Ed Mullins is innocent until proven guilty—a distinction he often didn’t extend to others.
Ed Mullins, the “bombastic” and “controversial” (adjectives chosen by the New York Post) head of New York Police Department’s Sergeants Benevolent Association (SBA), resigned from his leadership position following an FBI raid of the union’s office and Mullins’ home Tuesday. The FBI is, as is typical, is staying mum, but the Post reports via sources that Mullins is being investigated for possible wire fraud and misappropriation of union funds. Mullins, of course, is innocent until proven guilty—heck, he hasn’t even been charged with any crimes yet! But the reason the Post uses words like “bombastic” and “controversial” is because Mullins has a reputation for not just defending all sorts of terrible police behavior but lamenting the very idea of treating citizens as human beings that have innate rights to be protected from police violence. The Twitter account for the SBA, operated by Mullins, was frequently used by him to spout off harshly against policies he didn’t like, which in one instance included the Fourth Amendment. In 2018, when the Twitter account for New York City’s Civilian Complaint Review Board tweeted out a reminder that the Fourth Amendment protects citizens from “unreasonable searches and seizures” and encouraged citizens to file a complaint if their rights have been violated, Mullins raged in his response: You are all a disgrace.
