>> District attorney's offices in several New York Bureaus are saying that they refuse
to prosecute protestors who were arrested during the protests. We're talking about protestors
who might have been out past curfew. People who weren't looking to cause any trouble,
but were engaging in civil disobedience in order to voice their free speech, their political
speech.
And so in response to that, it looks as though, the NYPD is pulling its cops from their offices
from district attorney's offices in order to make a statement. Now the police commissioner
is saying, no, no, no, it's just a coincidence. It's just a coincidence, but let me give you
the details you can judge for yourselves.
Police Commissioner Dermott F Shea said on Friday that the timing was unrelated to the
prosecutors's decisions. Resources were pulled from the entire department to cover the protests,
he said. But this does seem to mark a growing rift between the NYPD and the attorney's office
and it's reflecting a political reality that I think most people are also noticing, right?
If the prosecutors are unsupportive of some of the police brutality that's been going
on, there usually is some sort of retaliation or negative response by the NYPD. Eric Gonzalez
who's a DA in Brooklyn says, we will review every single one of those protest arrests
to see whether or not these individuals should ever have to come to court or those cases
should be declined.
So far, we declined prosecution when the arrest was simply for protesting and not for an act
of violence. And by the way, that's the way it should be, because any time a prosecutor
prosecutes someone. That is your tax dollars. Those are your resources going toward that
prosecution. Why go after peaceful protesters who got caught up in this mess?
When you should be, I do not know, maybe prosecuting some of the violent people who show up to
provoke the protesters. We've seen so many instances of that. They claim that they care
so much about the looting. But in video after video, I see them allow the looting to happen
while they go off and arrest protesters, because it's past curfew.
>> Yeah, and people don't realize this issue of like arresting protesters can be very serious
like after the Trump inauguration protests in 2016, hundreds of protesters who arrested
faced years of legal battles and were threatened with several years in prison and it was like
it basically like ruin their lives.
I mean, it's not like something to be sniffed out. It's like you get arrested and then you
get bailed out, and then nothing happened like a lot of these people often face very
long-term consequences. So it's good that the DEA is doing this and also just it goes
to the show that these cops think that they're above the law in a way.
I remember when when Bill de Blasio became mayor of New York on an explicitly anti-police
platform. As soon as he came in, as soon as he was inaugurated, the cops went on like
a sort of soft strike in which they were showing up to work, but they weren't doing anything.
They were doing a lot of the similar things that they're doing now and it basically freaked
them out, and it's why de Blasio is so deferential to cops. I mean, they basically flex their
muscle and control the guy who is supposed to be their boss, right? Or like the mayor
of the city, the highest elected official in the city is subject to their kind of pressure.
So yeah, I mean, it's just crazy how they think they can be above all this stuff and
that they want it they want to. They wanna punish the protesters for being against them.
That's like what they wanna do. They wanna punish the protesters for even believing that
they could express an opinion that goes against everything they believe.
>> Yeah, the thing that always amazes me and I mean, I feel like I'm getting it everywhere.
It's the sensitivity that cops feel when you criticize police in general. When you're when
you're not even naming them specifically like every profession gets criticized and dragged
through the mud all the time like, every day, every day.
People who work at the post office get dragged through the mud, right? And no one's like
can you believe what they're saying about post office workers? No, I mean, people complain
about them being too slow, for instance, right. I don't see post office workers losing it
over that.
Restaurants get critiqued and criticized viciously every single day. I mean, in general, the
media gets criticized viciously every single day and like the idea that I would do some
sort of like. Imagine if I did a strike every time Cenk criticized the media.
>> Yeah. >> How ridiculous would, by the way, it might
not be a bad idea just to get a little bit of a break.
>> Yeah. >> But it's just crazy to me and to give you
an idea of what the NYPD is so upset at, there have been various examples of prosecutors
who have come out in support of the protesters and the cops hate that. So for instance, here's
one example.
One quote from Eric Gonzalez. He's again, the district attorney from Brooklyn. And he
says, the protests are important, powerful and very positive. We need to make sure we
protect that activity and he's actually absolutely right. Here's a statement from district prosecutors
in New York. We must take action against the use of excessive force by police.
Now look, I'm not naive. I do know that in case after case involving prosecution of police
who actually do carry out excessive force, prosecutors seem to look out for them in general
or refuse to prosecute them in general, but I think these statements of support are important.
And I don't think these statements of support would even exist if it weren't for the protesters
putting themselves out on the line every single day to voice their anger and displeasure at
how they've been treated in various cities throughout the country.
So I love this. >> Yeah, I mean, it just goes shows like grievance
is just such a driving force of politics in our time, especially on the right wing that
there's just a sense of grievance that everything is against them, that everything is against
them. You specifically that there's these dark forces that are against you and it's
just the reality is that these people don't see the people that they're supposed to be
serving and protecting or whatever, as members of their community, right.
They see them as a sort of enemy force that needs to be dealt with. They see that relationship
as inherently antagonistic rather than one in which it should be, which is that we're
part of something in it together. We're all in this together and it's that's just not
how they see it.
It's been driven into them and it's the type of people that become cops these days, that's
how they see things like, and it's not how it should be or how it always has been. It's
like this new thing of just like right wing grievance and it's just such a driving force
in our politics where they see every little thing is just this unbelievable offense that
needs to be that you can't give like a single inch.
I mean, that press conference that big was our friend big was called the police a white
lives matter press conference with the New York cops. I mean, that's what that was. I
mean, they see it as like they're this incredibly aggrieved party when. The reality is that
being a police officer in this country.
It's a relatively well-paying job. It's very stable, and you have a great amount of labor
union protections. I mean, all those things are very, very good if you're a cop. So it's
crazy. >> Yeah and look, going back to the great
point you made in an earlier story.
I think that what drives police culture is the enforcement of the inequality that we
experience on a regular basis, right? I mean, think about how JP Morgan Chase aid cops a
significant sum of money tens of millions if I can remember correctly iIn order to clear
out Zuccotti Park.
>> So who do they really work for? Who do they really protect? I think that we should
have these conversations and have these debates. And finally, come to a better place.