( CNN ) -- Some years ago I was the municipal prosecutor in a midsize New Jersey town . I had weekly `` night court '' duties , where we handled traffic violations , DUIs and other nonfelonies . I can say without reservation that during the years I worked as a prosecutor , I held the police in the highest regard and greatly trusted them . I felt this way for years after I stopped prosecuting . But those feelings are gone . Do n't get me wrong , I do n't view the police as the enemy . I simply do n't trust them like I once did . I no longer give them the benefit of the doubt , meaning I can now just as easily believe the suspect 's version of the facts as the police officers . And I can easily believe allegations of police misconduct . And here 's what New York City police union leader Patrick Lynch and others like him in the New York Police Department do n't get : I 'm not the exception . In fact , my views about police put me in the company of a growing number of Americans . A Gallup poll released a few weeks ago found that 48 % of Americans view the police as possessing high or very high levels of honesty and ethics . That number is not only down 6 percentage points from 2013 , it 's the lowest in almost 20 years . In contrast , 68 % of Americans viewed the police as possessing high levels of honesty and ethics in 2001 . That 's an astounding 20-point drop in 13 years . To me , these falling poll numbers are tied , at least in part , to a case like Eric Garner , the unarmed man placed in a chokehold by a New York officer and who died a short time later . A recent poll found that 57 % of Americans believed that the grand jury had made a mistake in failing to indict the officer who had choked Garner , with only 22 % agreeing with the grand jury 's decision . It 's with that 22 % of people where Lynch , president of the New York City Patrolmen 's Benevolent Association , and his compatriots stand . Indeed , after the grand decision was announced a few weeks ago , Lynch made matters worse with two tone-deaf comments . First , he seemingly blamed Garner for his own death with the remark , `` Garner made a choice that day to resist arrest . '' He then shockingly added that Garner 's death is a `` tragedy for this police officer who has to live with that death . '' A tragedy for the police officer ? ! The police officer is alive . Garner is dead . Yet to Lynch , we should have sympathy for the police officer who most of us believe should be facing criminal charges for homicide . And Lynch has not let up in his apparent efforts to drive a wedge between the public and the New York Police Department . On Saturday night , shortly after we learned of the horrific slayings of two New York police officers at the hands of a man who reportedly said he wanted to avenge the deaths of Garner and Michael Brown , Lynch released one of the most irresponsible statements I 've ever heard from a person in his position . Lynch said there 's `` blood on many hands '' in the cop killings . First , he blamed New York Mayor Bill de Blasio -- who has in the past been slightly critical of certain of the department 's actions -- saying that the `` blood on the hands starts on the steps of City Hall in the office of the mayor . '' ( The NYPD 's Sergeants Benevolent Association echoed Lynch 's sentiment . ) Then Lynch blamed the recent protesters who had taken to the streets to denounce the grand jury decision in the Garner case . Just so it 's clear , a small number of protesters did -- despicably -- chant , `` What do we want ? Dead cops . '' But it 's outlandish to blame the protesters for the actions of a man with a long criminal record who had shot his girlfriend only hours before killing the police officers . Lynch 's comments sounded like a politician using a tragedy to score political points . In fact , former New York Gov . George Pataki , a Republican who is said to be considering a presidential run in 2016 , made comments similar to Lynch 's via Twitter , where he blamed de Blasio for the tragedy . Lynch is missing the big picture . Sure , for politicians such as Pataki , pandering to the base is the norm . But the leader of a union that represents more than 34,000 uniformed officers charged with protecting and serving the public needs to be better than offering up red meat to his supporters . Lynch is viewed by many as the spokesman for rank-and-file New York Police Department officers . Consequently , his remarks could result in an even fewer Americans viewing the police in a favorable light . That does not bode well for us a nation . If we collectively view the police as an untrustworthy adversary and not an ally , it undermines the very notion of community-based policing that is the cornerstone to effective policing . The question is : Will Lynch and his supporters change their tune , or will they make matters worse ?
When he was a prosecutor , Dean Obeidallah trusted police ; like many now , he does not . The problem with the NYPD is that they are too big and powerful to be held accountable for their actions. He says comments of police union head antagonize , damage relations with citizens . Obeidallah : If trust in police is damaged , so is cornerstone of community policing .