During a recent press conference, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake cast her war of words with police union president Gene S. Ryan as a reflection of “the politics of the Fraternal Order of the Police (FOP).”
Asked to explain what she meant by this statement at her weekly media availability, the mayor said
“The leadership knows that they have members that are frustrated and every time they take a shot at us, they think they are taking some of the steam out, some of the air out of balloon.”
“I get it,” she continued, “If they feel they need to beat up on me to get their officers back to work, they can do it all day long if it gets people out working.”
The wording of her statement could not be any funnier. In a city whose police department is known for beating young blacks, our young black mayor just told the police to “beat up on me.” Many feel as if she also threatened the police with their jobs with his statement
“As long as they plan to cash their paycheck, our expectation, my expectation, is that they work.”
Rawlings-Blake has been quiet lately while District Attorney Marilyn Mosby has been making all the mistakes and totally destroying her case on the national scene but the Baltimore mayor is so done, many can’t wait for the election. Rumors still abound the city police were told to stand down by the Mayor’s office.
It will all come out in the wash soon enough. Rawlings-Blake has been ignoring the media and the FOP’s FOIA requests. Freddie Gray’s death was a needless tragedy, avoidable, but so was the riot and subsequent curfew (and then the bail review travesty). The only good to come out of it all is that a microscope is on Baltimore now and hopefully a lot of this will get cleaned up.
Watch the presser here:
What do you think of the mayor’s tone? Do you think she should have a different approach after everything has happened? Add your comments below and share this story on Facebook and Twitter.
H/T: ABCnews
