NY police chief calls for dialogue with public

New York City’s police commissioner called for a “lot less rhetoric and a lot more dialogue” to defuse the tension between officers and the population they protect.

Commissioner William Bratton, speaking on NBC following the funeral for one of two police officers gunned down in their patrol car, said the “pent-up frustrations” that have caused people to take to the streets in recent weeks go far beyond policing policies across the nation.

“This is about the continuing poverty rates, the continuing growing disparity between the wealthy and the poor,” said Bratton. “It’s still about unemployment issues. There are so many national issues that have to be addressed that it isn’t just policing, as we all well know.”