Archive

July - December 2007

December 31, 2007
2008: In Truth We Trust ...
Here are some predictions about what we can expect for the year 2008.

December 24, 2007
Not a Criminal Was Stirring ...
‘Twas the night before Christmas and Police Commissioner Ray Kelly decided to take a stroll to clear his mind and assess the chances of his becoming the city’s next mayor.

December 17, 2007
Rudy Giuliani: Mr. Transparency
So Rudy Giuliani says he is Mr. Transparency. “My government in New York City was so transparent that they knew every single thing I did, almost every time I did,” he said last week in the most recent Republican presidential debate.

December 10, 2007
Howard Safir: He Still Gets No Respect
“David!” the handwritten letter [pictured at the bottom of this page] begins.

December 3, 2007
Oh, the Trials and Expenses of Rudy's Love Life
Was the NYPD so tardy in paying vendors that Rudolph Giuliani had to pay detectives with funds from obscure city agencies to protect his goumada, or, as they say in the NYPD, his “goom?”

November 26, 2007
The Decline in Homicides: Telling It My Way
Anyone wondering why the Police Commissioner of New York City is regarded as the influential man in law enforcement need go no farther than Friday’s front page of the New York Times and its article, headlined: “City Homicides Still Dropping, To Under 500. Lowest Toll in Decades.”

November 19, 2007
Bashing the Bureau
Ever since the World Trade Center attack, the FBI has allowed itself to be kicked around by the media and rival law enforcement agencies.

November 12, 2007
Falling In and Out of Love
Nearly 30 years ago, Your Humble Servant imagined a future with Rupert Murdoch. Covering the 1978 New York City newspaper strike for Newsday, I proved useful to him because I was the only game in town. He proved useful to me because he was Rupert Murdoch.

November 5, 2007
Clueless Joe, Time To Go
It’s time for Brooklyn District Attorney Joe Hynes to do the right thing — resign.

October 29, 2007
The Wrath of Ray
It looks like Police Commissioner Ray Kelly is coming down full-force on road-rage cop Sean Sawyer, who vanished for 19 hours after he shot and killed a civilian.

October 22, 2007
The Power of 30
Reporters covering the New York City Police Department lament that its public information office, known as DCPI, takes its sweet time when returning phone calls to provide information. Often, DCPI doesn’t return calls at all.

October 15, 2007
The Inspector and His Honey-Bunny
The police department’s Internal Affairs Bureau is investigating allegations that a high-level Intelligence Division official secretly traveled with a female detective while on a confidential out-of-state assignment.

October 8, 2007
The Deputy Inspector and The Bravest Fund
Did a high-ranking New York City Police Department official rip off a firemen’s fund for 9/11 victims?

October 1, 2007
The Daily News and Cohen: Pile On The Love
Can someone please explain what’s between Mortimer Zuckerman’s Daily News and the NYPD’s Deputy Commissioner for Intelligence David Cohen?

September 24, 2007
Crooked Cop Bill Phillips: The Perils of Testifying
Here are three lessons we can learn from the case of crooked cop William Phillips, who is to be paroled in November after spending nearly 40 years in jail.

September 17, 2007
A 9/11 Anniversary Tale
Could this possibly be true? Could the Ground Zero neighborhood, flooded with police officers during the 9/11 anniversary celebrations, not be safe enough for the President of the United States?

September 10, 2007
The Man Who Kept the Secrets
He was the man who kept the department’s most closely guarded secrets, and he died last month as he did his job — out of the limelight and unknown to the public.

September 3, 2007
Rudy’s First Responder: Oh No, It’s Howard Safir!
So Presidential Candidate Rudy Giuliani has picked his national leadership team, known as “First Responders for Rudy.” If you thought there was even the remotest possibility that Rudy had somehow undergone a metamorphosis of character or judgment because of 9/11, think again.

August 27, 2007
Kelly and Sharpton: Old Friends or Amnesia?
Are Ray Kelly and Al Sharpton really old friends, as the police commissioner says? Or is Kelly suffering from amnesia?

August 20, 2007
Homegrown Terrorism: Truth or Consequences
What are we to make of the police department’s much ballyhooed report on “homegrown” terrorism?

August 13, 2007
Releasing Raw Terror Files: Inside Dave’s Brain
So Federal Magistrate James Francis IV has ignored the bleating of Deputy Commissioner of Intelligence David Cohen and ordered the police department to release 600-plus pages of documents on groups it spied on before the Republican National Convention.

August 6, 2007
Koch For Kelly
Former Mayor Ed Koch says he wants the city’s next mayor to be a man who says he’s not running for the job — Police Commissioner Ray Kelly.

July 16, 2007
Stars Not Aligned For Death Penalty
Despite the death on Saturday of rookie police officer Russel Timoshenko, who lingered for a week on life-support after being shot, the prospect of his killers facing the death penalty seems unlikely.

July 9, 2007
Who Speaks Up For the FBI? Not the FBI
Perhaps when the history of the FBI’s post 9/11 failures is written, someone will write that its greatest failure might have been failing to publicize itself.

July 2, 2007
British Terrorism Threat: Thank Goodness For Ray Kelly
As the specter of terrorism spreads yet again with the close calls in London and the attack in Scotland, most New Yorkers had at least one comforting thought: “Thank Goodness we have Ray Kelly.”