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New York mayor Bill de Blasio brushes off police slowdown reports after arrests drop

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New York Mayor Bill de Blasio described a sharp decline in arrests and court summonses in the two weeks since two policemen were shot dead in an ambush as a few "aberrant" days, brushing off reports they were signs of a police work slowdown. De Blasio, in his first interaction on Monday with journalists in two weeks, announced along with Police Commissioner William Bratton a general decline in serious crime in New York City in 2014, which he called "record-breaking" year.

"I certainly don't think a few very aberrant days suggest anything compared to what you see over the course of the whole year," de Blasio said when asked whether police officers were ignoring low-level crimes out of fear for their safety or in protest against the mayor. Tensions have risen between de Blasio and police unions in the past month after some officers interpreted comments he made about protests over police killings as too sympathetic toward demonstrators.

De Blasio also came into office partly on a platform to reform the largest police force in the United States. On Monday, de Blasio called police officers who have taken to turning their backs to him at funerals for the slain officers and other public events "disrespectful." "Really, they were disrespectful to the families involved, that's the bottom line," the mayor said. Bratton called the officers who turned their backs "selfish." "The idea of what is effectively a labor action being taken in the middle of a funeral where we're honoring the death of two police officers - I just don't understand it," Bratton said. "I'm sorry - what was the need?"  

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