Comedian and HBO talk show host Bill Maher blasts NYPD, police unions

Maher called the cops 'New York's Whiniest' for turning their backs on the mayor and participating in a slowdown. Maher, who claims he supports the police, lambasted the NYPD for what he called a 'virtual work stoppage to teach Bill de Blasio a lesson for not saying he loves them enough.'

BY Thomas Tracy , Ryan Sit

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Published: Saturday, January 10, 2015, 2:55 AM

Updated: Sunday, January 11, 2015, 12:58 AM

 

 RealTime via YouTube Bill Maher talks about recent police behavior in 'Real Time with Bill Maher: NYPD Blues ­- January 9, 2015 (HBO).'

Acerbic-tongued comedian and HBO talk show host Bill Maher blasted the NYPD and the city’s police unions Friday, calling cops “New York’s Whiniest” for participating in a work slowdown and turning their backs on Mayor de Blasio at funerals for two fallen officers.
“When did the NYPD start suffering from PMS?” Maher asked as he wrapped up his show “Real Time With Bill Maher.”
“Seriously, if our deal with the police is that we have to constantly reassure them how much we love them unless they throw a tantrum, we're not supporting them," he said. "We're dating them,"
Maher, who claims he supports the police, lambasted the NYPD for what he called a “virtual work stoppage to teach Bill de Blasio a lesson for not saying he loves them enough.”
“The cops were already furious with the mayor for not endorsing their novel crime-prevention tactic of choking random citizens to death. But purposely not doing your job? Turning your back to him at funerals? What did de Blasio do — get caught in a video with Ice Cube singing f--- the police?”
Maher admitted that the cops have a dirty job — but, hey, they volunteered for it, he said.
“It’s like a proctologist coming home every night, saying, ‘I can’t believe I have to look at a------- all day,” Maher said. “I do support the police and I understand their job is to look at a------- all day, but something outrageous has been going on in the Big Apple in the last couple of weeks.”

James Keivom/New York Daily News Police officers turn away as Mayor Bill de Blasio delivers a televised speech at the funeral of NYPD Officer Wenjian Liu.

Mahrer referred to recent police actions that have outraged the public and led to protests across the nation.
Thousands of demonstrators have taken to the streets in the weeks since a grand jury decided not to indict NYPD Officer Daniel Pantaleo in the chokehold death of Staten Island resident Eric Garner. The medical examiner ruled Garner's death a homicide.
The decision not to indict came on the heels of a St. Louis County grand jury declining to indict Ferguson, Mo., cop Darren Wilson, who fatally shot the unarmed 18-year-old Michael Brown on Aug. 9.
In both cases, the officers were white and the men who died were black, fueling long-simmering feelings of extreme bias toward and unequal treatment of blacks.
The public outcry over police violence was bolstered again by the death of Akai Gurley, 28, who was shot in an East New York stairwell by a jumpy rookie cop on Nov. 20.
Just two days later, little Tamir Rice, 12, was killed while playing with an airsoft gun in a Cleveland park. Video footage shows first-year cop Timothy Loehmann pull up to the boy in a squad car and fire two shots within two seconds, killing the boy.

Jefferson Siegel/New York Daily News PBA head Pat Lynch leaves Police Headquarters after a meeting with other union leaders and Commissioner Bill Bratton on Jan. 7, 2015.

“When did the police become infallible?” he asked. “No matter what they do, they always say it was by the book. Put six slugs into an unarmed man from the seat of their car? By the book. Strangle a handcuffed guy to death? By the book. Kill a 12-year-old who had a toy gun? By the book. Maybe they need to get a new book.”
“Who wrote this book, anyway, George Zimmerman?” he said.
Zimmerman was found not guilty of second-degree murder in the death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in 2012. Zimmerman, then 28, stalked Martin after he deemed the teen suspicious-looking while he walking through a Florida gated community where Zimmerman was a neighborhood watch volunteer and Martin's father was a resident. A confrontation ultimately erupted and Zimmerman shot the unarmed teen dead.
Maher then blamed the NYPD police unions for the work slowdown, adding, “This is why Americans hate unions now.”
“We should pay only as much attention to him as we would a comic strip,” Sergeants Benevolent Association President Ed Mullins said Saturday. “I’m not going to waste my time on him. There are many more important things to do in this world.”
On Friday, Police Commissioner Bill Bratton admitted that the massive drop in summons activity and the 66% falloff in arrests in the last two weeks of 2014 constituted a work slowdown. But he said that's over. Arrests and police activity were already picking up, he said.

Maher did note the NYPD’s drop in summonses produced a few benefits.
“It's a great time to visit new York, get drunk, stoned and urinate out the window of your double-parked car,” he said.
The controversial commentator has been criticized for his rants in the past.
On Wednesday, he drew attention for claiming that “hundreds of millions” of Muslims supported the terror attack at a Paris newspaper where 12 people were assassinated.
In October, actor Ben Affleck took the comedian to task during a taping of “Real Time With Bill Maher” for his anti-Islam comments, which he called “gross,” “racist” and “disgusting.”
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