Anyone with two eyes who happened to witness 2014 in New York saw things get particularly icy between Mayor Bill de Blasio and the NYPD. In the wake of a city that was already tense from “Stop And Frisk” tactics, de Blasio caught heat for empathizing with people of color that were increasing weary and/or resentful of police involved in the deaths of unarmed, Black men.
Things escalated when Staten Island Police Officer Daniel Pantaleo used a chokehold during a fatal encounter with Eric Garner. And things reached a boiling point when NYPD officers Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos were killed execution style in December. Faced with all the above, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio—who had a tense standoff with New York Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association, Patrick Lynch—appeared on The Nightly Show With Larry Wilmore to offer some insight about an improved relationship with the NYPD. Here are four main takeaways from Monday night’s episode.
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Photo: Comedy Central/Viacom
Every Policeman Will Be Retrained
Pantaleo clearly doesn’t know the definition of chokehold, and de Blasio aims to change that. The mayor told Wilmore every single officer was going in to retrain on things like how to deescalate confrontations and reduce the use of violence. This is crucial because officers shouldn’t be using outlawed tactics like chokeholds, and nobody needs to die over selling loosies.
The NYPD Will Start A Body Camera Pilot Program
Being caught on camera hasn’t brought indictments for the officers involved in the fatal encounters with Tamir Rice (not in NY) or Eric Garner. The sobering thought is how many incidents are happening out there that weren’t caught on camera. To that end, de Blasio said the NYPD will pilot body cameras “to help officers think about their preparation for each situation and give us a clear record of what happened.”
de Blasio Kind Of Explained The Pink Summons Policy
New York’s marijuana laws didn’t magically change in November of 2014, even though de Blasio gave Wilmore a great sound bite.
“For possession of small amounts, what used to be arrests is now a summons,” de Blasio said. “Arrests are down 65 percent.” Is that completely true? Not really. If you’re caught with 25 grams or less of herbal refreshment, The Pink Summons policy merely gives officers the ability to arrest you, give you an arraignment ticket, write you a pink summons (the equivalent of a ticket), or do nothing. The implication is that they will opt for the ticket, but they can use their discretion. Your best bet is to be caught with something as trivial as a blunt or two, be in your own home, and stay the eff out of Westchester County. Seriously, they don’t mess around.
Chirlane de Blasio Issued An Executive Dry Cleaning Order
Faced with a simple task of picking up the dry cleaning from his wife, de Blasio said, “I was ordered to pick up the dry cleaning over the weekend, and I am too scared to defy that order.” Naturally, Wilmore dropped a #BlackWivesMatter reference about the mayor’s wife to add some levity to what was a pretty serious, but very informative episode. Mayor Bill de Blasio definitely earned his #KeepIt100 sticker Monday night.
Watch The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore weeknights at 11:30/10:30c on Comedy Central or on the Comedy Central app. #KeepIt100
