Catcalls and some heckling greeted New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio at a graduation ceremony for new police officers on Monday, two days after hundreds of police officers turned their backs as de Blasio spoke at the funeral of assassinated cop Rafael Ramos.
The mayor's introduction at the graduation ceremony of nearly 900 cadets in Madison Square Garden was met with both boos and a smattering of polite applause on Monday, the Associated Press reported.
At one point, de Blasio commended the police department for confronting "problems you don't create," with one heckler in the stands immediately yelling "You created them!"
However, a majority of the cadets, whose ranks reflect the growing diversity of the city, listened respectfully as the embattled mayor addressed them during the ceremony.
Addressing the new NYPD recruits, he said, "you can be part of the solution and that is a blessing." He quoted from the Bible, saying, "Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be children of God... We lost two peacemakers nine days ago. We lost two heroes. They were children of God for sure."
On Dec. 20, Officer Rafael Ramos and Officer Wenjian Liu were ambushed in Brooklyn while sitting in their patrol car. Liu's funeral is scheduled to be held next weekend.
Meanwhile, "the police union has been furious at de Blasio for statements that were viewed as sympathetic to protesters demonstrating against the police after a grand jury cleared an officer in the death of Eric Garner, who was arrested and subdued for selling loose cigarettes," ABC News reported. "At one point the mayor, who has a mixed race son, said he warned his son to be careful if he is ever stopped by police."
Additionally, the police union president said that de Blasio had "blood on his hands" for encouraging hostility to police.
Back in 2003, Mayor Mike Bloomberg had been booed at a graduation ceremony for new police officers after his administration floated the possibility of layoffs in the NYPD, according to the New York Daily News.
