Bloomberg: Congress won't run NYPD

BY MICHAEL FRAZIER | michael.frazier@newsday.com

7:03 PM EDT, May 14, 2008

Mayor Michael Bloomberg reminded a group of congressional representatives Wednesday that the city's police department is his concern, not theirs, as the House Judiciary Committee considers nationwide policing reforms in response to the shooting death of Sean Bell.

"We are going to run our police department, and Congress is not going to run our police department," Bloomberg said after an unrelated news conference in the Bronx. "This is a police department that works and doesn't exactly need more oversight."

Bloomberg's remarks came after the committee held a public forum Monday in lower Manhattan on police accountability.

"Rather than say we are going to run the police department, he ought to be looking at the fact that there is room for improvement," the Rev. Al Sharpton said yesterday. "He should be concerned that Congress is concerned." At the forum, Sharpton proposed ending federal funding to the New York Police Department until what he called a history of police abuse is rectified.

In a response, Bloomberg said U.S. contributions to the department are meager and wouldn't be much of a sacrifice. "We don't get that much money from the federal government," he said. "We keep asking them for more. We keep asking Homeland Security for more and they keep giving it out as pork."

Government funding has decreased since a post-9/11 surge, but the city has received more than $500 million in federal Homeland Security funds.

Committee chairman Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) said Monday that he and the panel's members, which include Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-Manhattan) and Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-Forest Hills) will meet soon regarding the proposals.