To please George Floyd protesters and score political points, Gov. Andrew Cuomo wants each of New York’s 500-plus local police agencies to reform itself — or lose funding.
On Friday, he ordered “each local government” in the state to adopt a plan to “improve” its police practices — addressing “racial bias and disproportionate policing of communities of color” — by April 1, or risk cuts in state funding.
Never mind figuring out which towns or cities actually need to overhaul their policing. Nor that the governor doesn’t bother to spell out what the reforms should be.
The protests are drawing huge attention, so the pander needs to be big so protesters believe he cares. And it’s working: Even Rev. Al Sharpton praised the move.
So what if Cuomo basically smears every police force in the state as bigoted, without reviewing their records, let alone offering evidence. Young people marching must know the truth, right?
In particular: How is the NYPD biased? Where’s the proof? How exactly should it heal itself?
Sure, ordering departments to “improve” is better than just defunding them. Indeed, the diktat is so vague that even meaningless changes might pass muster — which is yet more evidence it’s just a charade.
Yet major overhauls can cost a small fortune and risk upticks in crime.
If Cuomo were serious about rooting out bias, he’d identify where it exists and specify remedies. Instead, he’s just big-footing local governments and making vague threats. Classic Andrew.
Meanwhile, cops throughout the state are becoming punching bags: More than 350 were hurt in recent city “protests.”
Even when police make arrests, judges must quickly set perps free with no bail — thanks to the 2019 criminal-justice “reform,” which was also framed as addressing racial bias.
On Monday, NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea announced another drastic move in the face of this political onslaught: He’s redeploying 600 plainclothes anti-crime units to other work.
This, when violent crime rates are already on the rise. The real question now is how far up they’ll go before the politicians admit they’ve gone far too far.