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3 N.Y.P.D. Commanders Are Arrested on Corruption Charges:
Three New York Police Department commanders, including a deputy chief, were arrested early Monday, along with a Brooklyn businessman, on federal corruption charges stemming from one of several continuing investigations into Mayor Bill de Blasio's campaign fund-raising, according to court papers.
The arrests, of a deputy chief, a deputy inspector and a sergeant, were one of the most significant roundups of police supervisors in the recent history of the department. In striking the top ranks, the case is a particular blow to the storied — and sometimes sullied — reputation of the nation's largest municipal police force.
The court papers in the case detail lavish gifts the two senior police officials are accused of receiving in exchange for taking official action, including expensive meals, free overseas and domestic trips, and the referral of business to a security company associated with one of the officials. The deputy inspector was also accused of receiving a trip on a private jet to Las Vegas for the Super Bowl weekend in 2013, and was said to be accompanied by a prostitute.
Also at Reuters, NY Daily News, and DNAinfo.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by archfeld on Tuesday June 21 2016, @05:31AM
There is a group that reports to the DA in many counties called the Internal Affairs Bureau, designated for investigating police corruption, and officer involved shootings. Most cops hate IAB, when they should really support them. Just a few bad cops makes all 700,000 + cops in the US look bad. As a former cop I REALLY like to see the bad ones go down. Cops are just people first and foremost, there are good ones, bad ones and many in between, but being in the position of power means the bad ones reflect much worse than the good ones can possibly shine.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internal_affairs_(law_enforcement) [wikipedia.org]
For the NSA : Explosives, guns, assassination, conspiracy, primers, detonators, initiators, main charge, nuclear charge
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 21 2016, @05:34AM
Thanks, was gonna say the same but not as well :)
(Score: 3, Insightful) by TheRaven on Tuesday June 21 2016, @08:39AM
sudo mod me up
(Score: 5, Insightful) by GungnirSniper on Tuesday June 21 2016, @09:10AM
Wake me when their unions start ostracizing police that are convicted of corruption, abuses, or participation in ticketing for revenue.
Tips for better submissions to help our site grow. [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Tuesday June 21 2016, @02:17PM
Are the police or their unions solely to blame when entire municipalities and court systems use them as revenue-generating schemes? Part of what the uproar in Ferguson exposed was how much the cops, courts, and city halls collaborated to operated what essentially boiled down to an extortion racket. The federal government ought to have RICO'ed the hell out of the entire state of Missouri, but of course if they did that people would start asking why we shouldn't RICO the federal government too, while we're at it.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by LoRdTAW on Tuesday June 21 2016, @02:41PM
Remember the NYC ticket blitz under Bloomberg? A pregnant woman sitting on the stairs of the subway station because no seats were available was ticketed. A man sitting on a milk crate outside a bodega was ticketed for improper use of a milk crate. They dug up every stupid frivolous law they could find and enforced them. The media and public went ape shit and the PBA took out full page ads in the papers fighting the claims and pointed the finger right at city hall and brass who colluded and ordered the blitz. The city needed money and they decided the best way was to fuck it out of everyone.
(Score: 2) by Joe Desertrat on Tuesday June 21 2016, @05:18PM
You might also remember the parking ticket scandal of the mid-70's. Random vehicle registrations were picked and sent a notice of an overdue parking ticket/warrant/blah blah blah. Many people paid up out of fear of fighting the system. My mother received one (we lived in central NJ) despite never having driven in NY (the very thought!). She became irate and called them, they said it was a "computer error" and cancelled the ticket without an argument. Tried to find a specific link, but it appears there were many parking scandals. Pretty sure it was during the Beame Administration anyway, or possibly the Koch Administration. Corruption in New York City is old news and probably dates back to Peter Stuyvesant.
(Score: 2) by LoRdTAW on Tuesday June 21 2016, @05:26PM
Dont remeber that one. Then again, I wasn't born for a few more years ;-)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 21 2016, @06:31PM
I don't remember that one, but that feels like it would have been giuliani more than bloomberg. He pulled stuff like that all the time.
(Score: 2) by LoRdTAW on Tuesday June 21 2016, @07:44PM
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/06/04/nyregion/to-embattled-mayor-tickets-are-the-hottest-issue-in-town.html [nytimes.com]
(Score: 2) by archfeld on Tuesday June 21 2016, @10:54PM
I totally agree. The academies do their best to weed out those unsuitable for the job, e.g. those seeking a position of power, those insecure enough to really need approval, and of course those untrustworthy. But no matter how much screening you do some will slip through, and some will turn under the pressures of the job. You can never really tell how people will react under fire until it happens just as you can never really tell how people will react to temptation until it presents itself. Sadly so many of the interactions people have with police are negative, they show up when you been victimized, or when you are in trouble, there is rarely a happy experience. Everybody loves firemen, just like most people fear or outright hate the cops. Imagine what the roads would be like without them though, the idiots driving just barely obey the rules now, without the threat of a cop stop the roads would be a free for all.
For the NSA : Explosives, guns, assassination, conspiracy, primers, detonators, initiators, main charge, nuclear charge
(Score: 2) by LoRdTAW on Tuesday June 21 2016, @12:13PM
You hit the nail on the head, IA is loathed. Another excellent point you bought up is: "Cops are just people first and foremost..." This is what the cops need to be told. You are not a special class of people. You arent above citizens, this isnt the military. You are a citizen whose job it is to uphold the law. Nothing more. I'd even go as far to say that once off the clock, they are no longer cops and not allowed to carry an off-duty weapon.
(Score: 2) by archfeld on Tuesday June 21 2016, @11:05PM
I can see your point, but in quite a few states cops are really never off duty and a required to carry a weapon and be prepared for action. Luckily I worked in a place that did not require that, though I always went armed, and still do. I also made sure I never lived in the same town I worked in, it helped to ensure the off-duty feeling. Much like military personnel coming out of the service, it is hard to turn off the instincts and reflexes needed to survive if you work under threat of fire for a long term.
For the NSA : Explosives, guns, assassination, conspiracy, primers, detonators, initiators, main charge, nuclear charge
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 21 2016, @04:19PM
There is a group that reports to the DA in many counties called the Internal Affairs Bureau, designated for investigating police corruption, and officer involved shootings.
In many places, reporting things to Internal Affairs will get you no where. Sometimes IAB serves as detector for dissidents and those about to expose corruption. There's a significant risk that reporting corruption only to IAB may get you killed. [fresnopeoplesmedia.com]
The truth is that politics plays a huge role in all of this. When corruption is allowed to surface and be dealt with it is an attack by one political group against another to gain more power and influence. Demonstrating the power to break ranks and attack high level posts without being shunned by the troops is a show of power and threat to others who would depose you. Even the FBI is this way. In the past FBI spied on, harassed and covertly attacked left wing activists. [wikipedia.org] Today the left is in power, and FBI now disrupts, degrades and destroys right wing activism instead.
Your rulers like to present a unified front among authority figures, but in reality there are warring factions. Even among NSA, CIA, DHS, FBI, DoD, and etc. Alphabet soup there has been a heated battle to gain dominance over national security intelligence, as this is key to all other political maneuvering. Knowledge is power. Get some.
(Score: 2) by archfeld on Tuesday June 21 2016, @11:07PM
Yes. People viewed as whistleblowers are rarely appreciated until long after the fact, but are generally seen as traitors or 'rats'.
For the NSA : Explosives, guns, assassination, conspiracy, primers, detonators, initiators, main charge, nuclear charge
(Score: 1, Troll) by CirclesInSand on Tuesday June 21 2016, @04:27PM
Just a few bad cops makes all 700,000 + cops in the US look bad.
Do you realize that all 700,000+ of those cops make a career out of stealing from / abducting / killing otherwise peaceful people just because the law says it is ok? There are plenty of victimless crimes, and the police have sworn and get paid to uphold every law, even the bad ones. All cops make all cops look bad.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 21 2016, @10:56PM
You are a retarded douche bag with the IQ of a snail. You make all humans look bad, and should be sterilized and probably put down for the good of humanity in general.