More cowbell sure, but no more airhorn!
The NYPD is banning the blaring, celebratory airhorns that families and friends of police officers have been loudly blasting at promotional ceremonies, The Post has learned.
“While celebrating your co-workers’ achievements is encouraged, certain behaviors, such as the use of air horns, posters, or other noise-making devices, can disrupt the proceedings, delay the process, and detract from the accomplishments of others,” the NYPD said in a message to officers. “For this reason, noise-making devices and large posters will not be permitted in the auditorium.“
The shrill sound drowns out the names of other officers getting a bump in rank and generally disrupts the event, prompting the ban, sources said.
“I think it’s so stupid and unprofessional,” a police officer with more than 20 years on the job said of the boisterous behavior.
“It’s supposed to be the NYPD, not the circus,” the source said. “You got your family there and there’s some bozo blowing a horn like we’re at a f—ing carnival.”
The promotion ceremonies have typically been held at the Police Academy in Queens, but are moving to NYPD headquarters at One Police Plaza in downtown Manhattan on Monday — giving cops more control over what can and can’t be brought inside.
There, security will have the ability to check bags for the horns. Confetti and face cut-outs — larger-than-life photos of cops being promoted — will also be outlawed, the NYPD said. Cops who show up at the academy typically don’t go through a bag check.
The horns became an issue within the past few years.
At a Nov. 27 promotion ceremony, the horns were blown so loudly that nothing else could be heard, another police officer said.
“Family members couldn’t hear their loved one’s name when they walked across the stage to shake the commissioner’s hand,” the gumshoe said. “It was disturbing.”
The event was the first promotional ceremony attended by Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch in her new role as top cop and one insider said the horns left her visibly annoyed.
“You should have seen the look on her face,” said the officer, who asked to remain anonymous because he wasn’t cleared to talk to the media.
In video of the event, Chief of Patrol John Chell appears to glare in the direction of the horn-blowers several times.
At One Police Plaza, all attendees will have to go through security, which includes a bag check that would easily detect and keep out the large horns and other items.
“Those things are loud,” a third source said. “In the auditorium at headquarters, you’d go deaf. They sound like a train horn in a tunnel. They are annoying.”
Any NYPD members who try to sneak the airhorns or other banned items into HQ could be penalized, the source said.
“If you think you’re not going to get caught, you’re going to lose time and you’re going to get a command discipline,” the source said of the punishment that can cost cops vacation days. “Jessica Tisch means business.”
