November 28, 2025 • 22 mins
On the latest episode of Protecting America, Steve Rogers, A Retired Military Officer Assigned to the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force and Former Lieutenant at the Nutley, New Jersey Police Department, joins Rita Cosby to discuss NYC Mayor-Elect Zohran Mamdani and his radical views on police and community safety. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
The Red Apple Media Podcast Network presents This is Protecting America. Now.
Here's Emmy winning journalist Rita Cosby.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
And welcome to another edition of Protecting America. I'm Rita Cosby.
So how dangerous are the policies of the new mayor
elect of New York City, Zorn Mundani and how important
was that meeting between him and President Trump in the
Oval Office. Well, joining us now to discuss this is
(00:38):
one of the best security experts in the business, Lieutenant
Steve Rogers. Steve is a retired military officer. He was
assigned to the FBI's JTTF, that's the Joint Terrorism Task Force.
He was also a lieutenant at the Nutley, New Jersey,
Police Department and was a naval officer assigned to Naval Intelligence. Steve,
(01:01):
it's great to have you here.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
Oh, it's a pleasure reader. Thanks for having me.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
What troubles you the most about Mamdani and also his
views on police?
Speaker 1 (01:12):
Well, what troubles me the most, readA, is everything about Mandami.
One big problem we're going to be facing is the
number of individuals who are sympathizing with the socialism, with
communism and looking at his victory as a foundation that
they could actually get elected in other cities in other states.
We said it happening now in about forty eight states.
(01:34):
And I'm afraid that unless we put a stop to this,
we're going to find ourselves as a country in a
very very serious problem.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
What do you think in terms of his views on
police too, especially and how he has said, you know,
police in the past, he's called them racist, He's called
to defund the police. What does that do for a
police force, especially as big as New York's.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
He's no friend of law enforcement, not only in the
city of New York, but around the country. Look, we
police officers around the country, see what's going on in
New York. Other states have already put help wanted signs
if you will at police precincts across New York City.
Come we know you're leaving. Come you'll be welcome in
our city and our states. He has no love for
(02:22):
the police at all, and you know'll read it that
the guy he could think and believe he has fooled everyone,
including the President of the United States. He hasn't fooled
Donald Trump. He hasn't fooled the American people. He's a socialist.
He embraces communism, and he's going to be introducing that
to the city of New York. And look, we're going
to in short order, things are going to happen very,
(02:43):
very bad in New York City. The investors are leaving,
businesses are leaving, and you got nearly five thousand police
officers ready to retire, and some of the resigned after
January first of twenty twenty six.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
What does that do to have such a gutting of
the force if they don't want to stay, how is
that impact not only morale at the police department but
also the city safety.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
Well, the safety of the city is going to be
it's bad now, but it's going to be catastrophic when
that happens. Look, I can't imagine any individual in any
common sense telling the American people that we're going to
defund the police and replace those officers with mental health experts,
especially on domestic violence calls. Now here's the issue. He
(03:27):
has never been in a police car. He has never
been on a domestic violence call, and neither have most
of the politicians who actually bring to the American people
these crazy ideas. They become very violent, reader they become
from small fights to almost homicides and sometimes homicides. So
what is he going to do when somebody calls up
and they're being beaten into the wall and the police
(03:49):
aren't going to show up, but a mental health expert
is going to show up, and that mental health expert,
God forbid, and I never want to see this happen,
is going to get seriously injured or killed. So that's
what's going on one of the people's minds, and that's
why they want to flee that city. Help will not
be on the way when this guy becomes mayor and
implements his programs that reduces the number of trained law
(04:10):
enforcement officers and replaces them with people who were sitting
behind a desk in their whole life.
Speaker 3 (04:15):
You know, you bring up a great point.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
The other thing is too, is I think if I'm
a police officer, how much say, even if it goes
where they bring a social worker with you to the call,
that's another person that you have to watch. So not
only do you have to watch your own back on
a you know, often frenetic call, and you know, like
you just said, you never know where it's going to
turn on, especially in domestic violence where emotions are running high.
(04:39):
And also then you not only have to watch yourself
or your partner, then you have to watch somebody else who,
like you said, may not even be trained, even if
they do send a social worker with a cop. So
either way, that extra person is not a good thing necessarily.
Speaker 1 (04:53):
Well, Rita, you bring up a very good point. You know,
when we respond to the domestic violence calls, we are
not to go in that house or in that apartment
without a backup ready, willing and able to come in
with us. Now, of course, if someone screaming for help,
that's why we get paid for. It's us or them,
and we're going to have to go in. It's happened
to me a few times. But the point you brought
(05:14):
ups good because keep in mind that you have two,
maybe three, let's say four officers who are armed. We
have to worry about each other, We have to look
out for each other. But at least I know the
individual officer who's coming in with me has a weapon
and can end up saving my life. Now, could you
imagine going into a violent situation with someone who's unarmed,
not even trained, had a deal with the violence that
(05:36):
you're going to confront. So you have to worry about
protecting them in yourself. But who on earth is going
to protect you if that individual, that violent individual in
that home comes after you with a knife, with a
gun or whatever. Who is going to protect you the
police officer. So that's what's going to be going through
the minds of a lot of cops.
Speaker 3 (05:54):
You know.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
You think famously also Steve Rogers of when many officers
turn their backs on build a Block during one of
the police funerals. Remember that was just the motions they
felt that he didn't have their back. How do you
think officers are going to feel under Zora Mundani if
he carries out many of the promises that he's made, Well.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
They're not only going to turn their backs, but they're
going to turn their houses, their homes around. They're going
to leave the city, they'll probably leave the state. It's
going to be a very very serious problem. And there's
no way that anybody that I believe has seen his background,
has heard his rheter can believe that he's going to
change his mind on anything. He's going to make that
state or that city. I'm sorry into something that he wants.
(06:37):
And I say this, read it to people. If you
don't believe it. Look what's happened to London. Look at
what's happening to cities in Germany, in France, look at Paris.
I mean, these are like minded people that have become
mayors of some of these cities, like minded, like MANDOMI
Look what has happened That should pink the picture of
what's going to happen in New York City in the
(06:57):
near future.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
The other thing I think of, too, is an in
some cities, and in some blue cities in this country,
there have been a lot of people who don't hesitate
it seems like, to attack police. We've seen them attack ice,
We've seen them attack local police departments. You wonder how
embolded some of those people will feel.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
Well, they're in bold and now Rita, and you're right.
There's been a dramatic increase in attacks on law enforcement
offices nationwide. Because we go back to the Democrat Party.
You know, I call this the Democrat Party of the
twenty first century, not the party of JFK or FDR,
but the Democrat Party of the twenty first century has
embraced socialism and communism. And if people want to know
(07:38):
how it's going to work out, look at Beijing, China,
for example, you breathe the wrong way, you're going to
be very, very severely punished by the Chinese Communist Party.
You're going to have a situation in New York City
and other countries that are going to mirror Communist Party ideologies,
and you're going to run into the same situation. So,
you know what, the Democrats who are supporting these individuals,
(07:59):
they're going to become the targets of their policies. They
seem to forget that it's not only conservatives or you know,
red blooded Americans who love this country, and I know
there are a lot of Democrats who love this country.
They're patriots. They need to stand up and they need
to say enough enough and take control of their party back.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
How qualified are members of the NYPD? So many people
say they're definitely one of the best, if not the best,
in the country.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
Right, they're the best in the world. I mean, I'll
tell you I've worked with New York City Police officers
on some cases over my career. They've got the best
criminal forensic labs on the world. They've got the best
detectives in the world. I mean, you just look at
the pictures on TV you know, like Blue Bloods and
Hill Street Blues going back, and all these shows were
(08:48):
mirrored on NYPD because they are the best. And it's unfortunately,
because they're going to come from the best, they're going
to become the worst. It's not the patrol officers they're
leaving they're going, it's the leadership that is to blame
for what's happening in that city.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
And also there, as you brought up, also, so many
of them are fleeing because they can go to a
place like Florida. Like Ron Desantos was one of the
first folks. The governor there as you know, Steve, and
he came out and said, hey, NYPD, you I'll give
you X thousand dollars please join us because they are
so qualified, right.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
Yes, yeah, you probably won't even have to send them
to a police academy for training. In fact, Rita, some
of those officers could train some of the officers out here.
I was in Florida some time ago and I met
some police officers in Naples, Florida, and I asked them, well,
how's it going, guys, how do you like being here?
I'm from New Jersey And they kind of laughed and
(09:42):
said poor you. And they were New York City cops.
They had left New York City even about a year ago,
and they love it down there. And I said, what's
the major reason why you love it here? And to
a man to a woman read it. They told me
because the political people here in Florida back us. They
back us, they watch you, op backs, they take care
of us, and we get to do the job the
(10:04):
way it should be done. Big difference from New York City.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
Yeah, and that obviously you need to know when you're
out there that the department and from the top has
your back. The other thing I think of, too, is
that Zora Mundani talked about taking discipline actions against the NYPD,
sort of taking it away from the commissioner and giving
it to CCRB, the Civilian Complaint Review Board, which is
(10:28):
a whole bunch of politicians, essentially, most of them with
his mindset that would be judging cops. Talk about how
that really stacks the deck against officers.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
Well, I've said since the day the idea of civilian
the view boards were created, that these people are political hacks,
their puppets on a string, and they have to do
it they're told, and it's unfortunate because it inhibits the
ability of police officers to do their job. I've seen
it here in New Jersey where we have prosecuted in
this state who favor more of getting the police behind
(11:03):
an internal affairs investigation for the job they did, instead
of saying, hey, look, the cops have a rough thing
to do. It's a rough job. There was an incident
here in New Jersey, reader, where a police officer found
a guy with a gun and had a problem with
a guy getting out of the car. So the officer
used foul language on the guy, and as a result
of that, there was an internal affairs investigation as I
(11:26):
was told of the cop using that language during an arrest. Now,
let me share this with your reader. I don't like
to use language like that, but when I was a
street cup, that is the only kind of language a
bad guy listens to. And unfortunately, I go back to
what I originally said, Civilian review boards, politicians, all these
people making these rules, they've never been in a police car,
(11:47):
they've never been in a neighborhood where they're going to
be attacked. They're just as I said before, they're just
puppets on a string and they're doing more damage than good.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
One of the things that I really stood out to me, Steve,
was when Mandannie was talking about the criteria of who
he'd want as a police commissioner, he brought up Jessica Tish,
but he said the reason he liked her was because,
remember she came in under of course Eric Adams, and
you know, cleaned up the police department, but also did
a great job police sing making sure the streets were safe.
(12:21):
His priority number one, and he kept saying it over
and over again, was that she kind of cleaned up
the department and reigned in bad cops like that is
his view of what a police commissioner is. And then
it seemed like public safety was far you know, was
a distant second or third or fourth read.
Speaker 1 (12:40):
I'll tell you a little story about reigning in bad cops.
The good cops reined them in. The chiefs and each precinct,
the precinct commanders, they're the ones doing their work, they're
raining them in. I look, I don't know her that well.
I've told she's done a good job. That's fine, but
she's going to be under an individual, under the command
of an individual who when she he says jump, she's
(13:01):
going to have to jump. So if she is the
type of police commander that everybody says she is, which
has been good according to people, she's not going to
last long. She's going to go. But the fact of
the matter is that we have good police chiefs, good
police commanders, the best cops in the world. They clean
up their own app good cops will take care of
the business with bad cops, and unfortunately they're the ones
(13:24):
that do the job. But you're right in his view
and the Mandamni's you. The best police department to have
is one to have is to have a police department
not concentrating on criminals, the bad guys, the killers in
the raputs, but concentrating on their partners to see if
they do something wrong.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
Yeah, it seems like the priorities are out of whack, right.
I Mean, if somebody said, you know what kind of
criteria for a police commissioner, the first thing I would
say is who understands the community, who understands fighting crime,
Who understands getting tough on criminals?
Speaker 3 (13:56):
His was getting tough on cops?
Speaker 1 (13:58):
Yeah, and who does that? Who who understands the community,
who understands getting tough on crime. Who understands that there's
problems in the house on Main Street, there's kids on drugs,
text street cop. The cops right there on the streets,
they're the ones that are doing the job. And unfortunately,
and we've seen it here in New Jersey and other
Blue states, the police will always do their job. But
(14:20):
there's something called reactive patrol and proactive patrol. Reactive patrol
is getting there after the crime. Proactive control is trying
to prevent a crime. There's been a lot less proactive
patrol because at the end of that day, it's the
cop who gets in trouble and not the bad guys.
Speaker 2 (14:37):
What do you make of the fact that this strategic
response group that he wants to get rid of, this
specific group, that's the group that responded to that mass
shooting when the guy opened fire in the big, big
work building that took place in midtown Manhattan not that
long ago. It's also the group that goes when these
(14:58):
protests get out of hand and rains them in. And
yet he's saying, no, we're going to get rid of
that group, in particular because he thinks these protests, he
keeps saying their first Amendment. It makes me wonder, Steve,
if people are holed up in Hamilton Hall you know
which you know, or are blocking entrances to Jewish students
(15:19):
going somewhere or getting into a temple and they're blocked,
is that first Amendment?
Speaker 1 (15:24):
Like?
Speaker 2 (15:24):
It scares me a little bit that he clearly wants
to get rid of that group because he believes those
people have a right to be out there in protest.
Speaker 3 (15:32):
And it makes me wonder where is the line?
Speaker 2 (15:34):
Is he going to keep letting them protest when they
want break into a store? Are they threatened somebody or
they do something to a cop or a Jewish student?
Speaker 1 (15:43):
Well, it's insanity, Rita. These are not just protesters. They're
paid agitators. A lot of them are paid from foreign
governments in some cases from radical groups that they're paid
from individuals that want to see individual other individuals get hurt.
And you're right, what's he planned to do if he
does have a situation where one of the colleges in
(16:05):
New York are overrun by groups like Antifa? What is
he going to do, especially if some of these groups
are going to be well armed, and they will be
well armed at one point, especially if they know cops
aren't coming. The strategic planning that the police department of
the city in New York had was with this group
of officers that were extremely good at what they do.
(16:27):
They're trained on how to pick targets, not to hurt,
not to kill, but to apprehend. And in addition to that,
as a result of him eliminating the strategic response team,
he's going to eliminate the ability of the police to
get as much intelligence and information possible to prevent, to
prevent the tragedies that we've seen over the years in
(16:49):
that city, especially when it comes to big protests. So
your intelligence groups are going, your information gathering techniques are
going to be going. And as a result, guess who's
going to win the war on the streets? The bad guys?
Speaker 3 (17:02):
Yeah, which is scary.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
And also let's not forget to also Steve that he
was one of the guys protesting. I mean when there
was I think at Grand Central, he was there protesting,
he was blocking one of the bridges, he was actively
involved as a protester. And when he was asking the
campaign what are you going to do? Are you going
to keep protesting? He said, no, I'll be leading from
(17:23):
the Mayor's office but he didn't. He didn't say, you know,
I'm going to stop. In other words, maybe he's going
to be leading the protests from the mayor's office.
Speaker 3 (17:31):
It was a bit confusing to people.
Speaker 1 (17:33):
Yeah, it sure is. But you know one thing that
puzzled me read in and maybe you caught this, and
I didn't remember. When he was with the President of
the United States and the Oval Office of course yep,
and the reporters were asking questions. I was waiting for
a reporter to ask him this one question in front
of the president, will you have the Prime Minister of
(17:54):
Israel arrested when he sets for New York City? And
I wanted that question answered because he would have to
use the New York City Police Department to make the arrest.
Speaker 2 (18:06):
You know what his interesting zeve, did you hear? He
was asked sort of that question, but he danced around
it and he didn't sort of get the follow up,
I guess to your point, because he was asked, you know,
are you still planning to and then he kind of
went back to well international law, which I take as
a yes. You know, it was fascinating, troubling.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
Typical politician. But my point is he'd have to use
the New York City Police Department. And you could imagine
now to your point regarding the strategic response team, when
the Prime Minister of Israel comes here and there's going
to be massive, massive protest, completely out of control, what
is he going to do? What he's going to do,
He's going to need that response team to make sure
(18:48):
that the people who are protesting doesn't get near the
Prime Minister where they could actually end up hurting him
or god forbid, killing him. This this guy is completely
on another planet with regard to managing a city. But
people are going to learn. They're learning now, but unfortunately
they're going to learn. And one individual reader said to
me a few weeks ago, maybe, just maybe this is
(19:09):
one of those odd blessings in the skies because one
of the people across America see what's going to happen
in New York City, They're going to wake up and
they're going to fight back. And I'm not talking about
fighting back outside the law. I've always said, we've got
to fight back within the framework of the law. We
could do it peacefully, we could do it without bearing
arms and fighting with weapons on the streets. It's rising
(19:29):
up as American citizens who believe, because we do talk
about it, believe in the Constitution of the United States,
and get to the polls and turn everything back the
way it should be. Right.
Speaker 2 (19:39):
Maybe it's sadly a huge, huge wake up call.
Speaker 3 (19:43):
I agree.
Speaker 2 (19:44):
Before I let you go, Steve Rogers your reaction to
the meeting too.
Speaker 3 (19:48):
You talked a little bit about it.
Speaker 2 (19:50):
What did you make of Zoramundani there in the Oval
office next to the President of the United States. I
give him a lot of credit that he at least
met with him, and it was entertaining for sure, but
he what I found fascinating is after the meeting, Mundani
is now saying that no, there was no guarantee whatsoever
from the President that he won't send National Garden, that
(20:13):
he won't, you know, withhold money. So clearly President Trump said,
I'll get along with you as long as you do
the right things. And I think this is going to
be a short lived cordial relationship.
Speaker 1 (20:25):
Your thoughts, oh, I think so. Yeah, it was entertaining.
I found it fascinating, but I loved every minute it
because you know, we all know President Trump how he operates.
You know, he made it pretty clear in his way
that he the President of the United States, is the boss.
So if you think you're going to get away with
the things that you're planning, it's not going to happen.
And so at the end of the day, my hat's
off to the President and we'll see where all this goes.
(20:48):
But tell you what, the President, he's a Queen's guy.
I'm a Brooklyn guy, and you know, and we kind
of know how it goes in New York. But look
at you got a guy that's never been from New
York going up against the a guy that's invested in
the city in New York. Well, who's streets smart. By
the way, President Trump is street smart too. So I
was fascinated by it. But I thank god it happened.
(21:10):
Then the you know, let's hope for the best, all right,
maybe some good will come out of it. Let's just
hope for the best. Pray about it.
Speaker 2 (21:15):
Let's pray exactly exactly. Will everybody be sure to subscribe
and share to this podcast And Lieutenant Steve Rogers, thank
you so much. This was such an important conversation. Really
great to have you here.
Speaker 1 (21:27):
Oh likewise, my pleasure, take care.
Speaker 2 (21:29):
Now and everybody, I'll be back soon with another great
addition of protecting America, and of course you can catch
me every weeknight, ten pm to midnight on the legendary
w ABC Radio.
Speaker 3 (21:45):
This is Rita.
Speaker 2 (21:46):
Cosby and thanks for all you do to protect America.
The Pipers, Pipers,
The Red Apple Media Podcast Network presents This is Protecting America. Now.
Here's Emmy winning journalist Rita Cosby.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
And welcome to another edition of Protecting America. I'm Rita Cosby.
So how dangerous are the policies of the new mayor
elect of New York City, Zorn Mundani and how important
was that meeting between him and President Trump in the
Oval Office. Well, joining us now to discuss this is
(00:38):
one of the best security experts in the business, Lieutenant
Steve Rogers. Steve is a retired military officer. He was
assigned to the FBI's JTTF, that's the Joint Terrorism Task Force.
He was also a lieutenant at the Nutley, New Jersey,
Police Department and was a naval officer assigned to Naval Intelligence. Steve,
(01:01):
it's great to have you here.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
Oh, it's a pleasure reader. Thanks for having me.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
What troubles you the most about Mamdani and also his
views on police?
Speaker 1 (01:12):
Well, what troubles me the most, readA, is everything about Mandami.
One big problem we're going to be facing is the
number of individuals who are sympathizing with the socialism, with
communism and looking at his victory as a foundation that
they could actually get elected in other cities in other states.
We said it happening now in about forty eight states.
(01:34):
And I'm afraid that unless we put a stop to this,
we're going to find ourselves as a country in a
very very serious problem.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
What do you think in terms of his views on
police too, especially and how he has said, you know,
police in the past, he's called them racist, He's called
to defund the police. What does that do for a
police force, especially as big as New York's.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
He's no friend of law enforcement, not only in the
city of New York, but around the country. Look, we
police officers around the country, see what's going on in
New York. Other states have already put help wanted signs
if you will at police precincts across New York City.
Come we know you're leaving. Come you'll be welcome in
our city and our states. He has no love for
(02:22):
the police at all, and you know'll read it that
the guy he could think and believe he has fooled everyone,
including the President of the United States. He hasn't fooled
Donald Trump. He hasn't fooled the American people. He's a socialist.
He embraces communism, and he's going to be introducing that
to the city of New York. And look, we're going
to in short order, things are going to happen very,
(02:43):
very bad in New York City. The investors are leaving,
businesses are leaving, and you got nearly five thousand police
officers ready to retire, and some of the resigned after
January first of twenty twenty six.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
What does that do to have such a gutting of
the force if they don't want to stay, how is
that impact not only morale at the police department but
also the city safety.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
Well, the safety of the city is going to be
it's bad now, but it's going to be catastrophic when
that happens. Look, I can't imagine any individual in any
common sense telling the American people that we're going to
defund the police and replace those officers with mental health experts,
especially on domestic violence calls. Now here's the issue. He
(03:27):
has never been in a police car. He has never
been on a domestic violence call, and neither have most
of the politicians who actually bring to the American people
these crazy ideas. They become very violent, reader they become
from small fights to almost homicides and sometimes homicides. So
what is he going to do when somebody calls up
and they're being beaten into the wall and the police
(03:49):
aren't going to show up, but a mental health expert
is going to show up, and that mental health expert,
God forbid, and I never want to see this happen,
is going to get seriously injured or killed. So that's
what's going on one of the people's minds, and that's
why they want to flee that city. Help will not
be on the way when this guy becomes mayor and
implements his programs that reduces the number of trained law
(04:10):
enforcement officers and replaces them with people who were sitting
behind a desk in their whole life.
Speaker 3 (04:15):
You know, you bring up a great point.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
The other thing is too, is I think if I'm
a police officer, how much say, even if it goes
where they bring a social worker with you to the call,
that's another person that you have to watch. So not
only do you have to watch your own back on
a you know, often frenetic call, and you know, like
you just said, you never know where it's going to
turn on, especially in domestic violence where emotions are running high.
(04:39):
And also then you not only have to watch yourself
or your partner, then you have to watch somebody else who,
like you said, may not even be trained, even if
they do send a social worker with a cop. So
either way, that extra person is not a good thing necessarily.
Speaker 1 (04:53):
Well, Rita, you bring up a very good point. You know,
when we respond to the domestic violence calls, we are
not to go in that house or in that apartment
without a backup ready, willing and able to come in
with us. Now, of course, if someone screaming for help,
that's why we get paid for. It's us or them,
and we're going to have to go in. It's happened
to me a few times. But the point you brought
(05:14):
ups good because keep in mind that you have two,
maybe three, let's say four officers who are armed. We
have to worry about each other, We have to look
out for each other. But at least I know the
individual officer who's coming in with me has a weapon
and can end up saving my life. Now, could you
imagine going into a violent situation with someone who's unarmed,
not even trained, had a deal with the violence that
(05:36):
you're going to confront. So you have to worry about
protecting them in yourself. But who on earth is going
to protect you if that individual, that violent individual in
that home comes after you with a knife, with a
gun or whatever. Who is going to protect you the
police officer. So that's what's going to be going through
the minds of a lot of cops.
Speaker 3 (05:54):
You know.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
You think famously also Steve Rogers of when many officers
turn their backs on build a Block during one of
the police funerals. Remember that was just the motions they
felt that he didn't have their back. How do you
think officers are going to feel under Zora Mundani if
he carries out many of the promises that he's made, Well.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
They're not only going to turn their backs, but they're
going to turn their houses, their homes around. They're going
to leave the city, they'll probably leave the state. It's
going to be a very very serious problem. And there's
no way that anybody that I believe has seen his background,
has heard his rheter can believe that he's going to
change his mind on anything. He's going to make that
state or that city. I'm sorry into something that he wants.
(06:37):
And I say this, read it to people. If you
don't believe it. Look what's happened to London. Look at
what's happening to cities in Germany, in France, look at Paris.
I mean, these are like minded people that have become
mayors of some of these cities, like minded, like MANDOMI
Look what has happened That should pink the picture of
what's going to happen in New York City in the
(06:57):
near future.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
The other thing I think of, too, is an in
some cities, and in some blue cities in this country,
there have been a lot of people who don't hesitate
it seems like, to attack police. We've seen them attack ice,
We've seen them attack local police departments. You wonder how
embolded some of those people will feel.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
Well, they're in bold and now Rita, and you're right.
There's been a dramatic increase in attacks on law enforcement
offices nationwide. Because we go back to the Democrat Party.
You know, I call this the Democrat Party of the
twenty first century, not the party of JFK or FDR,
but the Democrat Party of the twenty first century has
embraced socialism and communism. And if people want to know
(07:38):
how it's going to work out, look at Beijing, China,
for example, you breathe the wrong way, you're going to
be very, very severely punished by the Chinese Communist Party.
You're going to have a situation in New York City
and other countries that are going to mirror Communist Party ideologies,
and you're going to run into the same situation. So,
you know what, the Democrats who are supporting these individuals,
(07:59):
they're going to become the targets of their policies. They
seem to forget that it's not only conservatives or you know,
red blooded Americans who love this country, and I know
there are a lot of Democrats who love this country.
They're patriots. They need to stand up and they need
to say enough enough and take control of their party back.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
How qualified are members of the NYPD? So many people
say they're definitely one of the best, if not the best,
in the country.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
Right, they're the best in the world. I mean, I'll
tell you I've worked with New York City Police officers
on some cases over my career. They've got the best
criminal forensic labs on the world. They've got the best
detectives in the world. I mean, you just look at
the pictures on TV you know, like Blue Bloods and
Hill Street Blues going back, and all these shows were
(08:48):
mirrored on NYPD because they are the best. And it's unfortunately,
because they're going to come from the best, they're going
to become the worst. It's not the patrol officers they're
leaving they're going, it's the leadership that is to blame
for what's happening in that city.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
And also there, as you brought up, also, so many
of them are fleeing because they can go to a
place like Florida. Like Ron Desantos was one of the
first folks. The governor there as you know, Steve, and
he came out and said, hey, NYPD, you I'll give
you X thousand dollars please join us because they are
so qualified, right.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
Yes, yeah, you probably won't even have to send them
to a police academy for training. In fact, Rita, some
of those officers could train some of the officers out here.
I was in Florida some time ago and I met
some police officers in Naples, Florida, and I asked them, well,
how's it going, guys, how do you like being here?
I'm from New Jersey And they kind of laughed and
(09:42):
said poor you. And they were New York City cops.
They had left New York City even about a year ago,
and they love it down there. And I said, what's
the major reason why you love it here? And to
a man to a woman read it. They told me
because the political people here in Florida back us. They
back us, they watch you, op backs, they take care
of us, and we get to do the job the
(10:04):
way it should be done. Big difference from New York City.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
Yeah, and that obviously you need to know when you're
out there that the department and from the top has
your back. The other thing I think of, too, is
that Zora Mundani talked about taking discipline actions against the NYPD,
sort of taking it away from the commissioner and giving
it to CCRB, the Civilian Complaint Review Board, which is
(10:28):
a whole bunch of politicians, essentially, most of them with
his mindset that would be judging cops. Talk about how
that really stacks the deck against officers.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
Well, I've said since the day the idea of civilian
the view boards were created, that these people are political hacks,
their puppets on a string, and they have to do
it they're told, and it's unfortunate because it inhibits the
ability of police officers to do their job. I've seen
it here in New Jersey where we have prosecuted in
this state who favor more of getting the police behind
(11:03):
an internal affairs investigation for the job they did, instead
of saying, hey, look, the cops have a rough thing
to do. It's a rough job. There was an incident
here in New Jersey, reader, where a police officer found
a guy with a gun and had a problem with
a guy getting out of the car. So the officer
used foul language on the guy, and as a result
of that, there was an internal affairs investigation as I
(11:26):
was told of the cop using that language during an arrest. Now,
let me share this with your reader. I don't like
to use language like that, but when I was a
street cup, that is the only kind of language a
bad guy listens to. And unfortunately, I go back to
what I originally said, Civilian review boards, politicians, all these
people making these rules, they've never been in a police car,
(11:47):
they've never been in a neighborhood where they're going to
be attacked. They're just as I said before, they're just
puppets on a string and they're doing more damage than good.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
One of the things that I really stood out to me, Steve,
was when Mandannie was talking about the criteria of who
he'd want as a police commissioner, he brought up Jessica Tish,
but he said the reason he liked her was because,
remember she came in under of course Eric Adams, and
you know, cleaned up the police department, but also did
a great job police sing making sure the streets were safe.
(12:21):
His priority number one, and he kept saying it over
and over again, was that she kind of cleaned up
the department and reigned in bad cops like that is
his view of what a police commissioner is. And then
it seemed like public safety was far you know, was
a distant second or third or fourth read.
Speaker 1 (12:40):
I'll tell you a little story about reigning in bad cops.
The good cops reined them in. The chiefs and each precinct,
the precinct commanders, they're the ones doing their work, they're
raining them in. I look, I don't know her that well.
I've told she's done a good job. That's fine, but
she's going to be under an individual, under the command
of an individual who when she he says jump, she's
(13:01):
going to have to jump. So if she is the
type of police commander that everybody says she is, which
has been good according to people, she's not going to
last long. She's going to go. But the fact of
the matter is that we have good police chiefs, good
police commanders, the best cops in the world. They clean
up their own app good cops will take care of
the business with bad cops, and unfortunately they're the ones
(13:24):
that do the job. But you're right in his view
and the Mandamni's you. The best police department to have
is one to have is to have a police department
not concentrating on criminals, the bad guys, the killers in
the raputs, but concentrating on their partners to see if
they do something wrong.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
Yeah, it seems like the priorities are out of whack, right.
I Mean, if somebody said, you know what kind of
criteria for a police commissioner, the first thing I would
say is who understands the community, who understands fighting crime,
Who understands getting tough on criminals?
Speaker 3 (13:56):
His was getting tough on cops?
Speaker 1 (13:58):
Yeah, and who does that? Who who understands the community,
who understands getting tough on crime. Who understands that there's
problems in the house on Main Street, there's kids on drugs,
text street cop. The cops right there on the streets,
they're the ones that are doing the job. And unfortunately,
and we've seen it here in New Jersey and other
Blue states, the police will always do their job. But
(14:20):
there's something called reactive patrol and proactive patrol. Reactive patrol
is getting there after the crime. Proactive control is trying
to prevent a crime. There's been a lot less proactive
patrol because at the end of that day, it's the
cop who gets in trouble and not the bad guys.
Speaker 2 (14:37):
What do you make of the fact that this strategic
response group that he wants to get rid of, this
specific group, that's the group that responded to that mass
shooting when the guy opened fire in the big, big
work building that took place in midtown Manhattan not that
long ago. It's also the group that goes when these
(14:58):
protests get out of hand and rains them in. And
yet he's saying, no, we're going to get rid of
that group, in particular because he thinks these protests, he
keeps saying their first Amendment. It makes me wonder, Steve,
if people are holed up in Hamilton Hall you know
which you know, or are blocking entrances to Jewish students
(15:19):
going somewhere or getting into a temple and they're blocked,
is that first Amendment?
Speaker 1 (15:24):
Like?
Speaker 2 (15:24):
It scares me a little bit that he clearly wants
to get rid of that group because he believes those
people have a right to be out there in protest.
Speaker 3 (15:32):
And it makes me wonder where is the line?
Speaker 2 (15:34):
Is he going to keep letting them protest when they
want break into a store? Are they threatened somebody or
they do something to a cop or a Jewish student?
Speaker 1 (15:43):
Well, it's insanity, Rita. These are not just protesters. They're
paid agitators. A lot of them are paid from foreign
governments in some cases from radical groups that they're paid
from individuals that want to see individual other individuals get hurt.
And you're right, what's he planned to do if he
does have a situation where one of the colleges in
(16:05):
New York are overrun by groups like Antifa? What is
he going to do, especially if some of these groups
are going to be well armed, and they will be
well armed at one point, especially if they know cops
aren't coming. The strategic planning that the police department of
the city in New York had was with this group
of officers that were extremely good at what they do.
(16:27):
They're trained on how to pick targets, not to hurt,
not to kill, but to apprehend. And in addition to that,
as a result of him eliminating the strategic response team,
he's going to eliminate the ability of the police to
get as much intelligence and information possible to prevent, to
prevent the tragedies that we've seen over the years in
(16:49):
that city, especially when it comes to big protests. So
your intelligence groups are going, your information gathering techniques are
going to be going. And as a result, guess who's
going to win the war on the streets? The bad guys?
Speaker 3 (17:02):
Yeah, which is scary.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
And also let's not forget to also Steve that he
was one of the guys protesting. I mean when there
was I think at Grand Central, he was there protesting,
he was blocking one of the bridges, he was actively
involved as a protester. And when he was asking the
campaign what are you going to do? Are you going
to keep protesting? He said, no, I'll be leading from
(17:23):
the Mayor's office but he didn't. He didn't say, you know,
I'm going to stop. In other words, maybe he's going
to be leading the protests from the mayor's office.
Speaker 3 (17:31):
It was a bit confusing to people.
Speaker 1 (17:33):
Yeah, it sure is. But you know one thing that
puzzled me read in and maybe you caught this, and
I didn't remember. When he was with the President of
the United States and the Oval Office of course yep,
and the reporters were asking questions. I was waiting for
a reporter to ask him this one question in front
of the president, will you have the Prime Minister of
(17:54):
Israel arrested when he sets for New York City? And
I wanted that question answered because he would have to
use the New York City Police Department to make the arrest.
Speaker 2 (18:06):
You know what his interesting zeve, did you hear? He
was asked sort of that question, but he danced around
it and he didn't sort of get the follow up,
I guess to your point, because he was asked, you know,
are you still planning to and then he kind of
went back to well international law, which I take as
a yes. You know, it was fascinating, troubling.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
Typical politician. But my point is he'd have to use
the New York City Police Department. And you could imagine
now to your point regarding the strategic response team, when
the Prime Minister of Israel comes here and there's going
to be massive, massive protest, completely out of control, what
is he going to do? What he's going to do,
He's going to need that response team to make sure
(18:48):
that the people who are protesting doesn't get near the
Prime Minister where they could actually end up hurting him
or god forbid, killing him. This this guy is completely
on another planet with regard to managing a city. But
people are going to learn. They're learning now, but unfortunately
they're going to learn. And one individual reader said to
me a few weeks ago, maybe, just maybe this is
(19:09):
one of those odd blessings in the skies because one
of the people across America see what's going to happen
in New York City, They're going to wake up and
they're going to fight back. And I'm not talking about
fighting back outside the law. I've always said, we've got
to fight back within the framework of the law. We
could do it peacefully, we could do it without bearing
arms and fighting with weapons on the streets. It's rising
(19:29):
up as American citizens who believe, because we do talk
about it, believe in the Constitution of the United States,
and get to the polls and turn everything back the
way it should be. Right.
Speaker 2 (19:39):
Maybe it's sadly a huge, huge wake up call.
Speaker 3 (19:43):
I agree.
Speaker 2 (19:44):
Before I let you go, Steve Rogers your reaction to
the meeting too.
Speaker 3 (19:48):
You talked a little bit about it.
Speaker 2 (19:50):
What did you make of Zoramundani there in the Oval
office next to the President of the United States. I
give him a lot of credit that he at least
met with him, and it was entertaining for sure, but
he what I found fascinating is after the meeting, Mundani
is now saying that no, there was no guarantee whatsoever
from the President that he won't send National Garden, that
(20:13):
he won't, you know, withhold money. So clearly President Trump said,
I'll get along with you as long as you do
the right things. And I think this is going to
be a short lived cordial relationship.
Speaker 1 (20:25):
Your thoughts, oh, I think so. Yeah, it was entertaining.
I found it fascinating, but I loved every minute it
because you know, we all know President Trump how he operates.
You know, he made it pretty clear in his way
that he the President of the United States, is the boss.
So if you think you're going to get away with
the things that you're planning, it's not going to happen.
And so at the end of the day, my hat's
off to the President and we'll see where all this goes.
(20:48):
But tell you what, the President, he's a Queen's guy.
I'm a Brooklyn guy, and you know, and we kind
of know how it goes in New York. But look
at you got a guy that's never been from New
York going up against the a guy that's invested in
the city in New York. Well, who's streets smart. By
the way, President Trump is street smart too. So I
was fascinated by it. But I thank god it happened.
(21:10):
Then the you know, let's hope for the best, all right,
maybe some good will come out of it. Let's just
hope for the best. Pray about it.
Speaker 2 (21:15):
Let's pray exactly exactly. Will everybody be sure to subscribe
and share to this podcast And Lieutenant Steve Rogers, thank
you so much. This was such an important conversation. Really
great to have you here.
Speaker 1 (21:27):
Oh likewise, my pleasure, take care.
Speaker 2 (21:29):
Now and everybody, I'll be back soon with another great
addition of protecting America, and of course you can catch
me every weeknight, ten pm to midnight on the legendary
w ABC Radio.
Speaker 3 (21:45):
This is Rita.
Speaker 2 (21:46):
Cosby and thanks for all you do to protect America.
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