A return to civility and respect

One dead suspect. Two dead cops. One very large American city of more than 8 million residents possibly on the verge of a new dangerous and tumultuous period.

On Saturday, Dec. 20, Ismaaiyl Brinsley, 28, shot and killed New York City police officers Wenjian Liu, 32, and Rafael Ramos, 40, at point-blank range, as they sat in their patrol car.

Brinsley later turned the gun on himself – with a fatal result. (That’s the only good news whatsoever in this sad and sordid affair.)

What’s next?

For one thing, a Christmastime grieving period that is beyond comprehension for the families of Officers Liu and Ramos and all of NYPD’s finest.

As reported by USA Today’s William M. Welch and Kevin Johnson, “New York Mayor Bill de Blasio on Monday tried to cool the heated controversy around the fatal shootings of two police officers, calling on New Yorkers to ‘put aside protests’ and focus on the families of the fallen patrolmen.”

That’s certainly sound advice – especially after the fact. Regrettably, de Blasio is a little late and a little short.

Perhaps the mayor should have worked as hard to encourage a more civil tone prior to the weekend murders of two police officers.

On Saturday, officers turned their backs on Mayor de Blasio as he entered a Brooklyn hospital to pay his respects to two murdered policemen.

Meanwhile, former New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said de Blasio had contributed to police officers turning against him by running an "anti-police campaign" for mayor in 2013.

What strikes a nerve in all of this is the tone and content of the national media’s coverage, which has had, for the most part, a distinct anti-police slant. (We’ve seen that before, too.)

“We’ve had four months of propaganda, starting with the president, that everybody should hate the police,” former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani said this week.

“The protests are being embraced, the protests are being encouraged. The protests, even the ones that don’t lead to violence, a lot of them lead to violence; all of them lead to a conclusion: The police are bad, the police are racist. That is completely wrong.”

Yes, it is.

Are all members of law enforcement right all of the time? Of course not. They are, indeed, fallible – as we all are.

Too often, though, the media have what appears to be a pre-determined conclusion on stories involving police shootings. If it fits, it prints. Or goes viral online.

For full disclosure, I have witnessed up-close what I would label as poor professional conduct by some members of law enforcement. Does that automatically apply to all cops? We know it does not.

To be fair, I have also witnessed officers who exercised incredible restraint when dealing with drunks, drug addicts and potentially violent suspects.

It occurs to me, too, that should the relatively few New York cops – either individually or collectively – decide that their own safety and their own lives are no longer worth risking for the common good of the 8 million masses in the five boroughs, it could spark a time of unsurpassed criminal activity.

Once the gang members and street thugs realize that the police officers aren’t enforcing the law, watch out. It will be open season; and everyone from the president to the New York governor to Mayor de Blasio, knows it.

The neighborhood store owners will be hit first. Once hit, most won’t return. They’ll simply apply for their insurance checks and move away.

Who could blame them?

Then, it will be law-abiding citizens in the row houses and housing projects. They’ll be targeted.

Without an active police force, they will be victims, too. Their daughters will be raped. Their sons will either join a gang or suffer the consequences. It will be Cabrini–Green in Chicago all over again. Surely, the president and former Chicago organizer recalls Cabrini–Green?

A union message this week suggested that NYPD officers respond to every radio call with two cars – no matter what the opinion of the patrol supervisor – and not make arrests unless absolutely necessary.

That’s good news for the thugs.

But it’s a scary thing for those who obey the law.

It’s time for a return to civility and respect – from the top down.

Maybe it’s too late. Who knows?

It’s certainly too late for Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos.

Rory Ryan is publisher of The Highland County Press.