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发帖数: 29846 | 1 Families of slain NYC police officers honored at Mets game
April 13, 2015 - 3:36 PM
By JONATHAN LEMIRE, Associated Press
NEW YORK (AP) — The families of two slain New York City police officers
threw out the ceremonial first pitch at the Mets' home opener at Citi Field
on Monday and were joined by Mayor Bill de Blasio at a time when his
relationship with the police department is again coming under scrutiny.
De Blasio's relations with the police unions and some rank-and-file officers
were fractured in the aftermath of the December shooting that claimed the
lives of Officers Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu. Since that crisis, which
threatened to overwhelm the mayor's agenda, de Blasio has taken pains to
repair relations with the nation's largest police force, brokering a new
union contract, investing in new technology and training, and doubling down
on his public praise of the department.
On Monday, he joined the tens of thousands of fans in cheering as the
officers' images were displayed on the park's giant video screens and again
when Ramos' two sons and Liu's widow threw out the pitches to Mets players
David Wright, Matt Harvey and Curtis Granderson.
De Blasio, however, was largely booed when he was introduced to the crowd.
A year ago, de Blasio was also booed as he threw out the first pitch (a
strike). Both years, he sported a Mets cap and jersey, which was emblazoned
with his last name and the number 6, a tribute to Rico Petrocelli, a
longtime shortstop on de Blasio's favorite team, the Boston Red Sox.
Petrocelli, like de Blasio, was also of Italian descent and lived in
Brooklyn.
The tribute to the NYPD comes as de Blasio is weighing a City Council
proposal to hire 1,000 more police officers. The idea has been endorsed by
union leaders who said it would reduce pressure on existing officers to keep
crime low.
But de Blasio rejected an identical council proposal a year ago, pointing to
the city's record low crime and suggesting that the money would be better
spent elsewhere.
Police Commissioner William Bratton has, at times, signaled support for the
effort to hire more officers for the department, which now has a headcount
of about 34,500, about 6,000 fewer than at its peak in 2001. De Blasio has
not committed to hiring more officers but has been more receptive to the
proposal in his public remarks than he was a year ago.
The council's budget office projected that hiring two new classes of
officers, to total 1,000, would cost nearly $69 million in the upcoming
fiscal year. But the council believes that the cost will be offset by the
corresponding reduction in overtime.
Though the city's overall crime rate has fallen again, murders are up nearly
12 percent from this time a year ago, and shootings have also increased,
according to NYPD crime statistics. The mayor is expected to offer a counter
-proposal next month and a budget deal must be completed by the end of June |
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