New York Mayor de Blasio’s actions speak louder than words when it comes to respecting the NYPD, and he used the last day of 2014 to emphasize how little he values the lives of the officers that serve the city. The New York Post reports:

 Mayor de Blasio delivered another blow to New York’s Finest on Wednesday when he reappointed a Brooklyn judge who freed without bail two men who threatened cops just days after the Bed-Stuy double police assassination.

The stunning decision came even as one of the suspects — a gang member charged with posting police death threats online — skipped out on a court date and had a warrant out for his arrest, sources said.

Brooklyn Criminal Court Judge Laura Johnson had faced a midnight expiration of her term. She was appointed by Mayor Mike Bloomberg in January 2013.

Her one-year, interim reappointment by de Blasio outraged law-enforcement officials a day after he met with the heads of five police unions to heal his fractured relationship with cops.

One of the suspects posted a photo on his Facebook page showing a gunman firing into an NYPD police cruiser just hours after the assassination of Officers Liu and Ramos, and added, “73 nextt” – a reference to the 73^rd Precinct, serving the neighborhood where he lived.

Judge Johnson let him go without bail, despite prosecutors asking for a quarter million dollars, on the theory that he was a danger to NYPD lives. The Post reports that at the time of the no-bail decision, de Blasio was critical:

“While the judge’s decision was in compliance with the letter of the state’s laws on bail — which focus almost exclusively on risk of flight — our judges must take into account all of the circumstances that contribute to the risk of flight, and that certainly includes the seriousness of the offense,” the mayor said at the time.

So why on earth would he reappoint her at the last minute, under cover of the holiday?

Is he trying to stand up to the cops who have been critical of him? Has he decided to engage in a game of chicken with them, daring them to take actions that would discredit their cause? Has the booing and back-turning produced an emotional reaction?

Or is this a political payoff to someone or some groups that back the judge?

This move does not bode well for healing the rift that has developed between the mayor and the cops.

Hat tip: Jim Netolick