Mayor de Blasio is planning a p.r. blitz to improve the NYPD’s relationship with blacks and Hispanics — just in time for his 2017 re-election bid.
The NYPD sent a notice, obtained by The Post, to public-relations firms last Friday soliciting proposals for a campaign to improve its “depth of connection to various communities . . . with special emphasis and desired impact within communities of color.”
The solicitation — dated Dec. 2 and signed by NYPD Chief Contracting Officer Frank Bello — notes that proposals are due back to the city by Jan. 17.
It comes as de Blasio continues to clock strong approval ratings from blacks and Latinos, but critics on both the left and right contend the poll numbers are deceiving — and that the p.r. campaign is proof Team de Blasio knows it.
“It clearly shows that City Hall and the mayor’s re-election team know he’s vulnerable on this issue and that he didn’t live up to what he promised in 2013,” one of several consultants who received the notice said.
“Within the base, there is a lot of discontent and disillusionment that can be channeled into another candidate.”
De Blasio made reforming the police department a central theme of his 2013 campaign, but progressives say he hasn’t gone far enough.
They point to the NYPD continuing to pay Officer Daniel Pantaleo, who choked Eric Garner; the city’s failure to discipline police involved in Ramarley Graham’s death; and de Blasio’s efforts to block City Council legislation that would force cops to identify themselves and their reason for stopping someone.
“The NYPD is once again showing it relies on p.r. over substance, as the Giuliani administration did with its Courtesy, Professionalism and Respect campaign and the de Blasio administration is doing with ‘neighborhood policing,’ ” said Yul-san Liem, co-director of the Justice Committee, a member of Communities United for Police Reform.
Police also had few kind words for the plan.
Ed Mullins, president of the Sergeants Benevolent Association, described it as “bullsh-t” and “fluff.”
“De Blasio has been in three years,” Mullins said. “[Former Commissioner] Bratton came in with the idea of building bridges and helping communities. Nothing was done. Nothing is going to replace — and definitely not a p.r. campaign — sitting down across from someone and talking and having a cup of coffee.”
De Blasio spokesman Eric Phillips declined to comment on criticisms that the campaign is little more than a way for his boss to shore up his base in an election year.