A Fine Kettle of Fish in NYC

Bill de Blasio, the alleged Mayor of New York City, together with Patrick Lynch, the President of the New York City Patrolmen's Benevolent Association, have gotten themselves into one fine kettle of fish.

The alleged mayor, of course, has been hamstringing the New York City Police Department, and, in the view of many NYPDers and members of the public (myself included), has come down too far on the side of the lawlessness crowd. 

Pat Lynch, after showing some remarkable restraint, finally spoke for his constituency by telling de Blasio and NYC Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito that if, G-d forbid, a NYPD officer is killed in the line of duty, then they would be unwelcome at the funeral, and invited his constituents to place that sentiment in writing.

A bit hotheaded?  Perhaps!  But unmitigated extremism will eventually beget counterextremism, a sociological phenomenon analogous to Newton's Third Law. 

To be sure, police forces need checks and balances no less than any other agency of the government, and de Blasio, as the alleged Mayor of the City of New York, is the one who needs to provide those checks and balances while, at the same time, optimizing the NYPD's efficacy in combatting crime and promoting law and order.  He needs to either back up his boys and girls as they do their jobs, or get rid of them; he cannot have it both ways.  Now that he is allegedly a mature adult, de Blasio needs to conduct himself as an executive, not as the Sandinista/uberleftist he was in his younger days.

[The adult in the room thus far has been Dennis Gonzalez, the President of the NYPD Hispanic Society.   Said he, "Many elected officials are quick to speak out against police officers but now that we need them to calm our city where is their press conference on the steps of City Hall?"].

Well as of a few hours ago, it is no longer a posturing and bluffing and pissing contest between Lynch and de Blasio.  Two New York City police officers have been shot dead, in cold blood, as they sat in their squad car.  There is much NYPD and citizen anger that will no doubt come to a head in the coming days.   And with the breakdown and dysfunction of New York City's governmental interactions, the City may well become more dangerous before it becomes any safer.