Peter King: New York City tensions 'worst I've ever seen'
By Sean Lengell | December 31, 2014 | 5:03 pm
"The worst I've ever seen in all the years I've been in New York -- and I'm a life-long New...
New York Rep. Peter King says tension between New York City police and the mayor’s office is at a record high.
“The worst I've ever seen in all the years I've been in New York — and I'm a life-long New Yorker,” the Long Island Republican told MSNBC Wednesday.
Many New York Police Department officers blame Mayor Bill de Blasio for creating an atmosphere of negativity toward them after a grand jury declined to charge an officer in the police chokehold death of Eric Garner on Staten Island.
King said he agrees with officers who have accused de Blasio of turning their backs on them and exacerbating racial tensions in the aftermath of the death of Garner, who was black.
“What went wrong or didn't go wrong had nothing to do with race,” King said. “And they felt that Mayor de Blasio jumped in and tried to make it a racial issue, or kept it going as a racial issue, saying that cops had to be retrained. You're talking about the best police department in the country.”
When asked what can be done to ease tensions among police, de Blasio and critics who have accused police of using excessive force with Garner, who was unarmed, King said, “we just have to move forward."
“The police department wants to reach out. But it's going to take efforts on both sides,” he said.
King also criticized MSNBC commentator Al Sharpton for fanning racial tensions in the aftermath of Garner’s death.
“The less that Al Sharpton has to say about running the police department, interfering with the police department, the better everyone would be,” the New York Republican said. “I believe that decent people in both communities, in the NYPD, in the African-American minority communities, do want to find a way to work together. But I think better leadership is needed. Certainly Al Sharpton should not be involved.”
Police and the National Guard troops are bracing for anticipated protests at Union Square and elsewhere in the city Wednesday evening, as they also prepare to deal with New Year’s Eve festivities. But King said he expects order will be maintained.
“The NYPD is prepared for anything. The only question I would have [is], are they going to be allowed to do what they have to do to keep the protesters from taking over?” he said.
“They've been dealing for the last 13 years with all sorts of counterterrorism threats at the New Year's Eve festivities. They've dealt with demonstrations. They can handle it.”
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/peter-king-new-york-city-tensions-worst-ive-ever-seen/article/2558078
