Suffolk PBA Head Rips Pols For Policies He Says Hurt Cops: Report

NEW YORK, NY — Suffolk County Police Benevolent Association president Noel DiGerolamo blasted bail policies he says hurt cops in an interview on Fox News outside St. Patrick’s Cathedral where the funeral of a fallen police officer was held — a day after a rapper accused of shooting a cop was released on bail.

DiGerolamo, the president of the county’s largest law enforcement union, was part of a sea of thousands of police officers attending the funeral of 22-year-old Officer Jason Rivera who died after he was shot by a suspect while answering a domestic violence call last Friday. His partner, Wilbert Mora, succumbed to his wounds on Tuesday. The interview came on Friday morning as six police officers were shot within 48 hours in shootings across the United States.

“This is the tragic day right now as I'm here with thousands of other officers, all mourning the loss of Officer Rivera, and next week we'll also be burying Officer Mora,” he said. “This is the result of continued failed policies throughout our nation by basically elected officials that don't have a fraction of the courage that the men and women surrounding us today have.”

“If they did, they would be willing to stand up for those that are willing to sacrifice their lives on a daily basis for people they've never met,” he said. “But they continue with their failed policies, which only protect criminals and further endanger our law enforcement community.”

DiGerolamo said it's up to the public to come out and vote if they want the policies to change.

Rivera’s widow confronted Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and Mayor Eric Adams seemed not exactly happy that a suspect, an up-and-coming rapper who goes by the name C Blu, charged in shooting another officer in the Bronx, was released on Thursday, the New York Daily News reported.

Camrin Williams, 16, was released from a Brooklyn juvenile lock-up facility after posting a $250,000 bond, which was reportedly arranged by a record label.

Dawn Florio, Williams’s attorney, told the Daily News she doesn’t think “the mayor even knows what happened.”

“My client didn’t shoot a police officer,” Florio told the outlet. “He never pointed a gun. He never had a gun in his hand. Police officers jumped on top of him and that’s how the gun went off and the bullet hit my client in the groin and went out through his thigh and grazed the leg of the police officer.

“My client is a victim as well as the police officer,” she added.

Bragg’s policies include an end to cash bail, bonds set at cash bail, as well as notification of the defense about changes to bail, and the allowance of changes to bail due to mental health, Fox reported.

Florio noted that she has received body camera footage of the incident from Bronx prosecutors, but cannot share it as it is under a protective order.

DiGerolamo, an outspoken advocate on law enforcement policies, told Fox that DA Bragg should have been immediately removed from office as soon as he said he would not uphold the law, and he disagreed with any calls for discussions about his policies.

“The time for talk is over,” he said, adding, “He should have been removed and replaced.”

When asked if police officers feel more threatened than ever, DiGerolamo called recent events “absurd.”

“This individual is a felon,” he said, adding, “He shot a police officer and then a record label advanced money so he could get out on bond. This is the society we're living in tonight.”

“This is what police officers are faced with on a regular basis, and then when you do your job and you [make an arrest], the system just wipes them out before you’re even done doing your paperwork. It's absurd. It's a tragedy — the people deserve better than what they're getting.”

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