#NYPD union head refuses to apologize for insults

The head of the NYPD’s sergeants union — who is facing up to a two-month discipline over social media posts that include calling the Big Apple’s former health commissioner a “bitch” and a lawmaker a “first class whore” — has defended his actions and says he refuses to apologize for them.

In a Monday letter to union members, which was obtained by The Post, Sergeants Benevolent Association president Ed Mullins declared, “I WILL NEVER BE SILENCED.”

The Post previously reported that the Civilian Complaint Review Board police watchdog on Friday recommended a trio of charges – two for offensive language and one for abuse of authority — against Mullins for the social media posts.

“As you may have read, CCRB has filed charges against me for advocating for your rights and for calling out gutless politicians and bureaucrats who lie and put police officers’ lives and safety at risk,” Mullins wrote in the letter.

One of the CCRB’s recommended counts of offensive language against Mullins was in connection to a now-deleted tweet in which Mullins called then-congressional candidate and City Councilman Ritchie Torres a “first class whore” in September.

“I rightfully called him a ‘first class whore’ for his unscrupulous moral values and selling out our safety for his political ambitions. My comment was in direct response to Torres’ political campaign against the men and women of the NYPD,” Mullins wrote.

Mullins continued, “It came at a time of tremendous turmoil in this City when members of this Department were the targets of bottles and bricks being thrown at them. Nor shall we forget police vehicles being firebombed and overturned. Make no mistake, I stand by my words. Nothing has changed. And I offer no apology!”

The union boss then referred to his tweet from last May when he described then-health commissioner Dr. Oxiris Barbot as a “bitch” on the official Sergeants Benevolent Association’s Twitter account.

The tweet was in response to a Post report revealing Barbot had remarked to NYPD Chief of Department Terence Monahan, “I don’t give two rats’ asses about your cops” over a request for more masks amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The CCRB’s second recommended charge for offensive language stems from that tweet.  

“I referred to her as a ‘bitch’ who had ‘blood on her hands’ for her callous, unpleasant, difficult and malicious disregard of cops. Let’s not forget that members of the NYPD were not given protective equipment until we were well into the Pandemic, and that many of our members had already died when she dismissed us as undeserving of masks,” Mullins said in the letter.

“Mayor de Blasio’s Commissioner later apologized to the NYPD and acknowledged that her deplorable statement against supplying front line police officers with essential N-95 masks was wrong. Again, I stand by my words. Nothing has changed. And I offer no apology!” he wrote.

Mullins noted in the letter that since he has been the SBA president he has been “repeatedly” investigated by the NYPD Internal Affairs Bureau and “threatened with discipline – including termination.”

“These unrelenting efforts to silence me will not succeed. As long as I am privileged to be your President, I will continue to fight for you, your safety and the safety of your families,” he said.

Mullins referred to the CCRB charges as an “attack” that is “not merely an attack on the SBA” but “an attack on all Union speech.”

“It is also another obvious salvo in the war on police unions, another naked effort to silence police unions across our nation. It cannot be tolerated. It will not be tolerated,” Mullins said, explaining, “The SBA will never be intimidated by the City, the NYPD or CCRB.”

“Be assured that this obvious attempt to silence me will be met with strong and swift legal action,” Mullins railed. “I will continue to fight for the labor rights of police officers; I will continue to advocate publicly in support of the issues which impact the health and safety of our members; and I will continue to publicly expose the cowardly politicians who are trying so hard to destroy the City we saved from ruin.”

Mullins went on, “The threat made to me of losing 60 days is laughable — they can have 100 days; in fact they can take them all. I do not care about their threats of discipline simply for doing what is right and what is guaranteed by the United States Constitution.”

“Be assured: CCRB has targeted the wrong person!” he wrote. “The dirty little secrets of the NYPD and of elected officials deserve to be made public!”

The third recommended discipline — abuse of authority – against Mullins stems from another tweet in June when Mullins shared an image of the arrest report of the mayor’s 25-year-old daughter.

Mullins did not address that matter in the letter to union members.

Police Commissioner Dermot Shea still has the final say in discipline.

Earlier this month, Shea made a public pledge and signed an agreement with CCRB chair Fred Davie last week to follow the department’s new “discipline matrix” — a lengthy set of guidelines for how to reprimand cops for internal violations.