An excerpt from “What’s Left Unsaid: My Life at the Center of Power, Politics & Crisis,” a book written by Melissa DeRosa, the former top aide to New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, alleges that Bill de Blasio, the former Democratic Mayor of New York City, deliberately refrained from deploying an adequate number of police officers during the 2020 Black Lives Matter riots.
According to DeRosa, De Blasio’s concerns about potential confrontations and the aftermath of George Floyd’s death in Minnesota contributed to his decision, as reported by The New York Post.
Ex-NYC Mayor de Blasio deliberately held back cops during George Floyd protests, new Melissa DeRosa book claims https://t.co/bLYc8pag9L pic.twitter.com/RymAZiGzt0
— New York Post Metro (@nypmetro) October 22, 2023
“We learned that a high-ranking member of the police union had reached out directly to the governor that morning with disturbing information: he believed that de Blasio, fearful of more police clashes with protesters going viral on video, was purposefully not deploying additional bodies,” DeRosa writes, adding that police were “unwilling to take on the looters” because they knew “they were outnumbered.”
During a conference call, Cuomo and de Blasio were informed by former Police Commissioner Dermot Shea that there were just 4,000 officers present while a demonstration of 5,000 BLM protesters was taking place, as reported by the outlet.
“The governor’s eyes widened in disbelief at what, to him, amounted to a staggering admission of malpractice. Shea had just confirmed what the governor had been told and feared; the city had deliberately minimized deployment,” DeRosa writes.
DeRosa alleges that de Blasio was influenced by the “far left” who promoted the “defund the police” movement. The former mayor had previously announced that “he would cut $1 billion from the NYPD operating budget and another $500 million from its capital budget.”
“In the city, de Blasio made clear that, despite the deteriorating situation, he neither needed nor wanted support from the state police or the National Guard. The governor kept the channels of communication open, speaking directly with rank-and-file members of the NYPD and their union officials to get their perspective on what was going wrong,” DeRosa wrote.
“I told [DeBlasio deputy mayor Emma Wolfe] that, based on conversations the governor was having with law enforcement on the ground, he believed strongly that the NYPD didn’t have enough police officers on the street,” she said.
De Blasio eventually doubled police presence to 8,000 officers, imposing a curfew, which Cuomo recommended, after he realized “the chaos was doing more damage to him than offending the Far Left would,” the outlet reported.
“Arrests and looting dropped dramatically,” DeRosa wrote. “That mattered far more than any bruised egos or negative press about the ‘feud’ between the governor and the mayor.”
According to Peter Ragone, who served as an adviser to de Blasio, he mentioned to the New York Post that Cuomo’s team had given greater importance to politics, neglecting public safety in the process.
“It was clear to everyone that the Cuomo folks were in cahoots with SBA (Sergeants Benevolent Association) President and Trump guy Ed Mullins. They shared an interest in putting politics over the interest of New Yorkers,” he alleged.
“The NYPD had all the resources it needed to handle difficult situations despite having no support from the state,” Ragone told the Post, adding the aftermath of George Floyd’s death was one of the “most difficult periods in New York history.”
