In the wake of the Brussels attacks, Republican Senator and Presidential candidate Ted Cruz issued a recommendation to police both nationally and worldwide.  America must not develop zones where police cannot readily patrol, as Europe has done.  Further, American police should secure the Muslim neighborhoods we do have by watching carefully for signs of radicalizing influences.  The advice would have seemed obvious if this were not a Presidential election year, or were Ted Cruz not a Republican.  Instead, it became a chance for Democratic politicians to play out their tired game of portraying Republicans as racists or hateful oppressors of minorities.

The most effective player of this game right now is New York Police Department Commissioner Bill Bratton.  The Police Commissioner is not an ordinary cop.  Unlike most police in the NYPD, the Commissioner is a political appointee.  He is named by the current mayor, and he can be replaced at any time the mayor chooses.  Bratton was named to the post by Mayor Bill De Blasio, who ran on a platform of restraining the NYPD.  The NYPD have gone so far as to turn their backs on the mayor while he was addressing them.  The one officer the mayor can count on to parrot his politics is his hand-picked Commissioner.

So, of course, the Police Commissioner got on the air to read the lines written for him by Democratic political leaders.  Ted Cruz is not having it.  He penned a thorough response, which contrasts the current mayor and Commissioner Bratton to their predecessors.

Under Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Commissioner Ray Kelly, the NYPD started a counterterrorism unit that tracked demographic trends in New York City to provide investigators with important information about where terrorists might congregate and recruit. That sophisticated analysis can be a critical part of counterterrorism efforts to prevent an attack before it occurs or disrupt burgeoning terror cells. That unit likely saved lives….

Once elected mayor, however, de Blasio shut down that counterterrorism unit. He was taking heat from liberal advocacy groups who caricatured the unit’s work as “spying on Muslims,” which it wasn’t. New Yorkers, including the Muslim community, are less safe as a result.

Indeed, even the much more restrained efforts Bratton backs continue to come under criticism.  Prominent Muslim activist Linda Sarsour remains critical of the NYPD for even appearing at her marches. “When I see counterterrorism folks amongst protesters, it sends me a message that I’m the enemy, and that they are trying to keep other New Yorkers safe from those protesting for their civil rights,” said Sarsour.

Ted Cruz is right that the NYPD’s counterterrorism efforts were widely praised as some of the finest in the world.  It provided block-by-block analyses of threats across a very diverse and vibrant city.  It is exactly the kind of thing that a national-level police force like the FBI simply can’t do.  You need the partnership between the local police and the Federal agents to effectively secure American citizens against radical threats.  Far from being radical or outrageous, Cruz’s advice is based on the best practices ever developed for a major urban area.  Bratton of all people should know that, but he is not speaking as a police officer.  He is speaking as a political appointee.