Sharpton's rants aside, the NYPD is doing a great job

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Bill Bratton has decades of professional experience in law enforcement. He is decorated and well recognized in the field. Bratton is currently the commissioner of the New York City Police Department, the second time he has held this post.

Bill de Blasio is the mayor.

So who is Al Sharpton?

On July 17, Eric Garner, a 43-year-old African-American man from Staten Island, died during an attempted arrest by city police officers. This was an unfortunate situation and sadly, a man is dead.

The incident has renewed tensions between the NYPD and minority communities. Despite the fact that de Blasio has spent significant time and energy attempting to respond to the concerns of these communities, Sharpton wants marches and protests.

Listening to Sharpton, you’d think he was an elected official, like the police commissioner or the mayor, instead of an activist and television personality. He was not elected to run the police department, nor does he have any experience as a police officer.

De Blasio has not shied away from the difficult circumstances. On July 31, he convened a “Roundtable Conference” of community leaders and activists to discuss the Garner case. The conference turned into a fiasco when Sharpton threatened the mayor, claiming that he would lead a mass protest march across the Verrazano and shut the bridge down.

The threats continued when Sharpton announced to de Blasio that he would be his “worst enemy” if he tries to play spin games and not deal with reality.

It’s important to realize that outsourcing power to New York’s non-elected or appointed leaders allows someone like Sharpton to manipulate the public, which makes an unfortunate situation even worse. Sharpton is in no position to lecture the mayor and the police commissioner on city policing policies.

The NYPD is one of the best policing units in the world, and has made New York City the safest big city in America. The statistics prove just how safe we are: Murders are down 75 percent in the city, and the department has prevented numerous terrorist attacks. You don’t hear about terror threats in New York City because the men and women of the NYPD are preventing them each and every day.

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