De Blasio to NYPD: 'You Can't Apologize for Fundamental Beliefs'

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio says he won’t apologize for teaching his biracial son to be cautious around police or for any other comments he’s made that some have perceived to be anti-law enforcement, Newsday reports.

"The things that I have said that I believe are what I believe, and you can’t apologize for your fundamental beliefs," the mayor said at a news conference Wednesday.

After weeks of civil unrest and violence in New York City by people protesting the police killings of two black men, police and other officials have called for de Blasio to apologize for appearing to side with the protesters over his own police department.

At the funerals of two NYPD slain last month in an ambush attack that followed weeks of protest, a swath of officers turned their backs when de Blasio spoke at the funerals. In addition to police union officials, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and former New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly have both called for de Blasio to apologize, as has former New York Gov. George Pataki.

"The mayor owes an apology to the police department of the city of New York and to the people of the city of New York for the way in which he's characterized the police department over the last year as a candidate and now as mayor," Giuliani said in December during an appearance on Fox News.

"He has played into, unfortunately, the national rhetoric of, you know, police officers being racists. He's done it at numerous times you've seen him on television attacking the police. And the reality is he owes them an apology."

De Blasio said Wednesday that he would address police officers' "valid issues." He also changed his tone when addressing the subject of the most extreme protesters.

Some members of the fringe, anti-police groups who have called for violence against law enforcement officers are "sick," de Blasio said, and their remarks are "inappropriate" and "reprehensible."

Those critical comments are in stark contrast to last month, according to Newsday, when de Blasio chastised reporters for asking about those same protesters.

"What you managed to do is pull up the few who do not represent the majority, who are saying unacceptable things," de Blasio said then.

But on Wednesday he said: "They may have a constitutional right to chant their chants, but they're wrong," the New York Daily News reported.

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