Sources from within the NYPD and the officers union spoke with the New York Post about the "outrage" they felt toward both the criminals who carried out the attacks and the mayor, Bill de Blasio, who was out-of-state when the attacks occurred. Senior NYPD officials and union leaders have repeatedly criticized de Blasio for going easy on criminals and undoing some of the progress that happened under Mayors Bloomberg and Giuliani, where crime rates in the city began a dramatic slide (though, in recent years, crime rates have started ticking higher again).
"Everybody’s outraged," an NYPD source said. "It’s disgusting, embarrassing. There’s lawlessness around here now."
Police Chief Terence Monahan called the footage reprehensible and said every New Yorker must show respect for NYPD officers.
Another officer blamed the incidents on the NYPD’s "hands-off approach to these guys" that Mayor de Blasio first advocated."Who does that in their right frame of mind? People who believe there’s no consequences," the anonymous officer said. "It's total anarchy. This is very sad."
Patrolmen's Benevolent Association head Pat Lynch, a longtime NYPD labor leader, called the water bucket attacks "the end result of the torrent of bad policies and anti-police rhetoric that has been streaming out of City Hall and Albany for years now."
The PBA Twitter account tweeted one of the clips, and insisted that we are approaching "the point of no return."
Lynch added that politicians don't care about the dangers of being an NYPD officer."As police officers, we need to draw a line. In situations like this, we need to take action to protect ourselves and the public. The politicians may not care about the dangerous levels of chaos in our neighborhoods, but police officers and decent New Yorkers should not be forced to suffer."