Of all places, the New York Times shows some fortitude in its editorial on the outrageous conduct of the New York Police Department over the past few days:

Mr. de Blasio isn’t going to say it, but somebody has to: With these acts of passive-aggressive contempt and self-pity, many New York police officers, led by their union, are squandering the department’s credibility, defacing its reputation, shredding its hard-earned respect.

Granted, the Times’ tongue-lashing remains tepid by normal measures, but it’s more forceful than anyone can reasonably expect of the mayor, the target of police threats, who has demonstrated little more than mewling pandering to police sensitivities, as if he might someday be loved not despised by the cops.

The New York Police Department is going through a terrible time . . . But none of those grievances can justify the snarling sense of victimhood that seems to be motivating the anti-de Blasio campaign — the belief that the department is never wrong, that it never needs redirection or reform, only reverence.

Pretty strong stuff for the old Grey Lady. Yet, its lack of appreciation of all the police do for us is offset by an announcement from a New York State Senator:

“How on Earth can we keep our communities safe if we’re not keeping the police officers safe — if we’re not protecting the protectors?” said Sen. Patrick Gallivan, an Erie County Republican and former state trooper and sheriff who is chairman of the Senate Crime Victims, Crime and Correction Committee.

Forget who is “watching the watchers,” as the new rallying cry is who is “protecting the protectors”?  What about our duty to the cops, to keep them safe, to make them comfortable, to protect them?  The Senate will hold hearings to figure out what we can do for them.

The hearings, which will be conducted jointly by four Senate committees, will focus on the safety of New York City officers in the current climate, statistics on assaults upon police officers, the impact of community policing, and the adequacy of police disability and death benefits.

The current climate refers to the antagonism toward police following the killing of Eric Garner, Akai Gurley, Michael Brown and Tamir Rice. Each killed by a cop, so naturally, the concern is what can we do to protect police. These dead black men (and boy) are, after all, not cops, and the worth of their lives pales in comparison to the murders by a crazy of police officers Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu.  Some deaths are unfortunate collateral consequences of maintaining the status quo. Others cannot be tolerated under any circumstances.

The Senate, a representative body determined to maintain the credibility it’s worked so hard to establish, will hear from all important voices on the issue.

The hearings will seek testimony from the law enforcement community, legal scholars, district attorneys, and city and state officials. “We should make sure we take in all sides and everybody is heard and what . . . legislation is done contributes to the safety of New York,” said Sen. Martin Golden, a Brooklyn Republican and former NYPD cop who is chairman of the Senate Civil Service and Pensions Committee.

“All sides and everybody” has a unique meaning in Albany, where it’s a euphemism for cops, cop lovers, people who really adore cops, cops’ spouses and sycophantic scholars.  Everybody. At least, everybody who matters. This is actually a courtesy to anyone who might utter a word in disagreement, as it saves them the time they might otherwise waste in hearing testimony, plus the hurt feelings as senators reactions range from laughing to ignoring them.

But even as Albany panders to the cop-lobby, the New York Times backtracks on its condemnation of the implicit police threat that we will love them or suffer for our insolence.

But there is a way out of this cul-de-sac. It was stated at Officer Ramos’s funeral by an exemplary public servant — and stout de Blasio ally — Commissioner William Bratton.

He put it beautifully: “The police, the people who are angry at the police, the people who support us but want us to be better, even a madman who assassinated two men because all he could see was two uniforms, even though they were so much more. We don’t see each other. If we can learn to see each other, to see that our cops are people like Officer Ramos and Officer Liu, to see that our communities are filled with people just like them, too. If we can learn to see each other, then when we see each other, we’ll heal.”

Cops like Ramos and Liu are certainly people, real flesh and blood human beings. But their killer, Ismaaiyl Brinsley, was a crazy. and the nature of crazies isn’t to ponder the humanity of their victims. On the other hand, no group spends more time seeing the many facets of humanity than police officers. Yet, nothing about their job seems to slow down their use of force, their pulling the trigger, their taking a human being’s life.

Bratton suggests we all need to see each other as people.  Except his people have more guns and do most of the killing. Except his people do so with impunity. Except his people make the choice to be police officers, get paid to be police officers, take on a duty when they become police officers.  And this he compares to a crazy man while ignoring the black men who shouldn’t have died.

If this is the way out of the cul-de-sac, appreciating that cops are human beings too, then it’s just another one-way street.  Ultimately, the solution isn’t a lot different than what the Senate seeks to accomplish in its inclusive hearings to protect the protectors.

There is no epidemic of people harming or killing cops in this country, in this City. Two cops were tragically killed by one crazed nut, which the police are now using to hold a city hostage, challenge a weak and confused mayor and play on the ignorance and fear of those who are pretty certain that they won’t be the ones killed the next time a police officer decides he’s bored with waiting for obedience.

Yes, they are all right that what the New York City police have done compels a bold political move. And politicians, as well as the New York Times, see the move to be protecting the cops from us.

Update:  Via Bmaz, it appears that the NYPD rank and file is taking no chance on getting hurt on the job until the public proves it deserves them.

It’s not a slowdown — it’s a virtual work stoppage.

NYPD traffic tickets and summonses for minor offenses have dropped off by a staggering 94 percent following the execution of two cops — as officers feel betrayed by the mayor and fear for their safety.

Lest you feel tears starting to well up from the shared trauma suffered by police, there is good news. The cops are still getting paid, and no one has been killed by a cop in New York City in days.