Police

No Justice

Officer Rafael Lora was trying to do his job. Now he has no job and is looking at prison. The story in the New York Times and the Post. I wasn’t there. But I believe the officer. Why? Because why else would have Lora shot the driver? This is one case where even an NYPD officer should have trusted a…

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Police

NYC pays $35 million for police-related lawsuits

I’ve always wondered and never knew how much police-related lawsuits cost the city. Last year it was $35 million for settlements related to NYPD action. That up 40% over the previous year. The headline in the Daily News calls the $35 million figure “staggering.” It doesn’t strike me as that high. $8 a resident or $1,000 per officer? I got…

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Police

“So I killed Someone”

“So I killed someone,” Keith Phoenix, 28, told New York police detectives who found him hiding in the bathroom of a Yonkers apartment, the police said. “That makes me a bad guy?” Er, uh… yeah. It does. The story is in the Times.

Police

Fender bender probe could cost NYPD captain his career

If they want to get you, they can always find a way. “A patrol car’s $221 side-view mirror could wind up costing an NYPD captain his career. A story about a double-parked cruiser and a minor fender bender has snowballed into allegations of conspiracy and coverup.” The whole storyis in the Daily News. This is compstat pressure. Or traffic-stat or…

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Police

Bicylist-Assualting Cop Fired

Police Officer Pogan, who tackled a bicyclist in Times Square, has been fired. I told you so. Here’s the the story in the Times. A friend of mine has claimed that there’s “more to the story” and that the officer was specifically trying to stop thisbicyclist. I don’t buy it. If that had been the case, he would have said…

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Police

Stop and Frisk

Officially, the NYPD stopped and frisked 531,000 people last year. That’s a lot. They resulted in 31,665 arrests and 34,081 summonses. Because of the 4th Amendment, you need “probable cause” for a search or arrest. A search happens once you go inside pockets or look for anything accept weapons (drugs do come to mind). Because of a Terry v. Ohio,…

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Police

Class cancelled

Fewer police is not a good option. If anything is “shovel ready,” the next NYPD academy class sure is! Too bad it’s not going to happen.

Police

Drug free ain’t gonna be

The New York Daily News has a story about police raids in the Queensbridge Homes. 59 people arrested in a “lengthy undercover probe” that “brought down an extensive drug-dealing operation. Interesting, I thought. And not just because I live nearby and often ride my bike past The Bridge. No, it rang a bell. Ah, yes, here it is… a headline…

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Police

The Good Old Days

It turns out you can fight City Hall. In 1857 they did. And won. It turns out that if you’re City Hall, you can’t fight the State House. The winner of this brawl at City Hall between two competing police departments got to be New York’s Finest! The mayor was arrested and New York State took over the police (before…

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