MIDTOWN — Mayor Bill de Blasio was met with boos when he addressed graduating NYPD officers during a ceremony at Madison Square Garden Monday morning.
The jeers came just two days after some members of the department turned their backs on the mayor during a funeral for Det. Rafael Ramos, who was assassinated with his partner, Det. Wenjian Liu, as they sat in their patrol car in Bed-Stuy on Dec. 20.
De Blasio rose to speak Monday to general applause, but hecklers in the audience could be heard throughout the arena, booing and shouting angry comments. A handful of people in the audience stood and turned their backs during his speech.
The graduating cadets did not appear to heckle the mayor or turn their backs to him.
De Blasio, who drew fire for saying that he had warned his son Dante about dealing with the police, told the new officers that they were facing "problems you didn't create."
But a member of the audience yelled "You created them!"
The criticism echoed the opinion of the NYPD union's president, Patrick Lynch, who said that the mayor was responsible for Ramos and Liu's deaths.
"There's blood on many hands tonight," Lynch after the killings. "That blood on the hands starts on the steps of City Hall, in the office of the mayor."
Lynch and others believe the mayor has invited violence against police officers by sympathizing with those protesting against police brutality and the death of Eric Garner, who was killed by an apparent police chokehold.
The mayor went on to praise the department and its leader, Commissioner Bill Bratton, during the ceremony to mark the cadets' formal entry into the NYPD, saying Bratton has "literally done more to reduce crime than anyone walking the planet today."
He also praised the new officers for their decision to join the NYPD.
"It's a choice many good people would not have the strength to make," he said. "It takes fortitude... It takes a special kind of person to put their lives on the line for others — to stare down the danger."
De Blasio warned the officers of the tense climate they will face, and charged them with the responsibility to help the city overcome "all the problems that plague our society — problems that you didn't create."
A heckler shouted, "You created them!" before being drowned out by applause, as de Blasio told the graduates, "You didn’t create these problems but you can help our city to overcome them. You can be part of the solution."
The murder of Liu and Ramos hung over the ceremony, mentioned by every speaker throughout. Rather than throwing their gloves in the air at the end of the ceremony, the 884 graduates looked up at images of the fallen officers on a screen above their heads, and saluted them.
Several graduates shrugged off questions about tensions between the mayor and the NYPD, and expressed determination to be positive presences in the communities they police.
"What goes on behind the political scenes is what goes on behind the political scenes, there’s nothing I can do about it," said Ryan Jones, 23, who is assigned to the 47th Precinct. "I’m just here to do my job... My main focus is to protect the citizens of New York City, and that’s what I’m going to go out and do."
The class valedictorian, Officer James Fuchs, cited General Douglas MacArthur's description of a leader as someone who "has the compassion to listen to the needs of others."
"I picked this quote because the last six months have been like no other period for the NYPD in recent memory," Fuchs told his classmates.
But in a nod to the danger they will face on the beat — Ramos and Liu were sitting in their police cruiser when they were shot at point-blank range — Fuchs' parting words were a warning.
"Be safe, be alert, and never let your guard down."
