Mayor Adams jeered by new cops at NYPD graduation ceremony
Mayor Eric Adams showed up to speak at an NYPD police academy graduation Monday — and was greeted with booing as his name was announced.
The Bronx cheers — which were mixed with a smattering of applause for the former NYPD captain — came as he stood to talk to the 390 graduates at the Theater at Madison Square Garden, but died down as he began his talk by introducing the young daughter of one of the graduates.
Few cops wanted to ta🅘lk about it afterward, either, except for one zealous graduate who slapped his pal on the shoulder as he was talking to a reporter for The Post.
“Come on! Tell him, tell him he’s a two-faced clown! C’mon! Everybody knows!” the excited new officer said, before quickly disappearing back into the crowd.
Several others acknowledged they heard the booing, but wouldn’t say why it happened — they only offered a sly smile and said they weren’t at liberty to talk about it.
The disgruntled officers — who entered the packed 5,500-seat arena to the strains of Frank Sinatra’s “New York, New York” — had stopped their booing when Adams brought out Sarah Elazab, daughter of new cop Abdu Elazab.
And by the enꦚd of his impassioned speech about the importance of policing, several in the audience were applauding — even those who formerly mocked the mayor.
“This is the symbol of what this is about — this beautiful child is excited because of her dad,” Adams told the crowd, his arm around Sarah’s shoulders.
“We often make this so complicated, we often make it so technical,” he continued. “But we miss the fact that we just want our babies to be safe. That’s all we’re doing.”
“We care, and we love you so much,” he told Sarah. “Your dad is going to make us all proud, because he’s a member of the greatest police department on the globe: the NYPD.”
After the ceremony, a spokesperson for City Hall denied the cops booed at all, though boos could be heard among applause on a video of the ceremony released b🌄y t🧸he NYPD. They released a statement that focused on the clapping.
“The video — which even shows the crowd — clearly shows hundreds of incoming NYPD officers and members of their fam🏅ilies applauding Mayor Adams as he addressed the graduating class alongside one incoming officer’s daughter,” City Hall spokesman Charles Lutvak said in an email.
“The mayor was proud to congratulate and welcome the new officers toda♉y because, as he said, ‘We just want our babies to be safe.’”
There’s a lengthy history in the Big Apple of New York’s Finest voicing their displeasure whenever they’re upset with the occupant of the mayor’s office.
Former Mayor Bill de Blasio was heckledꦉ and booed several times throughout his tenure.
Other times, officers stood up and turned their backs to him while he was speaking — including at the funeral for Offic🍎er Rafael Ramos, who was gunned down in 2014 alongside Officer Wenjian Liu by repeat offender Ismaaiyl Abdullah Brinsley.
That rift stemmed in part from police union leaders who blamed de Blasio for fostering an anti-cop environment that they thoug💙𝓡ht contributed to the ambush slayings.
Before that, officers had jeered former Mayors Rudy Giuliani and Michael Bloomberg w🌟hen they were going through rocky negotiations with the police unions.
