NEW YORK CITY — The Sergeant’s Benevolent Association presented an honorary membership to U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions Friday morning less than a month after the nation's top law enforcement officer called the NYPD "soft on crime."
Sessions was given a membership to the union in recognition of his “ongoing commitment to putting public safety ahead of politics,” SBA President Ed Mullins said, and for "having the backs" of law enforcement.
“We live in a time when politicians and the top brass in police departments do not always have the courage to put the interests of innocent citizens and officer safety ahead of political correctness and calculated re-election ploys,” Mullins said in a statement.
Mayor Bill de Blasio and NYPD Commissioner James O’Neill blasted Sessions last month for his characterization of city policing, calling the AG's statement "really insulting."
The union honcho has often bickered with NYPD brass, calling for then-Commissioner Bill Bratton’s resignation last year and storming out of a meeting with O’Neill in October following a controversial fatal shooting of an unarmed mentally-ill woman in The Bronx.
Bratton often called Mullins “Crazy Eddie” during his tenure.
Last month, Sessions said the city “continues to see gang murder after gang murder” as a result of being soft on crime.
O’Neill said his “blood began to boil” when he learned of the remarks.
“To say we’re soft on crime is absolutely ludicrous,” the commissioner said.
“I locked up over 1,000 gang members in 2016. Maybe we should ask them if we’re soft on crime.”
The Department of Justice did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The NYPD declined to comment.
