Former Democratic New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio deliberately did not deploy enough police officers during Black Lives Matter (BLM) riots in 2020, former state Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s top aide, Melissa DeRosa, claims in an upcoming memoir, according to the New York Post.
De Blasio was concerned about further embarrassment stemming from violence that might ensue between BLM protesters and the New York City Police Department (NYPD) following the death of George Floyd in Minnesota, DeRosa claims, the New York Post reported Sunday, citing an excerpt from “What’s Left Unsaid: My Life at the Center of Power, Politics & Crisis.”
“We learned that a high-ranking member of the police union had reached out directly to the governor that morning with disturbing information: he believed that de Blasio, fearful of more police clashes with protesters going viral on video, was purposefully not deploying additional bodies,” DeRosa writes, according to the outlet.
Ex-NYC Mayor de Blasio deliberately held back cops during George Floyd protests, new Melissa DeRosa book claims https://t.co/bLYc8pag9L pic.twitter.com/RymAZiGzt0
— New York Post Metro (@nypmetro) October 22, 2023
Police were “unwilling to take on the looters” because they knew “they were outnumbered,” DeRosa continues. Cuomo and de Blasio learned in a conference call with then-Police Commissioner Dermot Shea that there were “only 4,000 officers on duty” at a demonstration of 5,000 BLM protesters, the outlet reported.
“The governor’s eyes widened in disbelief at what, to him, amounted to a staggering admission of malpractice. Shea had just confirmed what the governor had been told and feared; the city had deliberately minimized deployment,” DeRosa writes.
De Blasio was allegedly influenced by the “far left” who promoted a “defund the police” agenda, the excerpt reads, according to the outlet. The mayor announced “he would cut $1 billion from the NYPD operating budget and another $500 million from its capital budget.” (RELATED: Bill De Blasio Choose Not To Run For New York Governor)
Cuomo “believed strongly that the NYPD didn’t have enough police officers on the street,” according to DeRosa. She writes de Blasio eventually decided to double police presence to 8,000 and agreed with the governor to impose a curfew when he realized “the chaos was doing more damage to him than offending the Far Left would,” the outlet reported.
“Arrests and looting dropped dramatically,” DeRosa writes, according to the NY Post. “That mattered far more than any bruised egos or negative press about the ‘feud’ between the governor and the mayor.”
De Blasio’s former adviser, Peter Ragone, told the outlet Cuomo’s team had prioritized politics while letting public safety slip. “It was clear to everyone that the Cuomo folks were in cahoots with SBA (Sergeants Benevolent Association) President and Trump guy Ed Mullins. They shared an interest in putting politics over the interest of New Yorkers,” he alleged.
“The NYPD had all the resources it needed to handle difficult situations despite having no support from the state,” Ragone told the NY Post, adding the aftermath of George Floyd’s death was one of the “most difficult periods in New York history.”