NYPD: Anonymous threat against police not believed credible

A New York Police Department deputy commissioner said Sunday the agency does not consider credible a report that a black militant group active in prisons outside New York State wanted to kill police officers.

The NYPD received information about an anonymous call to a police department outside New York State on Nov. 25 in which the caller said a group known as the Black Guerrilla Family was going to kill a police officer, spokesman Stephen Davis said.

The caller made no mention of the NYPD, he said. The out-of-state police agency that received the call, as a matter of course, put out the information to all police agencies, Davis said.

"We have no reason to believe that this information is directed at the NYPD or is necessarily credible at this time," Davis said. "We did do a review, and there is nothing to say this is a credible threat at this point."

Davis declined to name the agency that received the anonymous threat.

He noted that the anonymous call was reported a week before a grand jury on Staten Island on Wednesday declined to issue an indictment against an NYPD officer, who is white, in connection with the case of Eric Garner, 43, a black man who died July 17 after he was arrested by officers.

Across the country, Davis said, there are threats against police from time to time. He said the Black Guerrilla Family, which reportedly is active in Maryland prisons, does not operate in New York.

However, news of the threat began circulating within NYPD precincts on Saturday, and Ed Mullins, president of the Sergeants Benevolent Association, said he sent out a mass email to his 8,000 union members, telling them to make sure they wear protective vests while on duty.

Mullins, in an interview Sunday, said of the supposed threat, "That is good it is not credible."

By Anthony M. DeStefano

tony.destefano@newsday.comtonynewsday

Anthony M. DeStefano has been a reporter for Newsday since 1986 and covers law enforcement, criminal justice and legal affairs from its New York City offices.