Mayor Bloomberg is a man of many moods. Back in May, he said of alleged sexual assault suspect (and then-IMF head) Dominique Strauss-Kahn's perp walk, "I think it is humiliating, but you know if you don’t want to do the perp walk, don’t do the crime... I don’t have a lot of sympathy for that. Our judicial system works where the public can see the alleged perpetrators." But now that there's uncertainty about the charges against Strauss-Kahn, Bloomberg is singing a different, more definitive tune.
The mayor said yesterday, "We've done perp walks for the benefit of newspapers and television for a long time... I've always thought the perp walks were outrageous. That's only my view. Nobody's asked me and I have no say in it. Whatever... It does if somebody is innocent -- and even if they're guilty they're not guilty until they're convicted -- and yet we villify them for the benefit of theater, for the circus. You know they did it in Roman times, too. This is nothing new."
We're trying to wrap our heads around Bloomberg not having a say about perp walks—doesn't Police Commissioner Kelly report to him?
