Archive

January – June 2008

June 30, 2008
The Doddering Times
As a lifetime New York Times reader, it’s sad to see the paper failing in its mission to cover the NYPD vigorously.

June 23, 2008
Mayor Mike: Poor Little Rich Boy
Pity Michael Bloomberg. Despite being a billionaire and being elected to two terms as New York City’s mayor, he doesn’t know what he wants to be when he grows up.

June 16, 2008
The Return of Bill Bratton?
Former police commissioner Bill Bratton returned to New York last Thursday to address the Citizens Crime Commission. Judging from his remarks, it sounds like he wants to stay — and again head the NYPD.

June 9, 2008
Kelly to Homicide Expert: You're Out!
Police Commissioner Ray Kelly’s ego has become so fragile that disagreeing with him equals professional suicide.

June 2, 2008
Ray Kelly: No Wind of Change
Ray Kelly sounds like a reformer whenever a crisis strikes. But outside his anti-terrorism initiatives, what changes has he made in the NYPD?

May 26, 2008
Unintelligent Division
An Intelligence Division detective who wanted to spy on a woman for private reasons had her phone records subpoenaed by pretending the information was vital to a terrorism investigation.

May 19, 2008
Police Blotter: All Police
Check out the police blotter for Thursday, May 15th. The bad guys are all cops.

May 12, 2008
More Zeigler Shuffling
Poor Doug Zeigler. And not for the reasons you may think.

May 5, 2008
Don't Count Out Conyers
Keep your eyes on three players. The interplay between them could become the next round of the Sean Bell saga.

April 28, 2008
Ducking For Cover
Could police have avoided Sean Bell’s death had the department heeded the lessons of another fatal shooting in 2003?

April 21, 2008
Howard Safir: More Terrorism Profits
Looks like Howard Safir may have a new job — capitalizing yet again on the threat of terrorism.

April 14, 2008
Talk of NYPD-FBI Harmony? Just Talk.
All that talk of a new harmony between the NYPD and the FBI appears to be just that — all talk.

April 7, 2008
Communicating at Intel
Police Commissioner Ray Kelly boasts of having set up a world-wide communications pipeline by posting detectives from Tel Aviv to Santo Domingo.

March 31, 2008
Anti-Terrorism or P.R.?
For the past two weeks, Police Commissioner Ray Kelly has been on an anti-terrorism kick.

March 24, 2008
Bernie Betrayed? Joe Says No
So what’s up between Bernie Kerik and his former attorney Joe Tacopina?

March 17, 2008
Wired in Newark
Fans of the fictional, Baltimore-based television series “The Wire” can catch a real-life version now playing out in Newark, New Jersey.

March 10, 2008
Ray Kelly: Still Running Rings Around the Bureau
The FBI may be leading the investigation into last Thursday’s bombing of a Times Square recruiting station. But why, then, is NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly appearing solo on television to explain it?

March 3, 2008
The Cohen Declaration: Secrecy, Secrecy
It is called the “Cohen Declaration” of August 27, 2007. It’s the most bizarre legal attempt yet by our friend, the NYPD Deputy Commissioner for Intelligence David Cohen, to cover up the NYPD’s spying on protest groups before the 2004 Republican National Convention.

February 25, 2008
No Sorrow Here For Larry Davis
Your Humble Servant breathed a small sigh of relief last week upon learning of the death in upstate Shawangunk prison of the convicted drug dealer, murderer, and so-called urban legend Larry Davis.

February 18, 2008
Kelly and the Post: The Big Split?
What in the world is going on between Police Commissioner Ray Kelly and the New York Post?

February 11, 2008
Early Departures at the Bureau
Two veteran agents on the fast track for one of the FBI’s most prestigious jobs — the head of its New York office — are instead bailing out of the Bureau.

February 4, 2008
A Mighty Tree Down, Another Still Growing
A mighty tree has toppled. Rudy Giuliani — the NYPD’s de facto commissioner from 1994-2001 — has fallen in his bid for the presidency.

January 21, 2008
Those Playboy Nudes and Bill Bratton
If you can get past those centerfold nudes, check out the cover story in this month’s Playboy, “The Country’s Smartest Cop.” Who is that? Why, none other than former NYPD Commissioner and current LAPD Chief, Bill Bratton.

January 14, 2007
50-Shot Sean Bell Trial: To Move Or Not To Move
So will the trial of the detectives who fired 50 shots at Sean Bell and his two friends — all unarmed — be moved out of Queens, like the trial of the cops who fired 41 shots at the unarmed Amadou Diallo was moved out of the Bronx?

January 7, 2008
Intel’s Ghost of Christmas Past Party
First we had Intelligence Division Deputy Inspector Vincent Marra putting the arm on subordinates to pay for cosmetic surgery after his detective girlfriend helped wheedle $1000 for his operation from a fireman’s fund for 9/11 victims. Marra was forced to retire.