New York Times — March 24, 1999
While protesters chanted outside Police Headquarters a few hundred yards away, Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani delivered a measured defense Tuesday of his administration's response to the Amadou Diallo shooting, praising the overall efforts of the Police Department but avoiding the caustic tone he has often turned on his critics.
Gone were the dismissive comments that have prompted so much criticism in recent weeks: his references to acts of civil disobedience as « silly, » to the various investigations into police misconduct as « piling on. » Instead, the Mayor asserted that he was sensitive to the concerns of black New Yorkers and acknowledged that some police officers may have problems with race.
« I believe that there is a feeling in the minority community that police officers are unfair to them,» Giuliani said at his daily news conference in City Hall.
« I think there is a reality to that feeling.»
In another shift, Giuliani later said he had agreed to meet this week with the Manhattan Borough President, C. Virginia Fields, one of several black elected officials who have complained about being repeatedly rebuffed by the Mayor.
But if the tenor of the Mayor's comments was free of the vitriol he has sometimes injected into the public discourse, the substance remained the same: The city's Police Department is the best in the country. Some people are taking political advantage of a tragedy. And he remains committed to being a leader guided by facts, not emotion.
« I think my reaction to this, for me, represents the kind of leadership that I want to give the city, » he said. « I think that my handling of this has been sensitive. It's been sensitive to the concerns of the family. It's been sensitive to the concerns of the community. It's also been sensitive to the concerns of the Police Department and police officers, and ultimately will be seen as a sensible way to guide the city through a crisis like this, when in the past other people have wavered.»
Diallo, an unarmed African immigrant, was shot to death in the Bronx last month by four white police officers assigned to the Street Crime Unit. As the Bronx grand jury investigating the circumstances of Diallo's death draws to a close, lawyers for the four officers who shot Diallo, a street peddler, said Tuesday that their clients had decided not to testify.
Tuesday marked the 11th day of civil disobedience outside Police Headquarters in lower Manhattan; 71 people were arrested, including the actors Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee. The married couple join a diverse and growing list of arrested protesters, including
It has been a difficult week for Giuliani.
Black and Latino leaders continued to charge that the Mayor failed to appreciate how the Diallo case crystallized the Police Department's aggressive approach in minority areas. A New York Times poll showed that his approval rating had plummeted. And Gov. George E. Pataki, his fellow Republican and political rival, suggested that the case warranted more sensitivity.
Besides the criminal investigation by the Bronx District Attorney, the State Attorney General, the United States Attorney's office for the Eastern District in Brooklyn and the United States Attorney's office for the Southern District in Manhattan are also conducting inquiries into police practices.
In addition, Public Advocate Mark Green – who called last week on Police Commissioner Howard Safir to resign – and other elected officials from the city met Monday afternoon to discuss how to transform street protests into legislative reform on police brutality and misconduct.
The Mayor has routinely responded to these criticisms with the pugnacity for which he is sometimes known. But given the delicate nature of the Diallo case, some have found his comments wanting, even inflammatory. On Monday, Jesse Jackson urged Attorney General Janet Reno to visit New York, where, he said, the Mayor « has set a very explosive climate. »
In his remarks Tuesday, the Mayor repeatedly tiptoed toward the conciliatory, but always with enough room to take a step back for what he called « perspective. »
While he acknowledged the distrust that many minority-group residents harbor for the police, he quickly added that this realization « is not something new, » and that the city had grappled with allegations of prejudice within the police force for decades. « So I have a sense of perspective about it, » he said. « Just as there is reality to that, there is also reality to excessive stereotyping and bashing of the Police Department, and a very similar kind of prejudice against police officers.»
Giuliani said that his responsibility was to find the balance between two « extreme prejudices »: those he described as inveterate « police bashers » and those who think that the police can commit no wrong.
He said that he and Safir had been vigilant in weeding out bad police officers from the force, and had tried to address the concerns raised by the Diallo case and others. They have begun yet another, more ambitious minority recruitment drive, and have brought back every member of the Street Crime Unit – to which the four implicated officers belong – for retraining « on how to deal with people, how to be more careful, how to be more respectful.»
But he said the Police Department, whose tactics have helped to reduce greatly the city's crime rates, « is the best in the country.»
« It doesn't mean they don't make terrible mistakes, » the Mayor said. « It doesn't mean they can't improve. But they have got to be given credit for the things they achieve, including in the area of dealing with minorities respectfully and exercising restraint. »
« This is a two-way street," he added. « We have spent two and a half months, excessively, on one side of that street. Somebody's got to spend a little time on the other side of the street. »
Giuliani also said that he would resist any attempt by the Federal Government to oversee the police force – a possible, if unlikely, outgrowth of the Federal investigations.
« This Police Department, for all of its problems and imperfections, stands up very very well as against other urban police departments, » he said. « And before you come to New York City, you better start going to look at those police departments. Otherwise, then, I will not only listen to the suggestions that there is a political aim here but it will be quite apparent that there is. »
As he pleaded for understanding, however, the Mayor's failure to develop any rapport with the city's black elected leaders came back to haunt him. During his news conference, he said that if State Comptroller H. Carl McCall « asks for a meeting about this or any other subject, I'll meet with him. »
This came as news to McCall, who was one of the 141 people arrested outside Police Headquarters on Monday. The Comptroller immediately dashed off a letter to the Mayor – copies of which were also faxed to the press – saying that he, too, welcomed such a meeting.
He also noted that « since our last meeting at City Hall at 4:30 P.M. on Wednesday, Nov. 30, 1994, you have rejected every request for a meeting. »
Shortly after the conclusion of his news conference, the Mayor flew to Syracuse to receive a Citizen of the Year award from a Jewish organization.
Responding to reporters' questions there, he confirmed that he planned to meet with Ms. Fields, a meeting that was brokered by Peter F. Vallone, the City Council Speaker. But he was clearly annoyed that Vallone's aides had publicized the meeting.
The Mayor also sought to play down any impression in upstate New York that the Diallo case had the city in turmoil.
« There is no unrest, » he said. « The city of New York is safer than it's been in a very, very long time. The sense of crisis does not extend in the city. I know what unrest is. There is no unrest going on in the city. »
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