NYPD in damage control after chief of department quits
By Larry Celona, Tara Palmeri and Bruce Golding
October 31, 2014 | 9:41am
The NYPD’s chief of department abruptly quit Friday rather than take a promotion from Police Commissioner Bill Bratton that the chief believed was a powerless position setting him up for failure, law-enforcement sources told The Post.
Philip Banks III was to be promoted to first deputy commissioner at a ceremony Monday but backed out at the last minute during a heated meeting at Police Headquarters, sources said.
“You still have not done anything. You have not changed the direction of the Police Department. You asked me to come up with six or seven policies that you did not implement,” Banks fumed at the city’s top cop.
“The department is just going to go further into turmoil, and I don’t want to get blamed for that.” The move left the NYPD without a black or Hispanic person in any of its top three positions after Bratton’s ouster of First Deputy Rafael Pineiro, who resigned under pressure in September.
It also set up a looming crisis between Mayor de Blasio and the minority community, with several City Council members expressing outrage at Banks’ departure.
In a statement, Council Members Jumaane Williams (D-Brooklyn) and Vanessa Gibson (D-Bronx) said de Blasio “was elected in large part [by] New York’s black and brown community on assurance that he would mend poor police-community relations.”
The Rev. Al Sharpton, an NYPD critic, said he had spoken to de Blasio and would discuss their “conversation about diversity” at a rally in Harlem on Saturday.
Sources said that when Bratton offered Banks Pineiro’s post, Banks — then No. 3 in the NYPD’s chain of command — insisted on assuming more responsibilities than Pineiro had.
Pineiro’s duties were largely administrative, including oversight of the Personnel, Support Services and Criminal Justice bureaus.
Banks demanded that his successor as chief of department report directly to him, which is how the NYPD has historically operated, except under Commissioners Lee Brown and Ray Kelly.
His other conditions included oversight of the Internal Affairs Bureau, sources said.
During his first stint as commissioner, Bratton had restored the first deputy’s authority over the chief of department.
Bratton initially promised to grant Banks’ wishes, sources said.
But Bratton dithered, and the power struggle came to a head during Friday’s morning meeting at 1 Police Plaza as Banks demanded a firm answer.
Bratton said he needed more time to consider the matter, at which point Banks exploded and said he was quitting, sources said.
Sources said Bratton implored Banks to stay, telling him, “I think you’re making a major mistake.”
“I’m asking you to reconsider. Give me 30 days to work it out,” Bratton said.
But Banks refused and stormed out, sources said.
Bratton then called de Blasio, who summoned the commish to City Hall and chewed him out.
“You promised me you were going to use Banks and implement some of his policies. I counted on you to make changes, and now I’m blindsided by this,” de Blasio yelled.
Bratton appeared shaken as he left the meeting and “looked like he needed a glass of water,” which he was handed by an aide, sources said.
Reached Friday night, Banks said he still backed de Blasio and Bratton. “I support both of them and any comments to the contrary are not my comments,” Banks told The Post, insisting there had been no disagreement over policy.
“Those are not my comments. I’m not concerned with that. That did not come from me,” he said.
Sources said the mayor didn’t want to lose Banks, who was First Lady Chirlane McCray’s choice for commissioner over Bratton.
In a statement, de Blasio said he was “disappointed to hear of Chief Philip Banks’ personal decision to step down.”
“He has served New York City admirably during his nearly 30 years on the force, and we were enthusiastic about the leadership and energy he would have brought to the position of first deputy commissioner,” he added.
Bratton told reporters he was surprised when Banks quit, and he insisted he had planned on giving him more responsibilities.
He said Banks “was going to focus very heavily on our personnel-development training initiatives at the academy, and also the significant rebuilding of relationships with the minority communities after the questionable stop-and-frisk issues over the past few years.”
“He was going to effectively be my right-hand man as he has largely been this past year, so he will be missed, certainly by me both personally and professionally,” Bratton said.
The Rev. Al Sharpton, an NYPD critic, said he had spoken to de Blasio and would discuss their “conversation about diversity” at a rally in Harlem on Saturday.
This guy better keep his mouth shut.....He and the race baiters are part of the escalading problem by adding more fuel! They better come clean and admit that there is police brutality all over the country....against white/blacks/Hispanics...etc..... and it's time that the 'good cops' take a stand AGAINST their 'brother's in blue' thugs!!! they know who they are. time to clean house!!!
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
This guy better keep his mouth shut.....He and the race baiters are part of the escalading problem by adding more fuel! They better come clean and admit that there is police brutality all over the country....against white/blacks/Hispanics...etc..... and it's time that the 'good cops' take a stand AGAINST their 'brother's in blue' thugs!!! they know who they are. time to clean house!!!
Exactly but that is not what is going to happen, they had a cop on the news that want all cops to have their guns drawn whenever they interact with the public. That means if you get pulled over the officer will have his/her gun out the whole time you are being detained, I'm sure that would create more trust
"In the beginning of a change, the Patriot is a scarce man, brave, hated and scorned. When his cause succeeds, however, the timid join him, for then it costs nothing to be a Patriot."
the legislators with their 'loosie legislation' are causing this friction between the public and 'law enforcement'.....setting up police officers to have to make these decisions among the populace....
shame shame shame on our leaders for doing this....
Folks...it's time to take down the pants of the legislators and stop with the 'oh dear, they need to do something'...remember, every time legislation is enacted it makes criminals and caused friction for things that make no sense other than to garner a few votes from some scorned women/men/children/cats/dogs/business owners etc etc.....
THE MAN WAS KILLED OVER STUPID LEGISLATION......
the legislators are ok with letting a 'race bait' happen as long as no one is looking up at the true culprits
...you are a product of your environment, your environment is a product of your priorities, your priorities are a product of you......
The replacement of morality and conscience with law produces a deadly paradox.
STOP BEING GOOD DEMOCRATS---STOP BEING GOOD REPUBLICANS--START BEING GOOD AMERICANS
The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness. John Kenneth Galbraith
Problem is...police brutality doesnt get condemned...it gets justified and dismissed by other police.
Find me a quote from an NYPD cop that condemned the murder of Garner. Then find me quotes of cops condemning the murder of two NYPD cops.
You see...its people like you that call a cop killing a citizen "police brutality, and I assume you call the death of the two cops, murder.
bingo
"In the beginning of a change, the Patriot is a scarce man, brave, hated and scorned. When his cause succeeds, however, the timid join him, for then it costs nothing to be a Patriot."
our leaders lack the ability to lead a free society....American has done an almost full 360 and the populace IS NOT HAPPY....
it's not race it's not 'bad apples'
it's BAD LEGISLATION MAKING CRIMINALS and feel good laws to garner votes.....
sad sad sad.....
the government used to be an uplifting, pull up your boot straps before it turned into a kidnapper that inflicted the stockholm syndrome upon the masses....and this ISN'T democrats or republican based, it is DEFINITELY A SYSTEMIC ISSUE....
...you are a product of your environment, your environment is a product of your priorities, your priorities are a product of you......
The replacement of morality and conscience with law produces a deadly paradox.
STOP BEING GOOD DEMOCRATS---STOP BEING GOOD REPUBLICANS--START BEING GOOD AMERICANS
Many members of the New York Police Department are furious at Mayor Bill de Blasio and, by extension, the city that elected him. They have expressed this anger with a solidarity tantrum, repeatedly turning their backs to show their collective contempt. But now they seem to have taken their bitterness to a new and dangerous level — by walking off the job.
The New York Post on Tuesday reported, and city officials confirmed, that officers are essentially abandoning enforcement of low-level offenses. According to data The Post cited for the week starting Dec. 22 — two days after two officers were shot and killed on a Brooklyn street — traffic citations had fallen by 94 percent over the same period last year, summonses for offenses like public drinking and urination were down 94 percent, parking violations were down 92 percent, and drug arrests by the Organized Crime Control Bureau were down 84 percent.
The data cover only a week, and the reasons for the plunge are not entirely clear. But it is so steep and sudden as to suggest a dangerous, deplorable escalation of the police confrontation with the de Blasio administration. Even considering the heightened tensions surrounding the officers’ deaths and pending labor negotiations — the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association has no contract, and its leader, Patrick Lynch, has been the most strident in attacking Mr. de Blasio, calling him a bloody accomplice to the officers’ murder — this action is repugnant and inexcusable. It amounts to a public act of extortion by the police.
And for what?
Let’s review the actions that Mr. de Blasio’s harshest critics say have driven the police to such extremes.
1. He campaigned on ending the unconstitutional use of “stop-and-frisk” tactics, which victimized hundreds of thousands of innocent young black and Latino men.
2. He called for creating an inspector general for the department and ending racial profiling.
3. After Eric Garner, an unarmed black man, was killed by a swarm of cops on Staten Island, he convened a meeting with the police commissioner, William Bratton, and the Rev. Al Sharpton, giving Mr. Sharpton greater prominence than police defenders thought he should have had because Mr. Sharpton is a firebrand with an unsavory past.
4. He said after the Garner killing that he had told his biracial son, Dante, to “take special care” in encounters with the police.
5. He generally condoned the peaceful protests for police reform — while condemning those who incited or committed violence — and cited a tagline of the movement: “Black lives matter.”
The list of grievances adds up to very little, unless you look at it through the magnifying lens of resentment fomented by union bosses and right-wing commentators. The falling murder rate, the increased resources for the department, the end of quota-based policing, which the police union despised, the mayor’s commitment to “broken-windows” policing — none of that matters, because many cops have latched on to the narrative that they are hated, with the mayor orchestrating the hate. Continue reading the main story Recent Comments AACNY 39 minutes ago
The Times's Editorial Board has lost all perspective. It needs to remember that two cops were gunned down in cold blood. It is every cop's... The Artist FKA Bakes 1 hour ago
Patrick Lynch earns $98,000 a year as head of the PBA, along with the $76,000 he earns as an NYPD officer. He therefore has a vested... C.S. 1 hour ago
Before reading this editorial, I was disappointed by the NYPD's recent behavior. Now I'm down right mad. Since when did newspapers and...
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It’s a false narrative. Mr. de Blasio was elected by a wide margin on a promise to reform the policing excesses that were found unconstitutional by a federal court. He hired a proven reformer, Mr. Bratton, who had achieved with the Los Angeles Police Department what needs doing in New York. The furor that has gripped the city since the Garner killing has been a complicated mess. But what New Yorkers expect of the Police Department is simple:
1. Don’t violate the Constitution.
2. Don’t kill unarmed people.
To that we can add:
3. Do your jobs. The police are sworn public servants, and refusing to work violates their oath to serve and protect. Mr. Bratton should hold his commanders and supervisors responsible, and turn this insubordination around.
Mr. de Blasio has a responsibility to lead the city out of this impasse, and to his credit has avoided inflaming the situation with hasty or hostile words. But it’s the Police Department that needs to police itself. Rank-and-file officers deserve a department they can be proud of, not the insular, defiant, toxically politicized constituency that Mr. Lynch seems to want to lead.
Many members of the New York Police Department are furious at Mayor Bill de Blasio and, by extension, the city that elected him. They have expressed this anger with a solidarity tantrum, repeatedly turning their backs to show their collective contempt. But now they seem to have taken their bitterness to a new and dangerous level — by walking off the job.
Oh pallleezzee......these cops ain't goin' nowhere! it's one of the best paying jobs, with the best benefits in the country. they can threaten all they want....but they ain't quiting their job anytime too soon!! our nephew is a nyc cop.....and they ain't goin' nowhere!!
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
The solution is very easy. Stop patrolling the predominately black neighborhoods.
"Approval ratings go up and down for various reasons... An example is the high post 911 support for GWB even though he could be said to be responsible for the event." --- Box A Rox '9/11 Truther'
Melania is a bimbo... she is there to look at, not to listen to. --- Box A Rox and his 'War on Women'
our legislators set up the police officers like pawns so at election time they get voted in by the "they need to do something" folks....
with cliche's like
zero tolerance click it or ticket etc etc.......
Has anyone been stopped for using your cell phone while driving ? Well pay the ticket and shut up. Or maybe you wanna be a wise guy and tell the cop what you think of his mother ?
What about all the people who want the illegal ali3ns arrested for violating CIVAL law similar to not repaying a stud2nt loan ?
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