From the desk of Publisher Sal J. Conforto
Greetings to all of our readers. As we prepare to celebrate the holidays and interact with our community we see and hear a lot that is going on.
As someone who is a responsible gun owner, I would like to address a recent incident that is heart breaking and causing a lot of controversy…
Akai Gurley, was fatally shot by Rookie Police Officer Peter Liang. The case, under investigation, is said to be an accident, however, it does not hold up to scrutiny. But rather than questioning the Police Officer, I find myself questioning the Leadership and Administration.
Officer Liang, along with his partner Officer Shaun Landou, also a rookie was doing a top down patrol in a high crime area in a Housing Project. The Commissioner states that Officer Liang was holding a flashlight in one hand and an automatic pistol in the other. Sources say he accidentally fired his firearm, hitting Mr. Gurley in the chest.
The conclusion of the shooting being an accident was reached by listening to police radio chatter and by information provided by Officer Landau. Liang himself unfortunately could not be questioned due to union rules.
This explanation creates more questions than the answers given and seems, at best, a futile attempt to dismiss the unexplained. Coming on the heels of the tinderbox in Ferguson Missouri, the citizenry is skeptical of its police, and rightly so.
There is always the saying that “guns do not shoot themselves rather a finger is needed to pull a trigger.” In this case it is Rookie Cop, who’s Higher Ranks allowed him to Patrol with no real experience or leadership by his side.
With these few thoughts and after paying much attention to the various media outlets, I am left with several questions for those in a Leadership role:
– What is being done in regards to making sure that this does not happen again?
– What happened to the time tested police custom that paired a rookie cop with a seasoned officer with experience?
– How will Mayor de Blasio’s decision to enact a retraining program for all Officers change the situation for “accidents” like the recent shooting?
With respect to our NYPD and the great work that they do, I hold responsibility to our leadership and administration for the rookie cops not being properly trained and going on patrol without an experienced person by their side.
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