NYC mayor: Cops' gesture at funerals disrespectful to families

NEW YORK -- Mayor Bill de Blasio said that the police officers who turned their back during the funerals of two slain police officers were "disrespectful to the families who lost loved ones" as well as to the people of New York City who hold them in high regard.

Thousands of city police officers turned their backs Sunday as they watched de Blasio eulogize an officer shot dead with his partner, repeating a stinging display of scorn for the mayor despite entreaties from the police commissioner not to do so.

De Blasio, speaking at 1 Police Plaza, took reporters' questions Monday for the first time in about two weeks while tensions between the mayor and police unions continue to simmer.

The mayor said that while he appreciated the officers who made no such gestures during the funerals, he was disappointed by "some individual officers" who turned their backs.

"I can't understand why anyone would do such a thing," he said.

Commissioner Bill Bratton had issued a memo asking officers not to turn their backs on the mayor at Officer Wenjian Liu's funeral in a memo that was read at all roll calls prior to the funeral. He said he shared de Blasio's concerns about the officers taking what he called a "labor action" in the middle of a funeral.

"I just don't understand it. I'm sorry, but I just do not understand it," Bratton said. "What was the need in the middle of that ceremony to engage in a political action? I don't get it. And I'm very disappointed for those who did not respond to my request."

Bratton again conceded that morale in the department was "not where we'd like it to be." He listed numerous issues that have caused a rift, including contracts, retirement plans and indemnification issues.

The mayor spent most of the news conference touting the achievements of the police department, while also acknowledging recent tensions with police unions.

He urged New York not to get distracted by the "loudest, most disrespectful voices," but to focus on a positive vision of the future.

"There's a lot to be done, but we have momentum," de Blasio said. "The people of this city appreciate the police. They see how hard the work is."

The mayor said the overall crime rate dropped 4.6 percent in 2014, and that the city had the lowest number of murders since 1993.

De Blasio and Bratton also discussed some specific police policies that have come under fire.

As CBS New York reports, some activists have called for an end to the "broken windows" policing strategy - the theory that enforcing quality-of-life laws will serve to prevent more serious crimes. The calls to end the policy have increased in particular since the death in police custody of Eric Garner, who was put in an apparent chokehold as police tried to arrest him for allegedly selling loose cigarettes.

But Bratton and Mayor de Blasio both defended the policy, and emphasized how some New Yorkers may not realize how severe the problem once was. In 1990, the city recorded a total of 2,245 murders.

"Half the people living in the city now were not here in 1990, and have no understanding of how bad it was," Bratton said.

He called the Garner incident an "aberration" in the use of the broken windows policy, and not a reason to abandon it.

De Blasio also said many people do not realize how dire the situation in the city once was.

"This is breathtaking, the information that we have here. Those of us who were here in the 1980s and 1990s could never have imagined these kind of numbers," de Blasio said. "They are the result of a proactive strategy, and the result of a number of strategies -- one of which is the broken windows approach."