Though de Blasio was elected as a sharp critic of a police tactic that involved stopping and searching huge numbers of young black men, he picked Bratton as a sign that he would balance reform with further driving down crime.
On Bratton’s watch, the NYPD has drastically scaled back its “stop-and-frisk” strategy, but stepped up enforcement against so-called “quality of life” offenses.
Critics said that approach still unfairly targeted minorities and came into play in the choke-hold death of Eric Garner during his arrest for allegedly selling loose cigarettes on a Staten Island block.
Adding to a national wave of concern about police treatment of minorities, especially black men, Garner’s 2014 death and a grand jury’s decision not to indict Pantaleo sparked protests and tension between the Democratic mayor and rank-and-file officers who felt he took protesters’ side.
Then-Officers Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos were ambushed and shot dead by a gunman who had announced online he planned to kill police in retaliation for Garner’s death.
On Monday, Bronx state Assemblyman Michael Blake, who is black, filed an excessive-force complaint against the NYPD, saying an officer handled him roughly as Blake tried to defuse an argument between officers and residents.
