NYPD chief to Cuomo: Apologize for slagging us -- and apologize *publicly*

Did Andrew Cuomo regret blaming the NYPD for a lack of effective response to rioters? According to its highest-ranking uniformed officer, Cuomo’s office called with an apology for calling them and mayor Bill de Blasio a “disgrace.” Terence Monahan appreciates the sentiment, he told NBC’s Savannah Guthrie this morning on Today, but he urged Cuomo to apologize publicly to all New York City police officers — especially after the job they did last night:

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The New York Police Department’s highest-ranking uniformed officer, Terence Monahan, said Wednesday that he hopes Gov. Andrew Cuomo will publicly apologize after saying that the NYPD failed to do its job. …

Terence Monahan, chief of department of the NYPD, told the “TODAY” show on Wednesday that governor’s office called him to apologize Tuesday, and he said the governor also talked directly to New York City Police Commissioner Dermot Shea.

Monahan, though, said, “I hope he would come out publicly and say it again.”

“You have to come out and see what these men and women are doing,” Monahan said. “Don’t ever call them ineffective.”

Monahan also noted that shifting the curfew to 8 pm allowed police to get a head start on containing the violence and pillaging. The New York Times reports this morning that police didn’t exactly end it, but that the situation didn’t deteriorate after curfew nearly as badly as the night before:

Overall, there appeared to be fewer violent confrontations between officers and protesters than there had been in recent days, and there also appeared be fewer acts of looting than in the two previous nights. …

In the first hour after the curfew began, the police did not appear to be moving aggressively to disperse or arrest the remaining protesters, at least not in large numbers.

But many of those who continued to march were trailed closely by clusters of officers. Others encountered squad cars or barricades that kept them from crossing bridges between boroughs or from flooding commercial corridors. On Manhattan’s Upper West Side, cross streets were blocked to keep demonstrators flowing uptown.

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Police later got more assertive, in part because the legitimate peaceful protesters had gone home:

At around 9:30 p.m. on the Upper West Side, officers charged into a group that was peacefully protesting, according to New York Times reporters at the scene. The officers tackled a person with press credentials and made several arrests, and the crowd scattered.

Later, after 11 p.m., the police were making a significant number of arrests around Union Square and Astor Place, with social media reports suggesting that officers were using aggressive tactics as they enforced the curfew.

The area also saw scattered break-ins. In one, the windows at a Gap store in Greenwich Village were smashed, with shattered glass and mannequins strewn on the street. Hours later, a Starbucks around the corner, on Astor Place, had its windows smashed. Looters also hit Zara and Verizon stores in Lower Manhattan.

That isn’t exactly a result worthy of an end-zone spike, even if it is an improvement over the night before. Are the NYPD still outmatched on the streets? If so, then Cuomo may still want to call up the National Guard to boost presence on the streets before New Yorkers take matters into their own hands. Some of them have already, in fact:

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Saks Fifth Avenue surrounded its flagship Manhattan store with razor wire on Tuesday to keep thieves from smashing their way in and making off with troves of expensive merchandise, The Post has learned.

The luxury retailer has also hired private security guards with specially trained dogs to protect the premises in the wake of Monday night’s looting of Macy’s iconic Herald Square location. …

At least seven German shepherds, Belgian Malinois and pit bull dogs were also on hand, along with guards who will use them to patrol outside the store in an attempt to deter looters amid the ongoing protests over the racially charged May 25 police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

“God willing, I hope they don’t show up and it goes smoothly,” one guard said.

The guard noted that the dogs “aren’t friendly.”

The rich can afford to protect their wealth. The rest of New York City relies on the government to do it, and thus far the results still aren’t terribly promising. Cuomo was wrong to call the NYPD a “disgrace,” but they’re still outmatched. If they’re lucky, that won’t get proven tonight. But just how lucky does Cuomo feel these days?

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