Staunch Critic of the N.Y.P.D. Grapples With Deaths of 2 Officers

Harlem Councilwoman Kristin Richardson Jordan, who has equated the policing system to slavery, is now considering how to deliver her message in a district mourning for two officers.

On one side of Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard in Harlem, dozens of candles and bouquets of flowers were clustered outside the 32nd Precinct station house after a shooting that would leave two officers dead.

Across the boulevard was the apartment building where the officers were struck by gunfire as they responded to a report of a domestic incident.

And in between, the neighborhood’s new city councilwoman sat in a bare-bones office, trying to reconcile the need to comfort a grieving community with her firm belief that police departments should ultimately be abolished.