New York, NY – It’s a tale of two different Bill Brattons, and it’s time for both of them to step down as NYPD Commissioner, according to the Sergeants Benevolent Association president Ed Mullins.
“It’s time that we start to set the department straight, and if we need to make changes at the top I personally think Bratton has stayed too long, and it’s time to go,” Mullins said today on the John Catsimatidis radio program on AM 970.
“We need to set a standard, and we need to raise the bar, and we need to build the relationship with the community, and we need to set an example of leadership going forward.
And I just don’t see that happening.”
Mullins claims there are two different sets of standards at play in the NYPD when it comes to tackling corruption, where lower level officers and sergeants are punished more severely than higher ranking law enforcement officials.
Specifically, Mullins was referencing an NYPD determination to take Sergeant Erez Levy’s shield and gun after he refused to speak with federal investigators without an attorney to represent him.
“What I am seeing on a regular basis now at the NYPD is, it’s a do as I say, not as I do attitude and this is coming directly from Commissioner Bratton.
We’re seeing hypocrisy,” Mullins charged.
Mullins also called Bratton out for having the Police Foundation cover the cost of his membership to the Harvard Club.
Though the practice started under then Commissioner Ray Kelly, Mullins said at least Kelly was a Harvard graduate, whereas Bratton is not an alumnus.
“What we’ve seen is a politics at its highest level. We see a boys club at its highest level,” Mullins continued. “You’re sending the wrong message.
We have issues of integrity and I think at this point in time it’s really a matter of trust to the public. We’re struggling with racial tension in the city.
We’re struggling with discipline issues. And yet we have a hypocrisy that’s coming right from the top, and I think it has a stop.” Mullins then called for Bratton to leave his post in order to “protect his legacy.”
“Your credibility is on the line.
I agree when Bratton was here in the 90s, he was a very decent guy. But I don’t know what’s happened. We have two different Brattons right now.”
