Read on Twitter
This is not true. Bill de Blasio doubled down on aggressive enforcement of petty laws after the Eric Garner killing. The cop who killed Garner didn't even wanna go bust loosey sellers that day but those were the orders because the city needs the cigarette tax revenue https://twitter.com/ShabazzStuart/status/1281982000321224704
I'm sure many at the NYPD would be happy focusing solely on counterterrorism and major crimes. It's city hall, city council, community boards and New Yorkers who want police enforcing quality of life and so they legislate that way
Police unions will prevent rules to make it easier to fire cops and protect bad cops from termination but they are not out there lobbying for local governments to have them do more law enforcement. They get paid the same either way and, like all of us, would prefer to work less
Police are still a democratic institution. Unions and other local and state laws end up protecting bad actors, but their mandate is almost always one handed down by elected officials and lobbied for by residents
And a year after Ferguson, Garner, and defending aggressive enforcement of petty laws, de Blasio was reelected without facing any serious opposition in the primary or the general. At some point we have to take responsibility for our democracy, not just protest quadrenially
I mean, NYC has some of the most progressive campaign finance laws in the country and a tiny contingent of Republicans. There is not the usual suspects to blame for political dysfunction. Just New York
