NYPD's 'Pantaleo Effect': fewer arrests made

If you fire cops for doing their job you're going to get cops having second thoughts about doing their job. You might even get them to leave the force altogether and it's going to be interesting to see how many new recruits want to work at a dangerous job where they are rendered significantly impotent.

The number of arrests and criminal summonses handled by New York's city cops plummeted last week compared to the same period last year — and law enforcement sources attribute the phenomenon to the “Pantaleo Effect.’’

Officer Daniel Pantaleo was fired by NYPD Commissioner James O'Neill on August 19th over the death of Eric Garner, a 395 pound asthmatic who resisted arrest and was taken down with an illegal choke hold that Pantaleo used which lasted about 15 seconds and was determined not to be the cause of Garner's death. The union argued that the cop was simply doing his job during an arrest.

Police Benevolent Association chief Patrick Lynch told his members to "proceed with the utmost caution" answering calls on duty. New statistics show they listened to him.

The number of arrests fell 27% between August 19, the day of Pantaleo's firing, and August 25, compared to the same period last year--with 3,508 this year compared to 4,827 last year.

Criminal summonses issued also fell nearly 29% over the same period, going from 1,655 to 1,181, the figures show.

The New York Post reports that although there isn't an organized slowdown, the cops on the street clearly feel their leaders don't have their backs, so why should they put their lives on the line after what happened to their colleague?

“Who wants to be the last cop standing?” a Manhattan cop said. “If someone’s in trouble and needs help or if a cop’s in trouble, obviously, you do what you have to do as a police officer. But if it’s discretionary, why put yourself in harm’s way?’’

An NYPD supervisor in Brooklyn said, “Of course it has to do with what happened to Pantaleo — cops are frustrated, upset. They feel they don’t have the backing of downtown, Police Headquarters and City Hall, which means Bill de Blasio continues to be more concerned about his political aspirations than the city of which he is mayor.

“It all goes back to cops feeling like they’re out on the street alone.’’

And it also goes back to the idea that the public no longer supports the one group of people who do all they can to serve and protect. It all started with the Ferguson Effect when Michael Brown attacked a police officer and was shot and killed and the public blamed the cop in spite of witnesses and physical evidence.

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