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NYPD Cops Rip NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio and His Daughter on Anonymous Message Board

Threads found on a notorious message board for current and former cops reveal derogatory rhetoric aimed at de Blasio and his staff, as well as plans for a series of protests.
Photo by AP/John Minchillo

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Posts from NYPD officers on a popular message board reveal a culture of inflammatory rhetoric directed at Mayor Bill de Blasio and his staff, even taking aim his daughter, with one poster making jokes about officers planting drugs on the teen, according to posts first published in a report from AlterNet that also exposed a series of emails from anti-de Blasio protest organizers.

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The popular chat site Thee Rant has long been a virtual venting outlet for the city's current and former officers. Conversation on the site has recently focused on the anti-police protests that have taken hold in the city following a New York grand jury's decision in early December not to indict an officer in the choking death of unarmed black man Eric Garner in Staten Island in July.

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Referring to the mayor as "Kaiser Wilhelm," a play on de Blasio's birth name, commenters have discussed topics ranging from boycotting a Chipotle in Downtown Brooklyn — a post claims that "employees refused to serve the cops and put there [sic] hands up and said don't shoot" — to fears of being attacked by blacks in gangs.

Racially charged and sexist comments against de Blasio's black, female chief of staff Rachel Noerdlinger also appear on the site. Referring to the mayor's 19-year-old daughter Chiara, an officer jokes that "somebody should slip her a hot bag" — i.e. frame her for possession — in a message chain where a commenter mocks the college student's drug abuse history.

In the same report, AlterNet said it had obtained a series of emails involving former cop and local Republican/Tea Party activist Joe Concannon that discussed plans for anti-de Blasio protests to be carried out until at least the summer. While Concannon appears to be the main organizer of the demonstrations, the media outlet uncovered emails exchanges between him and leaders from organizations like the National Police Defense Foundation and the NYPD Superior Officers Association.

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These reports come after a week of heightened tension between the mayor and the police department following the killings of two NYPD officers in Brooklyn on December 20. Officers recently turned their back on de Blasio as he spoke at the funeral for one of the two fallen cops, Officer Rafael Ramos, repeating a gesture made by a group of officers on the day of shootings after the mayor visited the hospital where they died.