The following is via WCBSTV:
NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton says he’s not going anywhere after two major police unions spoke out against him amid an ongoing police corruption investigation.
Ed Mullins, president of the Sergeants Benevolent Association, says it’s time that Bratton be held accountable and is calling on him to resign from his command.
Bratton spoke exclusively to WCBS 880’s Rich Lamb Monday, saying he doesn’t fully understand Mullins’ motivations. He pointed to a published report that Mullins supposedly wanted to be commissioner himself.
“I couldn’t quite understand that. Sgt. Mullins or ‘Crazy Eddie’ as he’s known to us in the department… I’m not sure if there’s that motivation that Ed actually thinks he might be the next police commissioner and that might be the potential motivation for trying to grease my exit from the department earlier than I intend to go. So you’ll have to ask Ed about his intentions,” he said.
Bratton said whatever the motivations are, he doesn’t plan on leaving.
“I’m not going anywhere, so you might have to wait a while,” Bratton told Lamb.
Mullins said the practice of receiving gifts goes all the way up the chain of command, with the privately-funded New York City Police Foundation paying for Bratton’s personal membership to the Harvard Club.
“How is it that a benefit of membership to the Harvard Club, which is a little over $3,000 a year, is OK to accept?” Mullins said.
Mullins and Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association President Pat Lynch also believe it’s not a level playing field when it comes to accountability and discipline within the NYPD and they are asking for change.
“For decades we’ve had what we call ‘white shirt immunity’ where the top brass have different rules than rank-and-file police officers,” Lynch said. “If you’ve done something wrong, a fair investigation, a fair punishment regardless of your rank.”
Mullins said the upper echelon has become political and a “boy’s club,”