NYPD Sergeants Benevolent Assoc. endorses Nicole Malliotakis for mayor

NEW YORK (WABC) -- President Ed Mullins and his Sergeants Benevolent Association (SBA) endorsed Republican Mayoral Candidate Nicole Malliotakis.

More than 200 members gave the New York assemblywoman a standing ovation.

"I intend to work with Ed Mullins," she said, "and everyone in this room to make New York City a safer place. A great place. And one in which everyone is respected."

The SBA is one of the first law enforcement unions to endorse a candidate and sets a tone against Mayor Bill de Blasio.

Malliotakis went on to say, "I will support you. I will work with you and I will never vilify you. And I will never leave you in your time of need."

Ed Mullins laid out several points that led to the endorsement including the mayor marching in the National Puerto Rican Day Parade in which Oscar Lopez Rivera, a nationalist and former member of the FALN whose members set off four bombs in 1982 injuring three NYPD officers, also marched.

Mullins also criticized the mayor for attending a protest rally in Hamburg, Germany, one day after Police Officer Miosotis Familia was gunned down while sitting in a police vehicle in the Bronx.

"Law enforcement is about integrity", Mullins said, "It's about upholding the law. There are questions as to the integrity that exists within City Hall."

The Mayor's office in response says he strongly supports the uniformed men and women. That is why he has made record investments in new equipment, safety gear and fair contracts.

But the union's have had a strained relationship with the mayor ever since he took office.

It's unclear where others will place their endorsements.

"The Sergeants is the first union to endorse me, but hopefully not the last," Malliotakis said.