Police Commissioner Ray Kelly entered the lion’s den of one of the NYPD’s fiercest critics yesterday to speak at the Rev. Al Sharpton’s National Action Network.
But the extremely rare meeting between the leaders at Sharpton’s Harlem headquarters turned into an unusually cozy lovefest aimed at developing what Kelly called “a new climate of respect and change.”
“After eight years of Rudy Giuliani and two commissioners that haven’t talked [to us] at all, it is refreshing,” Sharpton said after the meeting.
Kelly insisted that the two men have long been friends, dating back to the top cop’s days on the beat – and despite the fact that police officers have often been a target of Sharpton’s wrath.