Tuesday, April 1, 2014

Ex-NYPD Commissioner Raymond Kelly mum on remarks from his successor, Bill Bratton, who blamed him for 'awful' police morale

Kelly offered no response Monday to Bratton's comments that were made during a TV interview over the weekend. But Kelly's former deputy commissioner, Paul Browne, defended his old boss.

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Monday, March 31, 2014, 8:37 PM














Bill Bramhall cartoon for April 1st. Bill Bramhall/New York Daily News
Raymond Kelly still refused to bite back.
The city’s ex-top cop remained mum Monday after new Police Commissioner Bill Bratton blasted his approach to fighting crime.
But Kelly’s former mouthpiece came out swinging, defending his old boss’s record as commish.
“The Kelly legacy is secure because it is measured in lives saved, especially among young men of color, and in a city spared another terror attack despite multiple plots to kill more New Yorkers,” said former Deputy Commissioner Paul Browne.
Bratton in a weekend TV interview said Kelly left him a department with “awful morale” — in part due to Kelly’s commitment to the controversial stop-and-frisk tactic employed by the NYPD.
NYC PAPERS OUT. Social media use restricted to low res file max 184 x 128 pixels and 72 dpi Ron Antonelli Former NYPD Commissioner Raymond Kelly refused to strike back at his successor, Bill Bratton, who slammed him in a TV interview over the weekend for causing 'awful' morale within the police department.
“The commissioner and the former mayor did a great job in the sense of keeping the community safe, keeping crime down,” Bratton said, “but one of the tools used to do that, I believe, was used too extensively.”
Relaxing Monday at Citi Field as he took in the Mets’ home opener with his son, TV personality Greg Kelly, the former commissioner refused to offer a retort.
“I’m not commenting on that,” said Kelly. “I’m here to enjoy the game.”
Stop-and-frisk became the subject of a federal lawsuit that charged NYPD cops unfairly targeted minority males.
Ray Kelly refused to get into war of words with Bill Bratton over  stop-frisk. Joe TabaccA Kelly refused to get into war of words with Bratton over the stop-and-frisk tactic that he used during his tenure.
In August, Manhattan Federal Judge Shira Scheindlin blasted the NYPD’s use of stop-and-frisk as unconstitutional and appointed a federal monitor for the department.
Records released in February show stop-and-frisks plummeted a staggering 86% in the last quarter of 2013, the final three months of Kelly’s tenure.
Cops used the tactic 12,495 times from October through December, down from 89,620 during the same time period in 2012.
While that continued a downward trend, Bratton said the damage was already done, with the NYPD subject to greater oversight.
“Quite clearly, the legacy of that era is now going to be the inspector general . . . a federal monitor . . . an enlarged (Civilian Complaint Review Board),” he said.

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