NYPD arrests reportedly plummet following assassination of two officers

By RYAN GORMAN

NYPD officers are refusing to make arrests out of fear for their safety, new statistics have revealed.

Arrests by the nation's largest police department, still reeling from the assassination of two officers, are sharply down the last two weeks of the year, according to the New York Post. The trend falls in line with a police union memo first reported by AOL News but widely discredited among city officials.

Traffic citations are down 94 percent, parking violations are off 92 percent and drug arrests have plummeted 84 percent, according to the paper. Arrests overall are down 66 percent.

"Would you be productive for a company that bad mouths you to everyone and got caught doing it?" An officer contacted by AOL News wondered aloud. "The administration created this atmosphere.

"The ones who are going to suffer are the New Yorkers."

The report comes only four days after thousands of officers turned their backs on New York Mayor Bill de Blasio as he eulogized slain detective Rafael Ramos, and only two days after the mayor was booed at the NYPD academy graduation ceremony.

The mayor and the police department have been at odds since this summer, when Staten Island man Eric Garner died while being arrested following what protestors and many politicians claim was a chokehold.

NYPD sources have insisted to AOL News that Garner was placed in a tactical maneuver, not a chokehold.

A police union memo issued just hours after detectives Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu were assassinated December 20 in Brooklyn by a crazed gunman claimed de Blasio's "hands are literally dripping with blood because of his words, actions and policies."

The note, which was obtained exclusively by AOL News, was passed among all rank and file officers. It instructed patrols to respond to all calls two squad cars at a time and to not make any arrests.

"Absolutely NO law enforcement action in the form of arrests and or summonses is to be taken unless absolutely necessary and unless an individual must be placed under arrest," the memo insisted.

NYPD and police union reps immediately distanced themselves from the memo, claiming it was a work of fiction, but the numbers don't lie.

Arrests are down.

A veteran officer with decades of experience in the department previously told AOL News that "cops are not gonna give a s**t anymore" following the murders of Liu and Ramos.

The cop called de Blasio a "wolf in sheep's clothing" and said officers would have no choice but to stand down unless their lives are in danger.

An unnamed officer told the Post: "I'm not writing any summonses. Do you think I'm going to stand there so someone can shoot me or hit me in the head with an ax? I'm concerned about my safety.

"I want to go to home to my wife and kids."

De Blasio met Tuesday with Police Commissioner Bratton and a handful of union reps to hash things out and try to find a resolution to safety concerns brought forward by union leaders.

But the unions say the talks made little progress.

Patrolmen's Benevolent Association President Pat Lynch told reporters: "There was no resolve and our thought here today is that actions speak louder than words and time will tell."

Lynch previously shouted to anyone who would listen that the mayor "has blood on his hands" following the horrific execution of the two officers just days before Christmas.

Bratton told CBS, "The morale of the department is low. There's no getting around that. That's the reality at this time."

When asked if there was still a path to better relations between the mayor and his police, the officer told AOL News: "De Blasio needs to apologize for helping fuel this movement and letting it get out of control.

"He wasn't the only one, but he is the only leader of New York."

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