Retired Police Captain Joseph Concannon made the announcement Thursday of his City Council candidacy on the steps of City Hall surrounded by the presidents of the PBA, Detectives Endowment Association, Lieutenants’ Benevolent Association, Sergeants Benevolent Association, Captains Endowment Association and a dozen other police officer unions.
Concannon’s City Council race was an unexpected turn of events brought about by the political firestorm over the City Council’s anti-stop, question and frisk legislation dubbed the “Criminal Protection Act” championed by Councilman Mark Weprin (D-Oakland Gardens). Weprin voted in favor of two bills, Intros 1079 and 1080 which would handcuff and blindfold the police by allowing individuals to sue police officers, and establishing an inspector general to oversee the NYPD.