Black Off-Duty Cops Are Often Afraid of White Cops In NY

[N'Zinga Shani]

Off Duty, Black Cops in New York Feel Threat from Fellow Police

NEW YORK (Reuters) - By Michelle Conlin, Dec. 23, 2014

Many Americans will not want to believe what is written in this article by Michelle Conlin; however, this same story has been told by Black police officers in many areas of America including in CT.  Until we, as a society, are willing to have honest conversations about all aspects of race in America (and especially in our police departments and about how our schools are managed) we are not likely to make any meaningful headway.  America is unlikely to ever achieve the full potential of large segments of its population until the yoke of racism is lifted. See the link below to read the entire article.

From the dingy donut shops of Manhattan to the cloistered police watering holes in Brooklyn, a number of black NYPD officers say they have experienced the same racial profiling that cost Eric Garner his life. 

Garner, a 43-year-old black man suspected of illegally peddling loose cigarettes, died in July after a white officer put him in a chokehold. His death, and that of an unarmed black teenager in Ferguson, Missouri, has sparked a slew of nationwide protests against police tactics. On Saturday, those tensions escalated after a black gunman, who wrote of avenging the black deaths on social media, shot dead two New York policemen.

 The protests and the ambush of the uniformed officers pose a major challenge for New York Mayor Bill De Blasio. The mayor must try to ease damaged relations with a police force that feels he hasn’t fully supported them, while at the same time bridging a chasm with communities who say the police unfairly target them.

 What’s emerging now is that, within the thin blue line of the NYPD, there is another divide - between black and white officers.

    Reuters interviewed 25 African American male officers on the NYPD, 15 of whom are retired and 10 of whom are still serving. All but one said that, when off duty and out of uniform, they had been victims of racial profiling, which refers to using race or ethnicity as grounds for suspecting someone of having committed a crime.

    The officers said this included being pulled over for no reason, having their heads slammed against their cars, getting guns brandished in their faces, being thrown into prison vans and experiencing stop and frisks while shopping. The majority of the officers said they had been pulled over multiple times while driving. Five had had guns pulled on them.

Desmond Blaize, who retired two years ago as a sergeant in the 41st Precinct in the Bronx, said he once got stopped while taking a jog through Brooklyn’s upmarket Prospect Park. "I had my ID on me so it didn’t escalate," said Blaize, who has sued the department alleging he was racially harassed on the job. "But what’s suspicious about a jogger? In jogging clothes?"

    The NYPD and the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association, the police officers’ union, declined requests for comment. However, defenders of the NYPD credit its policing methods with transforming New York from the former murder capital of the world into the safest big city in the United States.

There is a great deal more to this article including images.  Readers can visit the link below.  Here are other related articles:

1. 5% of New York cops turn in 40% of "resisting arrest" cases Vox.com
2. NYPD officer who killed Eric Garner in chokehold won't face crimina... Vox.com
3. Michael Brown and Eric Garner: The police, use of force and race CBS News

  http://news.yahoo.com/off-duty-black-cops-york-feel-threat-fellow-1...