Archive

July – December 2003

December 19, 2003
Suddenly, PBA Gets Sensitive
When Phil Caruso headed the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association, he publicly referred to Ben Ward, the department's first black commissioner, as "Bubba."

December 12, 2003
Not-Guilty Pleas In Maryland Scandal
Baltimore - Unrepentant and unbowed, former deputy NYPD commissioner Ed Norris pleaded not guilty yesterday to charges that he had used $20,000 from a police fund for his personal use while serving as Baltimore's commissioner.

December 11, 2003
Former NY Deputy Commish Indicted; Charged with misusing department funds in Maryland
Former New York City deputy police commissioner Edward Norris was indicted in Baltimore yesterday on charges that he stole thousands of dollars from a secret department fund while serving as that city's police commissioner.

December 10, 2003
Two Cops' Guns Removed in Drug-Money Probe
Two detectives from the troubled Manhattan North narcotics unit have had their guns removed, the latest officers snagged in what appears to be a widening corruption scandal, a police official said yesterday.

December 9, 2003
Probe Of Drug Payoffs Widens; Busted cop gives names of 3 others
A retired detective charged along with his onetime partner with ripping off a drug dealer has implicated three other officers in a widening corruption probe, law-enforcement sources said yesterday.

December 5, 2003
Officer Gets Some Backup
The cop who ticketed police widow Lori Gunn for not wearing her seat belt last month did nothing wrong and should sue if departmental charges are brought against her, says Lt. Eric Adams, who heads a dissident group of black officers.

December 1, 2003
Police Widow's Ugly Run-In
It was just an insensitive verbal confrontation. But it's getting uglier. Neither the Police Department nor the police union will discuss it.

November 24, 2003
Maryland Troubles Have NY Link
New York City and Baltimore may not exactly be sister cities, but the troubles of former Baltimore Police Commissioner Ed Norris centers on his New York connections.

November 19, 2003
NYCLU to Sue; Challenging Past Police Tactics
The New York Civil Liberties Union is planning to file federal lawsuits challenging past police practices the group believes are to be used at next summer's Republican National Convention.

November 17, 2003
'Prince' Quietly Bridged Divide
When Bill Morange commanded the 28th Precinct in the 1990s, he was known admiringly by residents as "the white prince of Harlem."

November 10, 2003
Cop Horse Deaths Lead to Worries
Is there something amiss in the Police Department's vaunted Mounted Unit? In the past 12 months, five of the unit's 110 horses have died, more than double the average.

November 3, 2003
Overeager Division
One of Police Commissioner Ray Kelly's more controversial moves was hiring a former top CIA official, David Cohen, as deputy commissioner of the Intelligence Division.

October 20, 2003
Kerik's Got Bush's Back
Call it the NYPD's Harvard connection.

October 9, 2003
Bruce Wronged Over Song, NYCLU Says
The New York Civil Liberties Union has criticized as dangerous the possibility that the Police Department canceled a security escort for singer Bruce Springsteen because he performed a song criticizing the fatal shooting of Amadou Diallo.

October 8, 2003
Exiled Chief Surfaces In Bronx
The police chief who was transferred as a public mea culpa after the death of a Harlem woman from a botched raid in May has been quietly named Bronx Borough commander, according to a police source.

October 6, 2003
Kelly's Break From the Past
After Alberta Spruill died of a heart attack she suffered in her Harlem apartment during a no-knock police raid, Commissioner Ray Kelly acted quickly. He apologized for the department's actions and transferred officers. He was credited with defusing a potentially explosive racial situation.

September 29, 2003
Grasso Was Gift to NYPD
With his $140 million retirement package, ex-New York Stock Exchange Chairman Richard Grasso may be a symbol of greed to the world at large. But at least one city agency has been the beneficiary of his generosity - the New York City Police Department.

September 22, 2003
Bye to Baghdad Just in Time
Baghdad Bernie Kerik - whose whereabouts for the past three weeks have been as mysterious as Saddam Hussein's - has surfaced in New York.

September 17, 2003
Judge Axes '48-Hour Rule'; Says the PBA can't use it
An Albany judge has ruled that the controversial and often misunderstood "48-hour rule" can no longer be negotiated into police union contracts.

September 8, 2003
Skakel May Seek a New Trial; Claim points to other suspects
A Connecticut law enforcement official involved in the Michael Skakel murder case says that Skakel's lawyers probably will seek a new trial, saying that Skakel's former lawyer ignored a claim that two Bronx teenagers whose names never surfaced previously killed 15-year-old Martha Moxley in 1975.

September 6, 2003
NYPD's McCarthy Finalist for New Job
Garry McCarthy, deputy commissioner of operations for the New York Police Department, is one of three finalists for the position of superintendent of police in Chicago.

September 1, 2003
PBA Not What It Used to Be
There was a time when the letters PBA, which stand for the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association, commanded appearances from such politicians as Govs. Mario Cuomo and George Pataki, Mayor Ed Koch and Sen. Alfonse D'Amato at the union's annual convention.

August 25, 2003
Watchdog Post Finally Filled
Here is the largest police department in the world. Here is a police commissioner terrorizing his top brass, dismissive of all criticism, and relying solely on his own judgments. And the only check on him and the department is a commission so ineffectual that until two weeks ago Mayor Michael Bloomberg forgot to staff it.

August 11, 2003
From Rudy's Lips To the Mayor's Ear
Former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani protested to Mayor Michael Bloomberg about the reassignments of the last five detectives on his "security" detail, a top city official has told Newsday. The official said that City Hall then communicated Giuliani's displeasure to the Police Department.

August 8, 2003
Limits on NYPD Investigations; Judge restores restrictions on examining political activity
Charging he had lost confidence in the NYPD's methods of investigating political activity, a federal judge yesterday restored limits on the department that he had lifted only five months ago.

July 28, 2003
Kelly's Knack: PR Dexterity
For a police commissioner who prizes his image above all else, Ray Kelly was a lucky man last week.

July 21, 2003
Kelly Top Secret On FBI Meeting
Police Commissioner Ray Kelly held a secret meeting with FBI Director Robert Mueller 11 days ago, a meeting so secret Kelly won't even acknowledge it.

July 21, 2003
Department Disciplines Officer; Penalty for alleged forgery
A police lieutenant has been disciplined for allegedly forging the name of a complainant on a police report that reduced a felony attempted theft charge to a misdemeanor, Newsday has learned.

July 17, 2003
Cop Facing DWI Charges
A police sergeant under federal investigation for allegedly leaking classified documents involving national security was arrested and suspended yesterday after being charged with drunken driving, police said.

July 14, 2003
Setting an Old Record Straight
Let's hope Chief of Patrol Nicholas Estavillo is more successful in issuing new police protocols in the Battle of the Badges than he was in October in issuing protocols over no-knock warrants.

July 7, 2003
Unusual Tack In Raid Probe
Patrolmen's Benevolent Association attorney Stu London is taking an unusual tack in his defense of police Officer Bryan Conroy, who fatally shot an unarmed African immigrant in a Chelsea storage building two months ago.