AS THE PENDULEM SWINGS

Right from our beginning there has never been an easy time for the law enforcement in New York City and “we’ve seen it all” is far from an understatement. This was a land Europeans had discovered and claimed for the Netherlands calling it New Amsterdam.
A mid 17th century visitor would find a small hamlet of log cabins and European style flat plank construction that was beginning to expand because of commerce, mostly fur trading with local aboriginals, and its muddy streets were being laid out grid style in the hope and promise of orderly expansion.
The atmosphere was compelling with a mix of wood, stone and metal, with European know-how along with native inspired agricultural influence and culture. It was not unusual to observe feathers that adorned many a man both white and red, along with animal hide leggings and coats to ward off the cold north wind as they toiled clearing land for crops or coming in from the hunt.
Right from our beginning, in 1624, the Dutch East India Company, who started our city as a commercial enterprise, understood the need for law, rules, inclusion and order, and our subsequent development and success speaks for itself.
Although nationally, we’ve recently passed through yet another round of on- going theories and debates concerning the role and purpose of effective policing; mostly tensions between zero tolerance versus community related problem solving, particularly in minority communities, and we’ve seen the consequences of demoralizing controversy within some police departments that has caused tragic loss of life, we shouldn’t lose heart. Many elected officials have become more aware of the concerns about public safety as was demonstrated in the last presidential election and it hasn’t gone unnoticed that our NYC crime is down at historic levels and is still declining. Most will (again) look to us for solutions.
Typical New York elitism and ‘know it all’ arrogance? It helps to look at a few ‘profile’ incidents (out of countless millions) of our past to help explain and understand the future.
-In 1624 the Dutch East India Company founded New Amsterdam as a commercial enterprise; not for a religion or a particular monarchy. ‘Business’ was the motivating purpose but commercial enterprise cannot flourish without rules, regulations and predictable order. Indeed, even when England conquered and ruled, the governor of what is now called New York, helped promote commerce by supporting previous adversaries, the Dutch merchants of the city.
• 1675: King Phillips War (Indian rebellion) ravages New England but the New York Governor pacifies local tribes offering a camp within the city and promises of trade advantages.
• 1700: the slave trade flourished with 42% of New York households having slaves; the most of any city except Charleston S.C. However horrific, slave labor along with European indentured people provide an important role in domestic and manual labor functions.
• 1783: the war for independence ends and the last British garrison closes but New York loses the benefit of providing housing, provisions and other services to departing troops, so all are not happy.
• 1810: New York becomes a vital link to export southern cotton to England.
• 1817: The Erie Canal opens and the transport of goods from the Hinterlands to our sea ports make the city the capital of trade in the U.S.A.. Among the consequences a ‘saloon” culture, with all it’s obvious issues, brings; one saloon for every 25 families, and 181 beer and 76 liquor establishment’s within a 10 block square area of lower Manhattan.
• 1837: The Croton Aqueduct is built giving water to an expanding city.
• 1840-50’s: In the notorious Five Points crime infested area of lower Manhattan, gangs like the Bowery Boys and Dead Rabbits create the “murder a day” climate that eventually permeates everything from business to politics. For brawlers, ‘Ring around the eye” becomes to most popular game in town.
• 1845: New York’s FIRST municipal agency, the New York Police Department begins.
• 1840-50’s: Immigrants, mostly from Germany and Ireland arrive in large numbers, to be followed by southern and eastern Europeans, and new vestiges of criminal groups including the Mafia and later, Murder Incorporated begin.
• 1863: the draft riots begin when mostly impoverished Irish immigrants protested the outrageous $300.00 fee necessary to avoid being drafted to fight in the civil war. The insurrection, which remains the worst in the city’s history and required Lincoln to remove troops from civil war combat to put it down, lasted for over a week and shut down all transportation in and out of the city. Enduring shame follows when people, mostly Blacks, were randomly attacked, lynched and an orphanage for Black children was burned down. • 1870: the ‘Orange Riots’ when protestants marched in victory celebration over the battle of the Boyne. Sixty three people were killed.
• 1874: The Tompkins Square Riots; depression era workers vs. cops. -1895: Consolidation of the five Boroughs that now make our boundaries.
• 1895: construction of highways; many, including the affluent move, thus impacting on some industrialization and lowering of the tax base.
• 1903: A horrific Mafia murder brings about the start of ‘the perp walk’ in/for local newspapers.
• 1910: A reformist mayor is shot by a former employee.
• 1920: Wall street bombing kills 38 people; anarchists are suspected.
• 1940: ‘Mad Bomber’ plants 1st bomb in his 16 yr. campaign of public bombings.
• 1943: Harlem riot: a Black soldier was inaccurately rumored to be killed by cops.
• 1964: Harlem Riot: a police lieutenant shoots a 15 yr. old youth. Six days of rioting follows.
• 1965: The Hart-Cellar Immigration Act made it possible for more people from Asia, Africa, the Caribbean and Latin America to come here.
• 1965: Malcolm X. is killed by Nation of Islam members in a theatre where he is speaking.
• 1968: Dr. Martin Luther King is shot and killed in Memphis Tenn. National riots follow.
• 1970: Weathermen terror bombings including several killed by their own faulty bomb; while some universities revolt against the Viet Nam war with large unruly demonstrations.
• 1971; THE BLA starts murdering cops. P.O.’s WAVERLY JONES AND JOE PIAGENTINI are shot in a housing project in Harlem. In addition, the FALN and leftist revolutionaries start a terrorist bombing campaign.
• 1972: Shameful Harlem Mosque incident where one of our own, PHILLIP CARDILLO, was murdered and assailants were released by city officials. The mayor and police commissioner didn’t attend the funeral, and the case remains ‘unsolved’ to this day.
• 1975: Bomb goes off in LaGuardia killing 11 and wounding 74. Unsolved, but Croats and Serbs are suspected.
• 1977: Arrest of serial killer Son of Sam, David Berkowitz who killed 6 terrorizing the city.
• 1991: Crown Heights Riots: a culminating event where violence flares over a traffic incident, when a Black child, Gavin Cato, is killed by a Jewish driver. Rioters rampaged attacking innocents and the carnage went on for days. Meanwhile crime in the City had reached over 2200 murders (now 335) a year and the incumbent mayor was besieged and subsequently removed via an election. This one event however, is thought by many to be the proverbial straw that brought a ‘hard line’ and successful crime fighting mayor, Rudy Giuliani, to the fore.
• 1993: Colin Ferguson shoots 25 and kills 6 on a LIRR train thereby setting off calls for gun control regulations.
• 1993: A huge bomb planted by Islamic Terrorists goes off in the World Trade Center’s parking garage, killing 6 and injuring over 1,000 people.
• 1997: The Abner Louima incident involving a sodomy assault with a broom stick outrages many and causes serious trouble between cops and the Black community.
• 2001: ‘911’…need we say more…
• 2014: The Eric Garner case; a man arrested 31 times before, who fought off cops just the week proceeding, decides to physically resist again, thereby causing an altercation that was at least complicit to the cardiac event that killed him. Cops were accused of murder, but, all other contentious issues aside, we hope that the change in Washington might at least remove the pressure to persecute cops rather than prosecute criminals.
• 2016: A ISIS inspired Islamist sets a pressure cooker bomb that goes off in Chelsea injuring 31 but thankfully causes no fatalities. A second bomb is discovered nearby and is deactivated.
In summary, we (NYPD) have seen, heard, experienced and even suffered the lessons and consequences of the past. While we obviously don’t know, or have all the answers, many would benefit from we do know. Remember, we still lead the country in crime reduction making us the safest big city in the nation…Check out our crime stats on the web; ‘crimestatsnypd’, some highlights include:
Homicides 2,262 in 1990 to 330 in 2016
Robbery 100,280 in 1990 to 15,195 last year
Burglary 122,055 in 1990 to 12,743 last year
Overall Felonies 527,257 in 1990 to 99,823 last year
Finally, while we recognize that many cities have accomplished effective crime control measures and other outside factors, from social, educational, immigration, population shifts, gentrification and even abortion, have all impacted the changes we all see, but many, if not most, use our proactive ‘comstat’ system along with various crime fighting procedures developed by us all. Therefore, we needn’t lose heart or faith in our ability to solve problems, particularly in our chosen profession, protecting others. So long as we stay informed, committed and we keep supporting and learning from each other, the ‘can do’ spirit demonstrated by our founding fathers will prevail.

Respectfully Submitted

Capt. (ret) Robert Mescolotto Esq..