Representatives of law enforcement unions are due to gather Thursday in Queens for what organizers clearly hope will serve as a political warning to elected officials that ignoring their critiques of current criminal justice practices will cost them at the polls. While nonpartisan in format, this signals an effort to exercise clout in the current governor’s race, amid newly elected New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s incumbency.
Hosted by the Detectives Endowment Association of the NYPD, under the aegis of the “New York State Public Safety Alliance,” the featured speakers at the gathering at Russo’s On the Bay in Howard Beach are due to include: Lou Civello, president of the Suffolk County Police Benevolent Association; Scott Munro, the DEA president; John Davidson, president of the Buffalo PBA and Frank Siller, chairman and CEO of the Tunnel to Towers Foundation, and several others.
Rallies and conferences come and go, as they do with organized labor in education. In this event, Munro said in a statement that “the day’s activities — no politicians were invited — was not about the 2026 elections, but unity, collaboration and common-sense public safety.”
Despite that disclaimer, the timing and targeting of the event make it symbolically significant. They clearly want to get the attention of elected Democrats who form a dominant majority in state government. That goes especially for Gov. Kathy Hochul, who is expected to face Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman on the autumn ballot, as well as congressional candidates in competitive districts downstate.
“It’s about public safety in the state. It’s about making sure the law enforcement professionals have a voice, a seat at the table,” Civello said Wednesday. Issues that he mentions have been on the radar for some time. One has been the downside of ending bail for those accused in most nonviolent crimes, resulting in “turnstile justice.” Republicans in the suburbs have utilized the reform for years against their opponents. Another problem is unprovoked attacks on correction officers in regional jails.
The alliance also decries the corrosive effect of discouraged police personnel leaving and retiring, possibly leading departments to lower their hiring standards just to fill vacancies, as unions tell it.
The DEA’s Munro recalled the closeness of the 2022 race between Hochul and then Rep. Lee Zeldin from Suffolk County’s CD1, which she won 53.1% to 46.7%, according to the state Board of Elections. Downstate, Zeldin had played up crime, which drew resonance among enough independents and Democrats to make the race close.
Prodded by Black Lives Matter protests years ago, blue-state governors and mayors carried out reforms. Some even parroted the “defund the police” slogan. A number of them have found it necessary to walk back their words. Mamdani, for one, apologized for calling the NYPD in 2020 “racist, anti-queer and a major threat to public safety.” Now he says he appreciates the life-or-death risks police encounter.
Despite the demise of “defund,” law enforcement veterans aren’t about to give all leeway to policy changes by lefty Democrats. Mamdani has discussed a network of “violence prevention” efforts run by nonprofits and other nonpunitive strategies and deployment of mental health workers to certain emergencies.
On the political point of the day, Munro said in a press statement before the Howard Beach meeting: “We can estimate our own numbers. Add in our families, friends, extended families and the entire state-wide retired law enforcement population. That is power.”
Columnist Dan Janison’s opinions are his own.
Dan Janison is a member of the Newsday editorial board.
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