Archive » January – June 2009

Archive

January — June 2009

June 29, 2009
Window Dressing and Musical Chairs
Police Commissioner Ray Kelly’s promotions — touted as diversifying the upper ranks of the department following the racially charged “friendly fire” shooting of an off-duty black officer — appear to be mere window dressing.

June 22, 2009
Bratton Versus Kelly: Who’s Commander Number One?
In modern America’s longest undeclared law enforcement feud, Los Angeles Police Chief William Bratton has recently one-upped NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly.

June 15, 2009
The Jewish Jailhouse Rock
Back in the day of when the likes of Bugsy Siegel, Moe Dalitz, Abe [Kid Twist] Relis and Louis Lepke were kings of the prisons, religion could be a wonderful thing.

June 8, 2009
The NYPD: A Question of Training
The NYPD about a year ago eliminated training time for “confrontation situations” between police officers, regarding it as unnecessary, says a ranking police officer.

June 1, 2009
Another Police Shooting, Another Black Victim
Try as we might in New York City, we cannot outrun the issue of race, especially when it comes to the police.

May 25, 2009
The Era of Good Feeling
For one of the few times in recent years, the FBI and the NYPD appear to have worked seamlessly in arresting four would-be terrorists, caught planting what they thought were real bombs outside a Riverdale synagogue, while also preparing to attack an upstate military base with a Stinger missile, which they also thought was real.

May 18, 2009
Ray Kelly Stalks The Police Foundation
Has Police Commissioner Ray Kelly hijacked the nonprofit, and supposedly independent, Police Foundation to further his own image and agenda?

May 4, 2009
A Plane Screw Up
For the past eight years, Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly has convinced many New Yorkers that the federal government is incapable of protecting the city from another terrorist attack and he is the only obstacle standing between them and al Qaeda.

April 27, 2009
Now, Kelly’s More Important Than Kissinger
New York City’s most prominent group of toadies and sycophants, the Manhattan Institute, is hosting its annual Alexander Hamilton award dinner Wednesday.

April 20, 2009
Farewell to The Shack
Dust covered the walls. Built-up grime sealed the windows closed. Sometimes mouse droppings littered the floor. The filth was so bad that Newsday hired a monthly cleaning service to wipe the place clean.

April 13, 2009
Remembering Cardillo and the Mosque
It is one of the most disgraceful episodes in NYPD history: the unsolved murder of police officer Philip Cardillo, shot inside a Harlem mosque 37 years ago this week.

April 6, 2009
More Tall Tales From NYPD’s “Mister Truth”
The NYPD’s Deputy Commissioner for Public Information, Paul Browne, was surely joking when he said, "No police department in America devotes more personnel to internal investigations, disciplinary oversight, and prosecutions than the NYPD, and none has more external oversight.”

March 30, 2009
Bernie Kerik: Thief or Victim?
Impeccably dressed in a blue pinstriped suit, Bernie Kerik looked like he was still rolling in dough while portraying himself as a victim.

March 23, 2009
DCPI Dysfunction
This column recently received the following e-mail: “I am the editor of a local newspaper in Brooklyn.Here is my problem. Many news topics that I write about require, or rely completely on, information from the NYPD. Police precincts and other units refer inquiries of any kind to DCPI. I call DCPI about two times a week. … My calls are news-related and to-the-point. They are not frivolous.

March 16, 2009
Saint Morg, Mollen and the Informant, Part III
Barry Brown, the police officer who helped expose the 30th precinct corruption scandal, says he was “caught in the middle” of a feud between Judge Milton Mollen and Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau.

March 9, 2009
Saint Morg Never Forgets
An irate Robert Morgenthau says this column erred last week when it implied that fourteen years ago the Manhattan District Attorney indicted a Mollen Commission informant as pay back for Mollen poaching a Morgenthau corruption case and turning it over to the feds.

March 2, 2009
Saint Morgy? Not Quite
While the newspapers deify 89-year-old Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau, who just announced his retirement after nine terms in office, let us remember that even a saint can have an earthly flaw or two.

February 23, 2009
Cops, Cameras, and Lies
The omnipresent surveillance camera appears to have caught the NYPD in yet another lie — this one about an alleged police pursuit of a speeding driver in Staten Island who crashed his car into a livery cab, killing a middle-aged couple.

February 16, 2009
The Police Exposed, Yet Again
Police Officer David London has become the latest member of the NYPD whose life has been forever changed by the realities of our high-speed digital age, where security cameras are everywhere and practically everyone carries a cell phone and can share his pictures with the world via the Internet.

February 9, 2009
“Securing The City” Secures Kelly’s Reputation
A new book about the NYPD’s counter-terrorism efforts sounds like it was written by the police department’s Office of Public Information.

February 2, 2009
Kelly’s Micro-Managing: Trouble Ahead?
Police Commissioner Ray W. Kelly’s recent directive that he must approve all precinct transfers and tour changes — until now, routine duties handled by local commanders — contrasts with the policies of his best-known predecessor, William Bratton — a seminal figure, like Kelly, of the modern NYPD.

January 26, 2009
Bernie Kerik: Tragedy Or Farce?
Facing about 150 years in the slammer for tax fraud and other crimes, Bernie Kerik seems caught in a time warp, in that sliver of renown when he served as police commissioner during that most terrible day for our nation — 9/11.

January 19, 2009
The NYPD Rescue: The Best and the Missing
The world saw the NYPD at its best last week, when two police divers were lowered from an unmarked Bell 412EP police helicopter into the frigid waters of the Hudson River to save passengers from US Air Flight 1549.

January 12, 2009
More Kelly Versus Mukasey
Let’s add another dimension to the extraordinary exchange of letters between NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly and the United States Attorney General Michael Mukasey over the NYPD’s domestic surveillance of terrorism suspects.

January 5, 2009
The Old Ray, the New Mike
So what does 2009 hold for the team of Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Police Commissioner Ray Kelly? Assuming Bloomberg wins a third term, does Kelly remain as police commissioner?