O’Neill, who has been head of the New York Police Department since 2016, has resigned in the wake of controversy surrounding the firing of Daniel Pantaleo. Pantaleo was removed from the force by O’Neill after an investigation into the death of Eric Garner. During the arrest, Pantaleo put Garner into a banned chokehold, riding Garner into the pavement while he told Pantaleo and his backup repeatedly he couldn’t breathe. Pantaleo then sued to get his job back, calling the move “arbitrary and capricious.”

O’Neill placed some of the blame for the incident on Garner, saying, “Every time I watch that video I say to myself … ’to Mr. Garner, don’t do it. Comply. Officer Pantaleo, don’t do it,’” but added that, “it is clear that Daniel Pantaleo can no longer effectively serve as a New York City police officer.”

Patrick J. Lynch, president of the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association, the NYPD’s union, told to NBC News that beat officers “lost confidence” in O’Neill when he fired Pantaleo instead of standing by him. However, O’Neill said that case was not specifically why he was resigning.

“It wasn’t a motivating factor in my decision. I’m not going to stand up here and say it didn’t weigh on me heavily,” O’Neill said in a press conference announcing his exit. “I think it weighed on all New Yorkers. It weighed on everybody in the NYPD.” But he declared that “This is the right time for me and it’s time I have to move forward. The NYPD has to move forward.”

“This announcement is long overdue,” said Ed Mullins, president of the Sergeants Benevolent Association in a statement. “Like any coward, Commissioner O’Neill chose to run off before the entire empire fell.”

Former Chief of Detectives Dermot Shea has been named the new commissioner.

O’Neill isn’t the only official feeling some heat from police unions.

In Seattle, a law intended to smooth and simplify police accountability processes and intended to provide funding for the creation of a new civilian watchdog body had been winnowed away by negotiation between the Seattle Police Officers’ Guild and Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan.

In Maryland, a battle over a donated “Blue Lives Matter” flag has resulted in a row, as Hartford County Executive Marc Elrich has told the department to remove the flag, calling it a divisive symbol.

The Governor and Sheriff’s office disagree. “Our community shows their respect of law enforcement on a daily basis and we will never be afraid to show our thanks!” the Harford County Sheriff’s Office posted to its Facebook page.

“We are proud to hang these Thin Blue Line flags in Government House to honor our brave law enforcement officers. A local elected official prohibiting police from displaying a flag given to them by a grateful child is disgraceful,” tweeted Governor Larry Hogan.

“Because it is divisive, the flag will not be posted at the 5th District nor in any public space within the Police Department,” Elrich posted on Twitter. “My concern is that the flag if it’s interpreted by people as a Blue Lives Matter flag, it’s something that further distrust and unrest in the community,” he later clarified to local media.

Police unions have themselves been criticized by a number of watchdog organizations for what some see as protecting bad cops. After the death of Freddie Gray while in the custody of Baltimore police, Rashad Robinson, leader of the black advocacy organization ColorOfChange, told VICE that police unions were contributing some citizens’ distrust of police.

“Given everything we’ve been seeing in this country, given the heightened awareness of these issues, the police unions would do themselves a real service to put real reforms on table, but to pretend that we don’t actually have a problem makes it very hard to trust them in the conversation. There can be no trust if there isn’t accountability. Police don’t police themselves,” Robinson said.