Morale is low in the New York Police Department and in Democrat-run cities across the nation as pressure mounts to defund police departments, an NYPD officer said Saturday.
The officer, who wished to remain anonymous, opened up to “Fox & Friends Weekend” co-host Will Cain about the harsh reality faced by cops today, prompting some to quit or retire earlier than planned.
“The term for the NYPD that is going around in every command in the city is ‘the job is dead.’ You would be crazy to take this job at this day and age,” the officer said.
“When I became a police officer many years ago, I never thought that I would have to put this uniform on and be looked at as the enemy and to be hated,” he said. “And it’s not fair because we sacrifice ourselves every day. No matter what your skin color is, it’s sad. In my tenure here at NYPD I can never ever imagine that it would be this bad, as far as not being supported.”
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Cain said Democratic nominee Joe Biden and running mate Kamala Harris have not been specific about their policies on law enforcement, leaving it up to governors and mayors. Biden has said he doesn’t not support defunding police departments, however.
President Trump “absolutely supports” law enforcement, the officer said, adding that he is convinced Biden-Harris “would not support us.”
“People who allow these protesters to talk about how they want to defund the police department, we’re there to make sure that nothing happens to them, but they are the ones saying that they want us dead,” he said.
The officer — who said he used to be a Democrat and is now a Republican — blames New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, the City Council and district attorneys, who he said create a “revolving door” of crime by releasing criminals back into the streets.
“[De Blasio] does not care about the police. He doesn’t care about Black lives. You know, he is more concerned with painting murals,” he said, citing the rising crime rate.
According to the NYPD, shootings in the city have increased by more than 80% compared to the same period last year, with the number of victims jumping from 581 to 1,095.
The officer said crime in the city has become so bad he now advises tourists — and his own relatives — to stay away. He no longer wants his son to be a cop when he gets older.
“It’s not just in NYPD, it’s across the United States,” he said. “It’s sad that that’s where we are at right now. People who are saying that we’re afraid, we’re not afraid. We just want to be supported.”
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Seven people were shot — one fatally — in a three-hour period on Tuesday night, police said. A 20-year-old woman was also stabbed to death in the bloodshed that spanned Brooklyn, Queens and Manhattan, police said.
The recent rash of violence in the city, including six deaths and 51 shootings last weekend, comes after widespread anti-police protests in New York and other major cities following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
Critics, including former mayor Rudy Giuliani and former New York City police commissioners, have blamed de Blasio for contributing to rising anti-police sentiment and plunging morale among officers.
“The last time this city was like this, the last time the city had riots and crime at this level we had a Democratic mayor. All during the period of time, we had 30 years of massive crime. So, if this sets in, it’s not going to end,” Giuliani said this week. “We need a change in leadership.”
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Cain recently interviewed a restaurant owner in Manhattan said he recently put metal grates over his windows because of the spike in crime.
“These things are happening in these cities because the Democrats have pro-criminal, anti-police policies. The reason it’s happening is not Donald Trump. Donald Trump didn’t release 8,000 people from prison. De Blasio did,” Giuliani said, also blaming Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat. “I mean, there are children living next to sexual predators as a result of these two idiots.”
Fox News’ Joshua Nelson contributed to this report.