NEW YORK (AP) – Mayor Bill de Blasio and Police Commissioner William Bratton drew salutes from some officers Saturday as they were arrived at the wake of a second New York Police Department officer killed in an ambush shooting.
The gesture of respect during the calling hours for Officer Wenjian Liu contrasted with the back-turning insults hundreds of officers displayed last week toward video screens showing the mayor speaking at the funeral of Liu’s police partner, Rafael Ramos. It also came after Bratton urged rank-and-file officers to refrain from making political statements at Liu’s wake and funeral.
“A hero’s funeral is about grieving, not grievance,” Bratton said in a memo read to all commands at roll calls Friday and Saturday. “I issue no mandates, and I make no threats of discipline, but I remind you that when you don the uniform of this department, you are bound by the tradition, honor and decency that go with it.”
Police union officials, who are negotiating a contract with the city, had accused de Blasio of helping foster an anti-police atmosphere by supporting demonstrations following the chokehold death of an unarmed black man on Staten Island who resisted arrest.
The back-turning at Ramos’ funeral mimicked what some police union officials did outside a hospital when the officers were killed two weeks ago.