Only a coward would use the death of police officers as a means of advancing a political agenda

After the murder of two NYPD officers on Saturday, the outspoken head of the city’s primary police union blamed protesters and Mayor Bill de Blasio for the deaths of Officers Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos…. “There’s blood on many hands tonight,” NYC Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association president Pat Lynch said Saturday night, ratcheting up already frigid tensions between City Hall and One Police Plaza. Lynch blamed those who “incited violence on the street under the guise of protest,” — a reference to the swell of demonstrations in New York City and across the U.S. in the wake of a grand jury decision to not indict a New York police officer for killing an unarmed black man, Eric Garner, earlier this fall.

In the wake of horrific tragedies, real leaders- people of quality and vision- step up and act decisively to bring people together in order to make difficult circumstances better and more harmonious. They cast a wide net, listening to the concerns of a diverse range of people and personalities. They use the knowledge gleaned from listening to create an atmosphere of cooperation and resolution. They get things done, because they know things could deteriorate if they don’t…and for them failure isn’t an option.

And then there’s Pat Lynch, who’s decided to use his bully pulpit to divisively advance one angry, narrow, racist agenda at the expense of any and all others. He’s casting blame in all directions- at the Mayor, at protesters, at anyone who hasn’t pledged unquestioning and undying fealty to the cause of New York’s finest. Instead of putting the blame directly where it belongs- on the person who murdered two NYPD officers- Lynch is cynically using this senseless tragedy to push his own agenda.

It’s as distressing and lamentable as it is just plain sick and wrong.

Those protesting police violence didn’t cause the murder of Officers Liu and Ramos. They were murdered by someone consumed by his own issues, though because of his suicide, we’ll never really know what they were. The protesters were simply exercising their 1st Amendment rights, which Lynch doesn’t get to curtail.

Lynch could have taken the high road, acknowledging that police and their bunker mentality are a big (though certainly not the only) part of the problem and committing to finding a way to be a part of the solution. Instead, he’s decided to travel the low road, absolving the police (and the officers’ murderer) of culpability. He could have come out and announced that the police were willing to acknowledge their portion of responsibility for the current state of affairs and open to working with the community to improve relations. Instead, Lynch hunkered down behind the impenetrable blue wall and lobbed verbal grenades in a sad, misguided efforts to portray NYPD officers as victims of persecution.

Pathetic, isn’t it?