A friend (and former student) of mine, Officer Musorov, just posted this on facebook. You might see him on the streets of Crown Heights. He makes me proud!
“When the Rhetoric of scandal — rogue cops, racist cops, and so on —
becomes the received idea, when we are so engrossed by exceptions that
they seem like rules, we still send cops out, in ones and twos, into
angry crowds, fighting families, and darkened alleys, though stripped of
a measure of defense” -Edward ConlonThe above statement was
written seven years ago, but it’s just as true today as it ever was. I’m
not going to blame anybody for what happened today, except the person
that pulled that trigger. But when you have had weeks of people on the
streets chanting that they want dead cops, it creates an atmosphere that
leads to just that. Nobody should kid themselves and think that
rhetoric like that cannot possibly harm us. Anywhere in this city, if
somebody calls us, we will come. That’s ALWAYS dangerous, but especially
so when you have people literally calling for blood on the streets.But anybody who thinks they can intimidate any of us should think
again. We will still answer every call for service as we always have. I
work with some of the greatest people ever, and right now there’s
nothing I’d rather be than a Brooklyn cop.Thank you to everyone
who extended their sympathies, and thank you to my extended family in
the 71, who I know I can always count on.
There has been one, and maybe a couple more, isolated incidents of people chanting for dead cops. Howevere, the vast, vast majority of chanting has not been chanting for dead cops. "[W]weeks of people on the streets chanting that they want dead cops" is a grossly unfair, and particularly unhelpful, characterization of recent reality.
Oh but thats how cops roll. A tight little army who fights for good wages and no accountability. They have all their justiications. "You could be shot at any day." "Even if the people hate us, we (heroes all) come when called." "The force stops when the resisting stops."
All are propaganda and in some case blatantly untrue, but PCM is their flag-bearer.