opinion it is racism. You are just saying that because Fred is White. Anti-racist is a code word for anti-White.
Massive immigration and forced integration is Demanded by "anti-racists", for all White countries and only White countries.
They want White GeNOcide.
Anti-racist is a code word for anti-White.
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Beeblebrox | Nov 11, 2011, 09:02 AM EST
The real criminals are committing White GeNOcide right now. Why aren't the cops arresting them?
Everybody says there is this RACE problem. Everybody says this RACE problem will be solved when the third world pours into EVERY white country and ONLY into white countries.
The Netherlands and Belgium are more crowded than Japan or Taiwan, but nobody says Japan or Taiwan will solve this RACE problem by bringing in millions of third worlders and quote assimilating unquote with them.
Everybody says the final solution to this RACE problem is for EVERY white country and ONLY white countries to "assimilate," i.e., intermarry, with all those non-whites.
What if I said there was this RACE problem and this RACE problem would be solved only if hundreds of millions of non-blacks were brought into EVERY black country and ONLY into black countries?
How long would it take anyone to realize I'm not talking about a RACE problem. I am talking about the final solution to the BLACK problem?
And how long would it take any sane black man to notice this and what kind of psycho black man wouldn't object to this?
But if I tell that obvious truth about the ongoing program of genocide against my race, the white race, Liberals and respectable conservatives agree that I am a naziwhowantstokillsixmillionjews.
They say they are anti-racist. What they are is anti-white.
Anti-racist is a code word for anti-white.
Report abuse
eiriamach | Nov 11, 2011, 08:25 AM EST
Heavily affected by paranoia, FredCarter87 writes white supremacist racism and advocates genocide against "third worlders." He'd like us to adopt the "final solution to the black problem." We probably cannot convince Fred that "anti-racist" is NOT a code word for "anti-white" because he's so threatened by the presence of non-whites around him that he imagines they, along with white anti-racists (who he mistakenly imagines are "elites"), are trying to exterminate him. Bad economies, times of financial hardship, tend to worsen people's most depraved impulses, and Fred is such a case. He wants a race war to kill off some of his economic competitors. They don't deserve to get ahead, he thinks, and Fred is deserving. Why? Simply because he's white. Is his competitor female? Then Fred deserves simply because he's male. Bigotry overflows from one category to another; there's no stopping it once you indulge it. But we can't silence Fred. He has a First Amendment right to free expression. Nor can we expect reason to prevail with him; his paranoia has shut down cerebral cortex functions like reasoning. I wish I could feel sorry for Fred, but... So unless someone has a better suggestion about what to do with FredCarter87, I think we should just say the truth: Fred's racism is shameful, dehumanizing, brutish, and irrelevant here-- it has nothing to do with OWS or NYPD.
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FredCarter87 | Nov 11, 2011, 01:53 AM EST
The cops should be arresting the white genocide pushing elite.
Africa for the Africans,Asia for the Asians,white countries for EVERYBODY!
Everybody says there is this RACE problem. Everybody says this RACE problem will be solved when the third world pours into EVERY white country and ONLY into white countries.
The Netherlands and Belgium are just as crowded as Japan or Taiwan, but nobody says Japan or Taiwan will solve this RACE problem by bringing in millions of third worlders and quote assimilating unquote with them.
Everybody says the final solution to this RACE problem is for EVERY white country and ONLY white countries to “assimilate,” i.e., intermarry, with all those non-whites.
What if I said there was this RACE problem and this RACE problem would be solved only if hundreds of millions of non-blacks were brought into EVERY black country and ONLY into black countries?
How long would it take anyone to realize I’m not talking about a RACE problem. I am talking about the final solution to the BLACK problem?
And how long would it take any sane black man to notice this and what kind of psycho black man wouldn’t object to this?
But if I tell that obvious truth about the ongoing program of genocide against my race, the white race, Liberals and respectable conservatives alike say I am a naziwhowantstokillsixmillionjews.
They say they are anti-racist. What they are is anti-white.
Anti-racist is a code word for anti-white.
Report abuse
DennisQ | Nov 10, 2011, 06:34 PM EST
At 70 years of age, Ray Kelly is seven years past the mandatory retirement age for New York cops. As commissioner, he can't be pushed out of office, but there's a significant age gap between him and his advisors. It's lonely at the top even with a normal peer group. In Kelly's case, there's nobody to tell him when he's losing focus on important parts of his job.
The Commissioner has been developing his own spy agency since September 11th. They have their own headquarters, they answer only to him, and they have operatives in different cities throughout the world. This is all very exciting stuff, and it's no wonder Kelly enjoys it. He went on television to boast that police helicopters now have the capability to shoot down airplanes. He didn't say who would give the order.
It's reasonable to ask if Ray Kelly is still interested in the day-to-day business of running a police department. The cops have gotten so bold that they picketed the courthouse after a number of them were indicted in a ticket-fixing scandal. One of the defendants, an Internal Affairs lieutenant, was charged with keeping the suspects up to date on the progress of the investigation against them. The picketers held up signs defending "NYPD Culture."
The Commissioner has been developing his own spy agency since September 11th. They have their own headquarters, they answer only to him, and they have operatives in different cities throughout the world. This is all very exciting stuff, and it's no wonder Kelly enjoys it. He went on television to boast that police helicopters now have the capability to shoot down airplanes. He didn't say who would give the order.
It's reasonable to ask if Ray Kelly is still interested in the day-to-day business of running a police department. The cops have gotten so bold that they picketed the courthouse after a number of them were indicted in a ticket-fixing scandal. One of the defendants, an Internal Affairs lieutenant, was charged with keeping the suspects up to date on the progress of the investigation against them. The picketers held up signs defending "NYPD Culture."
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manhattan | Nov 10, 2011, 04:40 PM EST
The cops in New York can't win no matter what good things they do there are the cop haters waiting for any excuse to knock them. Does anyone report what they are called at that sit in? Or what is thrown at them? It ain't easy being a cop in liberal New York, it never was.
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seagreen | Nov 10, 2011, 12:14 PM EST
Some of the cops may wonder when austerity measures determine that the police force needs to be cut back and reorganized. When will they or their kids be in the same position as the college people occupying Wall St. The Erik Kantors and Mitch McConnell's of this world should know that when you have nothing , you have nothing to lose by opposing the very "dogs that cannot stop eating" that think this country is in place to furnish them with all they can acquire at someone else's sacrifice.
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