# And now: What about all those cops turning their backs on De Blasio? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [December 27, 2014, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-now-what-about-all-those-cops-turning-their-backs-on-de-blasio/708293 "2014-12-27T20:22:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2014, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-now-what-about-all-those-cops-turning-their-backs-on-de-blasio/708293/1 "2014-12-27T20:22:49Z")
[NYC officer mourned at funeral as tensions linger](http://news.yahoo.com/mayor-vp-speak-slain-nypd-officers-funeral-061041769.html) [Hundreds Turn Their Back on de Blasio at NYPD Officer’s Funeral](http://abcnews.go.com/US/nypd-officers-turn-back-de-blasio-cops-funeral/story?id=27851746) Now we’ve seen several incidents (at the hospital; at the funeral) of NY police _en masse_ turning their backs on De Blasio. _And doing so in uniform._ This is nothing less than a mass insubordination on all their parts, bordering even on mass insurrection. Police are rather well-known to support one another to the bitter end – the infamous “Blue Wall of Silence” and all that. (See: [Frank Serpico](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Serpico).) In fact, Frank Serpico speaks out on the Garner case. [The Police Are Still Out of Control. I should know](http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/10/the-police-are-still-out-of-control-112160.html), Frank Serpico, _Politico,_ October 23, 2014. In light of that, we need to worry about how safe we are when police act like that, especially _en masse._ They are basically declaring to the effect “It’s _us_ vs. all of _them_” That isn’t what we need our police to be doing, if their ostensible mission is to “protect and serve”. (Oh, protect and serve _who?_) Every last one of them needs to be identified, and fired. (There were police from all over the nation at the funeral. Did police from all over do that, or just NY police? Whoever they were, they all need to be canned.) I think this should be argued in Great Debates, but I don’t think it’s possible to keep this thread civil. I’m not a “Fuck The Cops” guy, but I’m definitely feeling like “Fuck _Those_ Cops”. So, here in the Pit this goes. ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Why\_Bother](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e19adc/32.png) [@Doctor\_Why\_Bother](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Why_Bother)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2014, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-now-what-about-all-those-cops-turning-their-backs-on-de-blasio/708293/2 "2014-12-27T20:27:53Z")
Agreed. These fuckers need reminding who’s boss. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2014, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-now-what-about-all-those-cops-turning-their-backs-on-de-blasio/708293/3 "2014-12-27T20:34:47Z")
Agreed as well. The police serve the city, and the mayor is the chief executive of the city and their superior. Whether they agree with his politics or not, openly demonstrating against him is every bit as unprofessional, inappropriate, and meriting of official discipline as it would be for a soldier in uniform to disparage the president. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2014, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-now-what-about-all-those-cops-turning-their-backs-on-de-blasio/708293/4 "2014-12-27T20:35:18Z")
> [@Doctor\_Why\_Bother](#): > > Agreed. These fuckers need reminding who’s boss. Police departments are quasi-military organizations (that’s entirely aside from the recent controversies about “militarization” of the police), where training and discipline are paramount. The kind of mass insubordination seen here is entirely unacceptable. Did the troops in World War II ever turn their backs like that on Patton (asshole though he was)? What would have happened if they did? (ETA: Comparison to soldiers ninja’ed by **Smapti**.) ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2014, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-now-what-about-all-those-cops-turning-their-backs-on-de-blasio/708293/5 "2014-12-27T20:36:46Z")
That spokesman for the police union sounds and looks like a mafia member. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2014, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-now-what-about-all-those-cops-turning-their-backs-on-de-blasio/708293/6 "2014-12-27T20:37:50Z")
I don’t think they need to be fired. And it could be a First Amendment violation if they are. The NYPD is not a privately owned business. I don’t know for sure, IANAL. But I believe the police officers are also contributing to the tensions by their actions. The mayor wasn’t responsible for the shootings of the two police officers. They were the actions of a mentally disturbed psychopath who used the police as a scapegoat for his troubles and the blame rightly needs to be placed on him. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2014, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-now-what-about-all-those-cops-turning-their-backs-on-de-blasio/708293/7 "2014-12-27T20:37:53Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#): > > That spokesman for the police union sounds and looks like a mafia member. (Myself, I’ve been comparing him to Wayne LaPierre, NRA spokes-gun.) ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2014, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-now-what-about-all-those-cops-turning-their-backs-on-de-blasio/708293/8 "2014-12-27T20:40:16Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > Agreed as well. The police serve the city, and the mayor is the chief executive of the city and their superior. Whether they agree with his politics or not, openly demonstrating against him is every bit as unprofessional, inappropriate, and meriting of official discipline as it would be for a soldier in uniform to disparage the president. **Smapti** , after all the shit we’ve given you for your near-total apologizing for police misbehavior, you’ve just redeemed yourself here. ---
**Author:** ![doorhinge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a5b964/32.png) [@doorhinge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doorhinge)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2014, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-now-what-about-all-those-cops-turning-their-backs-on-de-blasio/708293/9 "2014-12-27T20:54:34Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > And now: What about all those cops turning their backs on De Blasio? What have got against free speech? ---
**Author:** ![miss\_elizabeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/838e76/32.png) [@miss\_elizabeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/miss_elizabeth)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2014, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-now-what-about-all-those-cops-turning-their-backs-on-de-blasio/708293/10 "2014-12-27T20:57:20Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > **Smapti** , after all the shit we’ve given you for your near-total apologizing for police misbehavior, you’ve just redeemed yourself here. No, he hasn’t. Fascists are fascists; of course he’s going to default to “obey”, but that doesn’t mean he’s correct. A stopped clock and all that. Fuck these cops, they serve themselves and no one else. They should all be fired, and every one of them should be investigated for police brutality; since they so obviously support it, it stands to reason they’ve engaged in it. Fuck the police, they’re nothing but a gang in blue. If it really was “a few bad apples” they wouldn’t have stood together, en masse, to support police brutality and a lack of accountability. It’s disgusting, these pigs are no angels. ---
**Author:** ![miss\_elizabeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/838e76/32.png) [@miss\_elizabeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/miss_elizabeth)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2014, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-now-what-about-all-those-cops-turning-their-backs-on-de-blasio/708293/11 "2014-12-27T20:58:21Z")
> [@doorhinge](#): > > What have got against free speech? What do have against respect for authority? Or do only the pigs deserve respect? ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2014, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-now-what-about-all-those-cops-turning-their-backs-on-de-blasio/708293/12 "2014-12-27T21:00:54Z")
Leaving aside all the issues of hierarchy and insubordination, the cops in this case are also idiots. If the training and the actions of police are problematic, and need to be addressed (as i and many others believe they do), this fact is not changed by a single maniac who goes out and kills two cops. Nor does pointing out problems within the police department make De Blasio or the protestors in any way responsible for the actions of the murderer. This is just another retarded example of the “You’re with us or against us mentality.” It is perfectly possible to oppose police misconduct and to also support the police themselves against acts of violence and criminality. I see no contradiction in mourning for these two officers, on the one hand, and still calling for better policing and a reduction in police shootings and killing, on the other. That the police union and these cops apparently can’t make such distinctions tells us quite a bit about their mentality, i think. ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Why\_Bother](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e19adc/32.png) [@Doctor\_Why\_Bother](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Why_Bother)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2014, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-now-what-about-all-those-cops-turning-their-backs-on-de-blasio/708293/13 "2014-12-27T21:03:38Z")
> [@doorhinge](#): > > What have got against free speech? Why are you so pro-mutiny? ---
**Author:** ![miss\_elizabeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/838e76/32.png) [@miss\_elizabeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/miss_elizabeth)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2014, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-now-what-about-all-those-cops-turning-their-backs-on-de-blasio/708293/14 "2014-12-27T21:14:43Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > This is just another retarded example of the “You’re with us or against us mentality.” It is perfectly possible to oppose police misconduct and to also support the police themselves against acts of violence and criminality. I see no contradiction in mourning for these two officers, on the one hand, and still calling for better policing and a reduction in police shootings and killing, on the other. That the police union and these cops apparently can’t make such distinctions tells us quite a bit about their mentality, i think. Exactly this, it tells us they are nothing but a gang of criminals. And before some pig apologist says, “if someone was robbing you, who would you call then?” Well, not the fucking thug police, I’ll tell you that much! Why would I? So they can show up and rape me? (first [cite](http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/01/29/she-dialed-911-the-cop-who-came-to-help-raped-her.html) I saw when I googled) Or maybe so they can arrest me instead, or shoot my family member? Or refuse to help me because even though I’m a victim of theft, they think they smell alcohol on my breath so they just leave instead (personal experience)? Or maybe they’ll just call me a “drug addict faggot” and push me around a bit before they go, that happened to a friend of mine because his ADD medication was stolen. He had to go a month without medicine, since they refused to make a report and the pharmacy wouldn’t give him a refill without a police report. What is the point of cops exactly? Oh yeah, to uphold the bullshit system. ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2014, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-now-what-about-all-those-cops-turning-their-backs-on-de-blasio/708293/15 "2014-12-27T21:16:51Z")
Actually, _is_ the mayor their boss? ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2014, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-now-what-about-all-those-cops-turning-their-backs-on-de-blasio/708293/16 "2014-12-27T21:16:58Z")
> [@doorhinge](#): > > What have got against free speech? What have you got against democracy? The people elected the mayor to run the police; they didn’t elect the police to run City Hall. ---
**Author:** ![doorhinge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a5b964/32.png) [@doorhinge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doorhinge)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2014, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-now-what-about-all-those-cops-turning-their-backs-on-de-blasio/708293/17 "2014-12-27T21:19:17Z")
> [@miss\_elizabeth](#): > > What do have against respect for authority? Or do only the pigs deserve respect? You’re engaging in your right to free speech but deny that same right to others. You must be a Democrat. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2014, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-now-what-about-all-those-cops-turning-their-backs-on-de-blasio/708293/18 "2014-12-27T21:19:39Z")
> [@Frylock](#): > > Actually, _is_ the mayor their boss? The NYPD reports to the Police Commissioner, who serves at the pleasure of the mayor. So yes, the mayor is their boss in the exact same sense that the president is the Army’s boss, and openly standing against him like this is an act of mutiny in the same sense that it would be if soldiers turned their back on the president. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2014, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-now-what-about-all-those-cops-turning-their-backs-on-de-blasio/708293/19 "2014-12-27T21:21:04Z")
> [@doorhinge](#): > > You’re engaging in your right to free speech but deny that same right to others. You must be a Democrat. 😃 If you tell your boss to suck your dick and he fires you, is he violating your freedom of speech? Of course not. Freedom of speech does not mean freedom from the consequences of your speech. ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Why\_Bother](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e19adc/32.png) [@Doctor\_Why\_Bother](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Why_Bother)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2014, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-now-what-about-all-those-cops-turning-their-backs-on-de-blasio/708293/20 "2014-12-27T21:23:03Z")
> [@doorhinge](#): > > You’re engaging in your right to free speech but deny that same right to others. You must be a Democrat. 😃 No-one is denying these cops jack shit. They are free to speak out against their boss. Their boss is free to discipline them for doing so. This is the way it works in every other job. As per usual you’re demanding special treatment for the police. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-now-what-about-all-those-cops-turning-their-backs-on-de-blasio/708293.md?page=2)