Self-awareness should be a requirement for any law enforcement official yet it clearly isn’t since Mike O’Meara is still the New York Union Head. Today, O’Meara, who likely has a Napoleon Complex, held a press conference where he raged against media and politicians who he claims have been “vilifying” police officers. 

“We all read in the paper all week that in the Black community, mothers are worried about their children getting home from school without being killed by a cop,” O’Meara said. “What world are we living in? That doesn’t happen. It does not happen!… [Derek Chauvin] killed someone. We didn’t. We are restrained.”

After mentioning the 375M “overwhelmingly positive” interactions with the community, he demanded that the media treats them with more respect and less like “animals and thugs.” 

“We don’t condone Minneapolis. We roundly reject what he did as disgusting. It’s disgusting!” O’Meara said. “It’s not what we do. It’s not what police officers do.”

“Stop treating us like animals and thugs, and start treating us with some respect!” O’Meara continued. “That’s what we’re here today to say. We’ve been left out of the conversation. We’ve been vilified. It’s disgusting… Trying to make us embarrassed of our profession.”

O’Meara pretty much only criticized Derek Chauvin and what happened in Minneapolis as an isolated incident without mention of any of the other types of police brutality that have gone on in New York State. There have been several stories in the past week alone since the protests started of police using excessive force on protesters.

A suggestion for Mike O’Meara — maybe stop acting like animals and thugs and the media won’t have to paint you in that light.