Archive » July – December 2017

Archive

July 2017–Present

December 25, 2017
On the Night Before Christmas ...
Fresh from his day trip to Iowa, Mayor Bill de Blasio decided to stroll down Fifth Avenue on the night before Christmas. Repeating what he’d told potential Iowa voters about his presidential ambitions, he said: “This is what I feel called to do.”

December 18, 2017
What They're Whispering at Police Plaza
The NYPD may or may not be the greatest police department in the world but it does have the greatest number of rumormongers.

December 11, 2017
Rechnitz: More Trouble for the Feds
A former NYPD inspector says he has refuted damning testimony about himself provided by Jona Rechnitz, the feds’ star witness in the corruption trial of former corrections union head Norman Seabrook.

December 4, 2017
Helping to Elect Trump?
Does a gold-plated resume and a pleasing personality translate into effective law enforcement? Not necessaril

November 27, 2017
Ben Ward's Legacy
Mayor Bill de Blasio credited him with “changing the assumptions of who can lead” the NYPD.

November 20, 2017
Collateral Damage
Pity Mike Harrington, the NYPD Deputy Chief indicted in the fallout from the federal corruption case against former corrections union head Norman Seabrook.

November 13, 2017
The Era of Good Feeling
After 12 years of tension under former Commissioner Ray Kelly, the relationship between the NYPD and the FBI is now friendly. How long that lasts depends on whether the men at the top, often with gigantic law enforcement egos, can submerge those egos for the greater good.

November 6, 2017
Will Rechnitz Haunt de Blasio For Ever?
Poor Bill de Blasio. Neither last Tuesday’s terrorist attack nor the NYPD’s Friday announcement that it was on the verge of arresting Harvey Weinstein on rape allegations could protect the mayor from Jona Rechnitz.

October 30, 2017
Poster Boy for Anti-Semitism
Let’s not mince words. Jona Rechnitz is a poster boy for anti-Semitism.

October 23, 2017
If At First ….
Chief of Counterterrorism James Waters, two counterterrorism lieutenants and a sergeant finally made it to war-torn Afghanistan earlier this month on what the NYPD said was a training mission for Afghani military and law enforcement.

October 16, 2017
What a Difference Two Years Make
Poor Cyrus Vance. The normally buttoned-up Manhattan District Attorney seemed so unnerved by media criticism for his decision in 2015 not to charge Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein with groping Italian actress Ambra Battilana Gutierrez that he took the bizarre step last week of blaming the NYPD.

October 9, 2017
An Amateur Mistake
NYPD Commissioner Jimmy O’Neill may or may not have made an amateur mistake — as Sergeants Benevolent President Ed Mullins put it — in perhaps prematurely criticizing a sergeant’s fatal shooting of Deborah Danner, an emotionally disturbed Bronx resident, last year.

October 2, 2017
The NYPD's Literary Connection
Readers, did you know that the NYPD has a connection to the highest levels of American literature? Specifically to the novelist Philip Roth and arguably his finest novel, "The Human Stain.”

September 25, 2017
Garry McCarthy: Chicago's Surprise Candidate?
Garry McCarthy for Mayor of Chicago? No joke, folks.

September 18, 2017
A Terrorism Mystery: Where Was the Bureau?
If anybody harbors doubts about the FBI’s commitment to fighting terrorism, he need look no further than the arrest last month of Abdullah el-Faisal, a Muslim cleric who law enforcement officials describe as a major jihadi figure.

September 11, 2017
Daniel Pantaleo Case: A Mockery of Justice
The city’s Civilian Complaint Review Board is set to prosecute officer Daniel Pantaleo for the “chokehold” death of Eric Garner, becoming the fourth governmental agency to join the case.

September 4, 2017
Heil Pétain? 
Henri Philippe Pétain represents the latest example of Mayor Bill de Blasio’s political correctness run amok.

August 28, 2017
Too Drunk to Fight Terrorism?
Let’s take a deeper dive into the NYPD’s aborted counterterrorism training trip to Afghanistan that resulted in two top commanders being tossed off a chartered military flight because they were allegedly drunk. Chief of Counterterrorism James Waters then called off the operation.

August 21, 2017
Charlottesville's Policing Problem
Was a possible watershed moment in our history — the violence generated by right-wing extremists in Charlottesville, Virginia — precipitated by poor policing?

August 14, 2017
A Cop's Life: Reminders of Danger
Two incidents last week — one out of the past, the other frighteningly current — remind us that the life of a cop is a precarious one.

August 7, 2017
Emotionally Disturbing Police Shootings: Murder or Self-Defense?
Papers filed in Bronx State Supreme Court last week by Sgt. Hugh Barry say Barry had no choice when he fatally shot an emotionally disturbed black woman after she swung at his head with a baseball bat in her small bedroom.

July 31, 2017
Retired NYPD Chiefs Displaying Buyers' Remorse
The four NYPD chiefs and an inspector who retired “voluntarily” under pressure from then-Commissioner Bill Bratton at the height of a federal corruption probe into the department want back pay. They also want their jobs back.

July 24, 2017
Don't Count on Bill
If there is a lesson Police Commissioner Jimmy O’Neill should have learned in his 10 months in office, it is that he can‘t count on Mayor Bill de Blasio.

July 17, 2017
Jimmy O'Neill's Learning Curve
Was the killing of Officer Miosotis Familia a watershed moment for NYPD Commissioner Jimmy O’Neill?

July 10, 2017
Miosotis Familia and the Killing of Innocents
Take a person with mental issues and a violent past, who in poor NYC neighborhoods is often a black man like Alexander Bonds.

July 3, 2017
Melissa's “Hero”
Here’s a final footnote to the Oscar López Rivera story that places in context City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito’s claim that López Rivera was never linked to any specific act of FALN violence.