Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40SERGEANTS BENEVOLENT ASSOCIATION Police Department, City of New York 35 Worth Street, New York, NY 10013 tel 212.226.2180 fax 212.431.4280 www.sbanyc.org Edward D. Mullins President Robert Ganley Vice President Paul A. Capotosto Treasurer Vincent Vallelong Recording Secretary Gary DeRosa Financial Secretary Anthony Borelli Health & Welfare Secretary Vincent Guida City-Wide Secretary CONGRATULATIONS TO “AMERICAN POLICE BEAT” ON THEIR 25 YEARS OF PUBLISHING AND THEIR TIRELESS SUPPORT OF LAW ENFORCEMENT Dear Fellow Members of the Law Enforcement Community: We can only hope that 2017 is a much safer year for law enforcement than 2016 was. Last year more than 150 police officers lost their lives in the performance of their duties, over 60 of them from gunfire. While criminals are obviously responsible for the violence directed toward police personnel, there is enough direct and indirect peripheral blame to go around. Feckless local, state and national elected officials, as well as equally cowardly appointed “leaders,” embolden the detractors by continually ratcheting up the anti-police rhetoric for their own political expedience. In 2015 for example, the NYPD responded to 140,000 calls related to emotionally disturbed people. In nearly every case, there was a peaceful resolution. Despite that tremendous success, when an NYPD sergeant shot a violence-prone female EDP who attacked him with a baseball bat in October 2016, he was publicly pilloried by Mayor Bill de Blasio and Police Commissioner James O’Neill. Little did it matter that the sergeant had followed both New York State Penal Law and depart- mental protocol. Should this case ever go before a jury, the pool of jurors has been irreparably tainted. Earlier in the year, just hours after a police shooting of an armed man, Minnesota governor Mark Dayton irresponsibly shrieked that the man would not have been shot had he been a different ethnicity. So much for due process! Or giving police the benefit of the doubt until any semblance of an investigation is even begun! Chicago had its deadliest homicidal year in more than two decades, with well over 700 victims in 2016. In one weekend alone, 18 people were murdered. There has been nary a word of support for the police from Mayor Rahm Emanuel, just as Mayor de Blasio has stayed mum as the body count continues to rise in New York, unless, of course, a police officer is involved in a deadly encounter from which the mayor can generate political mileage. Although the police are the good guys during this time of great social upheaval and unrest, they continue to be maligned by scores of political bigwigs and a compliant media with no concept of how law and order works. It is crucial that the nationwide law enforcement community fight back against both internal and external forces that seek to demean, besmirch and in many cases destroy us. It is arguably the most dangerous time in history to be a police officer, so we must support each other in every way possible at the grassroots and legislative levels. Thankfully, media outlets such as “American Police Beat” is not afraid to have our backs. I salute APB and its hardworking editor Cynthia Brown for all of her efforts on our behalf. In the meantime, have a safe and happy New Year and don’t ever forget that we are the good guys. We always have been—and we always will be. Fraternally, Ed Mullins President