In the wake of the police shooting death of a mentally ill woman, the police department will determine if any of its policies need to be changed. As that is happening, the new police commissioner is fighting off critics that say he doesn't support police. NY1's Dean Meminger filed the following report.

James O'Neill has been police commissioner for less than six weeks, but he's already in a battle with a police union. 

"I've been in this business a very long time. I got a pretty thick skin. I am OK with the criticism," O'Neill said.

The president of the sergeants' union sent his members a letter over the weekend blasting O'Neill for criticizing and disciplining Sergeant Hugh Barry for fatally shooting Deborah Danner, a mentally ill woman. Police say she was swinging a baseball bat.

In the letter, the union chief called O'Neill a "neutered commissioner."

"If the president of the SBA union wants to personalize things, so be it. That is up to him," O'Neill said.

Some in the community want the sergeant arrested. The Bronx district attorney is investigating to determine if the shooting was a criminal act.

The union contends police are trained to use deadly force if someone is using a bat as a weapon, but the commissioner says that alone doesn't absolve the sergeant. 

"There are no two situations when it comes to the use of deadly force that are alike," O'Neill said. "You are presented with certain scenarios in training. That doesn't necessarily mean that is what you are going to face in real life. Each police officer has to make that decision and be accountable for that decision."

The NYPD actually has an internal meeting scheduled for this week to scrutinize how it deals with mentally ill or emotionally disturbed people.

"So we are going to look at those policies and make sure they're the way they need to be and make sure they are properly utilized also," O'Neill said.

O'Neill says the NYPD has some of the best policies in the country, but he continues to say the department failed when Deborah Danner ended up dead after her family called police for help.