YONKERS, N.Y. — In what seems to be a weekly report of one anti-police politician after another in essence saying, “defund for thee, but not for me,” we have discovered that freshman U.S. Rep. Jamaal Bowman is another lawmaker requiring special police protection after he’s lobbied to defund cops.
Bowman — who claims policing is rife with “white supremacy” as he calls for defunding — asked for and received private security via a special police detail to guard his Yonkers home in the days following the Jan. 6 Capitol Hill riot, the New York Post reported.
“About a week after the Jan. 6th incident at the Capitol, we received a request from the Congressman’s office for increased police presence at his residence,” Yonkers Police Department Detective Lt. Dean Politopoulos told news organization.
“In response, our Intelligence Unit was notified of the request and the local precinct instituted what is called a directed patrol at the Congressman’s home for the next two weeks,” Politopoulos said.
The lieutenant confirmed that police have not seen anything out of the ordinary in Bowman’s neighborhood for the past several years.
A day after the riot, the congressman told radio host Ebro Darden he had been “safe pretty much throughout the event.”
However, Bowman’s people reportedly “received threats,” which caused them to reach out for assistance from the very institution he wishes to defund.
“US Capitol Police advised us to reach out to local authorities to request heightened patrolling of his residence until the situation was mitigated. We followed their advice,” Chief of Staff Sarah Iddrissu told The Post.
However, she declined to elaborate on specific threats, simply claiming they were of “varying degrees of alarm.”
The congressman has taken the opportunity to engage in tribalism as he’s accused law enforcement officers of “protecting white supremacy.”
“Too many police in our country are more concerned with protecting white supremacy than serving the communities that pay their salaries,” Bowman declared in a May 2021 tweet.
Too many police in our country are more concerned with protecting white supremacy than serving the communities that pay their salaries. https://t.co/yDdUuw0GRv
— Jamaal Bowman (@JamaalBowmanNY) March 17, 2021
“We need to urgently and explicitly address white supremacy and its presence in our police forces,” he also said.
We need to impeach Trump immediately.
Then we need to urgently and explicitly address white supremacy and its presence in our police forces. pic.twitter.com/Bct5rUXlKi
— Jamaal Bowman (@JamaalBowmanNY) January 9, 2021
Bowman is a Democratic Socialist who has developed close ties to “The Squad” progressives since going to Congress last year, according to the news organization.
Bowman’s victory came less than two months after the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Like many other opportunists, the congressman has made defunding the police part of his political aspiration.
“A system this cruel and inhumane can’t be reformed. Defund the police, and defund the system that’s terrorizing our communities,” he said in December 2020.
We're fighting in your memory, Tamir. You won't be forgotten.
A system this cruel and inhumane can't be reformed. Defund the police, and defund the system that's terrorizing our communities. https://t.co/OwFg32pbZ3
— Jamaal Bowman (@JamaalBowmanNY) December 29, 2020
“We screamed defund the police so we could reallocate those resources toward something that focuses on true public health and public safety,” Bowman added in an April tweet.
They got ROBOT police dogs in the streets of New York. This is ridiculous y’all. I gotta speak on it. pic.twitter.com/jSB1KqUPwU
— Jamaal Bowman (@JamaalBowmanNY) April 14, 2021
“The problem is America’s comfort with Black death — not discomfort with slogans,” Bowman said in response to former President Obama suggesting the “defund the police” movement was doing more harm than good.
Damn, Mr. President.
Didn’t you say “Trayvon could’ve been my son?”
In 2014, #BlackLivesMatter was too much.
In 2016, Kaepernick was too much.
Today, discussing police budgets is too much.
The problem is America's comfort with Black death — not discomfort with slogans. https://t.co/DJUSZebgW5
— Jamaal Bowman (@JamaalBowmanNY) December 2, 2020
Police highlighted the congressman’s hypocrisy.
“Congressman Bowman’s cry for extra policing at his home is hypocrisy at its worst,” Keith Olson, president of the Yonkers Police Benevolent Association, told The Post. “Not long ago, the Congressman called for dramatically less policing in the most violent, crime ridden neighborhoods … Asking these same police officers to protect your family while creating policies that make communities of color less safe is simply disgraceful.”