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©1999 - 2012
Edward D. Reuss
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NYPD INSTITUTIONAL MEMORY AND THE BLA

The news of the arrests of former members of the terrorist group known as the Black Liberation Army of the 1970s evoked profound memories for veteran police officers. Those of us who served during those trying years will never forget those who died in the line of duty in a campaign of assassinations.

One of the stated goals of the NY Cop Online Magazine is to serve as a type of “institutional memory”.   For this reason it is gratifying to know that we have in Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly a leader who does have institutional memory of those horrific years.   He served as a young police officer during those turbulent times.  It is fitting that he leads the NYPD during the War on Terror.  He witnessed such terror close up and personal.   He is truly one of us.   

Police Commissioner Kelly said that today's arrests "only reinforce my opposition to the parole in New York of Herman Bell and Anthony Bottom. They shot two New York City police officers in the back as part of a series of assassinations directed against police officers in those murderous days." He noted that the murder of Sergeant Young took place just three months after Bell and Bottom shot Officers Jones and Piagentini in the back on a Harlem Street. Then he said: "It may have been 35 years ago, but I certainly haven't forgotten. Neither has anyone who was a member of the police department back then." He noted that the murder of Sergeant Young and of Officers Jones and Piagentini "were linked." And he said, "No one rested until their killers were brought to justice."

Whenever a police officer is killed in the line of duty , we are always assured that the prosecution will demand the death penalty for the convicted cop killers.  Yet,  how often do those same cop killers escape with their lives and are sentenced to “life imprisonment” for their crimes.  Also,  why are those same cop killers considered for release from prison on parole after perhaps twenty-five years in prison? 

Why should the survivors of the murdered police officers many years after the deaths of their loved ones have to petition the State Parole Board to deny parole to those same killers?  Why do they have to gather the signatures of support to deny the parole repeatedly as each parole board hearing is conducted? Finally, why on earth are these cop killers even considered for parole?

Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly has voiced his position on parole. These are questions that leaders of our police line organizations should be asking our elected officials. There are over 40,000 retired members of the NYPD and 36,000 active members of the NYPD. Together, that makes a formidable group of voters.  The line organizations such as the PBA and the FOP  have the numbers and voters to influence the political leaders in Albany.   Parole should not be an option for cop killers.


READ ABOUT COP KILLERS

MEMORIAL TO FALLEN WARRIORS

SURVIVORS OF THE SHIELD


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