Dear Mr. Osbourne,
Thank you for presenting your view of the split between the police and the Administration. and your eloquent description of the feelings of a policeman and his family.
I here would like to separate some of the strands of your article in order to see where it might lead a reader to a better understanding of the situation.
Here is my take on what you are saying.
"But the killing of Officers Liu and Ramos was a coldblooded assassination."
First, I have to take exception to your characterization of the deaths of Ramos and Lui. As terrible as the shooting was, it was not a “coldblooded assassination”. It was an act of a mentally unbalanced man who was able to get access to a gun. His motivation to kill police was not based on a reasoned vendetta, but a desire to strike out from the depths of his turmoil, as is shown by his shooting of his ex-girl friend.
But your extreme reaction, that you place the killings in the most henious light as an assassination, seems puzzling to me. However in your next paragraph you explain the basis for your characterization:
"police feel demonized, demoralized and, at times, literally under assault. "
This is the underlying feeling that you are expressing. It appears that recent events have been a flash point for the expression of these feelings by the police.
"Mr. de Blasio is more than any other public figure in this city responsible for feelings of demoralization among the police."
It is hard to believe that, in such a short time, the Mayor has been able to demoralize whole police department. You mention two recent examples: his talk with his son and his support of protesters. But these are both words and not actions. They may set off an explosion but the combustible material had to be there. The depth of the feelings that you attribute to the police seem to be of a longer standing. There must be earlier factors that contributed the siege mentality of the department.
'But the time has probably come for the Police Department to ease up on the low-level “broken-windows” stuff while re-evaluating the impact it may or may not have on real, serious crime. "
And here you bring up an issue that you feel has contributed to policemen’s discontent. This is a substantive course of action to improve the situation as viewed by the policemen. Have you or your union brought this option up to the Police Commissioner or Mayor? Has there been any attempt by either side to address the “siege” mentality, or the effect of the “broken window” policing?
From reading your article, I have gained the impression that there has been long-standing resentment and demoralization in the department, one factor being the “broken window” policing style and these recent protests have been a flash point for the expression of these feelings.
However, both sides have accepted that this division exists and that is the first step. Both sides need to formulate what the problems are. Trust and respect come from working together. Both sides need to put aside the words and come up with actual problems that can be solved. You don’t like someone’s words, find out why he said them.
People can’t solve problems by calling each other names: childish, condescending, sulking, disrespectful. The question is why are they so upset that they will say or do these things. A mayor doesn’t try to antagonize his police department for no reason; a police department doesn’t turn their back on their commanders for no reason.
People don’t command respect; they earn it. What have you done to earn other’s respect?
There is another problem here and that is police overreaction to black men. This, however, is not that the problem brought up in Mr. Osborne's article.