“Defund the Police” has become a household phrase across the country after the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody sparked protests, riots, and calls to defund police departments.
One police family in New York says times are tough for police right now amid the “Defund the Police” movement. Marge Dwyer has two sons who were New York City Police officers. Andy is one of them. He says officers were working 15-hour days during the protests and riots, only getting 6 hours of sleep, and they’re still required to keep their cool on the job.
“You can’t, just because you’re angry at somebody, go in someone’s face on three inches from their face in their personal space and yell at them and threaten them and spit at them. No matter what your problem is. You can’t do that. If you’re unhappy with something, you go about the way of correcting it legally, morally,” former NYPD officer Andy Dwyer told NTD.
Marge is a diehard police mom, but says she wouldn’t recommend becoming a police officer right now.
“If I had a son or daughter at an age that wants to become a cop. I really think I’d say you know, look for something else. Go back to school, get a degree in something and do something else because they don’t have the respect that they should get,” Marge said.
In the wake of Floyd’s death, House Democrats are trying to take away qualified immunity from police officers—which means that officers can be personally sued for using excessive force. Andy says police officers are supposed to fight force with force.
“During the riots in New York City … There was a cop that drew his gun on one of the one of the rioters. Now it was in the news was all over the place. The mayor, the lovely mayor of New York City came out and said this cop should lose his job. Louise is gone, he should be done. So the PBA [Police Benevolent Association] decided ‘let’s look into this a little more.’ Well, sure enough, the person who pulled the gun on, was throwing a brick at a lieutenant with the police department that was wrestling someone to the ground,” Andy said.
For this family, “Blue Lives Matter” is not a slogan. It is a way to remember their son, Anthony Dwyer, who made the ultimate sacrifice.
Anthony was 23 years old when he was an NYPD officer responding to a robbery at a McDonalds in Times Square. He chased one of the suspects up to the roof. When they reached the roof, they got in a fight and the suspect pushed Anthony off the roof to his death.
“He loved being a cop. He loved it. That was his dream all his life and he got two years out of it,” Marge said.
Anthony has a street and a football field named after him. Marge says he was very civic-minded, a volunteer fireman, and taught religion at their church. She hopes the student who receives the scholarship in his name has those same qualities.
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