An NYPD officer was suspended without pay Sunday after being filmed shouting his support for President Donald Trump over the loudspeaker of his squad car while on duty in Flatbush on Saturday night.
Police Commissioner Dermot Shea announced disciplinary action against the unidentified officer, and stressed that all members of the NYPD must be apolitical while on patrol.
“The police officer from this incident has been identified and suspended without pay,” Shea tweeted. “To repeat, law enforcement MUST remain apolitical, reassuring the public that we will enforce the law fairly and without prejudice regardless of anyone’s political beliefs.”
Video filmed from a nearby apartment on Saint Paul Place shows the officer repeating the phrase “Trump 2020” over the loudspeaker and taunting bystanders to “take a picture, take a video, put it on Facebook, put it on YouTube, have some fun.”
Another video shows the officer being confronted by a man who asks him to “say it again” from up close. When the officer repeats the phrase, the man calls him a “f—— fascist.”
Police officers are strictly forbidden from participating in political activities while on duty, according to the department, and a spokesperson said the incident is under investigation.
“The NYPD plans to come to an expedient resolution,” the spokesperson said earlier on Sunday.
On Sunday morning, the department’s official Twitter account further clarified their position on politicking by on-duty officers.
“We are aware of this incident and it is under investigation by our Brooklyn South investigation unit,” the department tweeted. “Police officers must remain apolitical.”
The incident drew outrage from progressives, who noted it should come as no surprise considering the Police Benevolent Association endorsed President Trump for re-election, and the president enjoys support from many officers.
Others drew parallels to an incident in Red Hook earlier on Saturday, when NYPD officers accused community organizers handing out personal protective equipment at an early voting site of electioneering, and confiscated their equipment.
“Yesterday cops in Red Hook confiscated a table of PPE because it was ‘electioneering’ (it was not) and now, on the same day, a video of a cap, very clearly, electioneering,” tweeted state Sen. Zellnor Myrie. “We need answers. Now.”
This article first appeared on BrooklynPaper.com
