Yesterday, the Daily News reported that one police officer was stripped of his badge and gun "for ordering the NYPD's highest-ranking uniformed black officer out of his auto while the three-star chief was off-duty and parked in Queens." Naturally, the incident has sparked outrage from both sides. Two plainclothes cops, both white, approached a parked police-issued SUV in Corona and asked the driver to roll down the tinted windows. Chief Douglas Zeigler, who is in......

The NY Times looks at NYPD firearms use between 1996 and 2006, finding that though cops are using their guns less these days, "when they do fire, even at an armed suspect, there is often no one returning fire at the officers. Officers hit their targets roughly 34 percent of the time." The NYPD only recently released the information, which the New York Civil Liberties Union says "raises serious questions about police shooting practices and......

The New York Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit accusing the city and NYPD of racial profiling on behalf of a NY Post reporter who was "stopped, arrested and jailed without justification" last November. Leonardo Blair told his story in the Post late last year. Blair, a Jamaican immigrant who graduated from Columbia Journalism School in May 2007 and was living with his aunt and uncle in the Bronx, had just parked his car......

Photograph of protesters in Harlem on April 26, 2008 by urbanblitz on Flickr Today at 3 p.m., six pray-ins are planned around Manhattan and Brooklyn to protest the Sean Bell shooting verdict. The Reverend Al Sharpton is leading the events and has said he and other participants are willing to be arrested to make a point about the acquittals of the three police detectives who helped fire a total of 50 shots at the......

The best style article in the NY Times isn't in the magazine or the Styles section--it's the Metro section's look at the "tradition of the dapper detective." Other industries are open to more casual, dressed-down threads, detectives (ones not working undercover) generally stick to wearing suits. One psychologist explains, "Because they are all well dressed it establishes a barrier between them and the messiness." A retired detective commander, Vernon Geberth, said "put me in a......

Barbara Sheehan, the woman who fatally shot her NYPD sergeant husband in February, has given an interview to the Daily News, explaining her actions. Retired cop Raymond Sheehan had been shaving in their Howard Beach home when his wife allegedly shot him in the back with 11 rounds, using one of his guns. Her lawyer said Raymond Sheehan was the real "aggressor," and friends and family members said that she had been repeatedly abused (one......

The NYPD has plans to spend $30 million to build a "super high-tech" anti-crime center. The luxe crime fighting emporium will feature high definition tvs to keep watch over the city, with cameras pointed from subway stations to underwater. The 22,000 square foot Joint Operations Command Center is scheduled to be up and running by 2011 and will be annexed to Police HQ. The New York Post describes how the center will work. "Cops will......

After getting spooked and throwing its mounted officer yesterday, Aldo the police horse managed to make its way home to the station house at 6th Ave. and Ericcson Pl. Aldo freaked out at the sound of screeching brakes in Soho yesterday afternoon, causing him to throw his rider, who was taken to St. Vincent's with minor injuries. After getting the cop off his back, Aldo ran free through the streets before ambling about ten blocks......

A 27-year-old rookie police officer turned a drunken assignation into a felony rape charge earlier this week. Kevin Johnson allegedly met a number of women at a midtown bar Monday night and accompanied them back to the Gershwin Hotel, where the women were staying on East 27th St. They were visiting New York for a hairdressers convention, and Johnson reportedly had consensual sex with one of them. The alleged rape occurred when Johnson, who works......

Reader Rob J. sent us this photo taken through a window looking out on Sixth Ave between Charlton and Vandam, snapped right after a police officer was thrown from his horse. We're told the officer has a shoulder injury, the horse is okay and was brought to the stable, and there's nothing more to see here, folks.......

The drownings that two retired NYPD detectives linked to a serial killing spree they claim has been underway for over a decade, is being questioned by both the FBI and police commish Ray Kelly. Newsday reports that yesterday Kelly stated there is "nothing to suggest" that the two men who drowned in New York were victims of a nationwide network of serial killers who are allegedly responsible for approximately 40 deaths since 1997. The network,......

Chances are you probably smoke pot, you are probably smoking it right now...at least according to the latest reports, which say that "the number of people arrested for small amounts of marijuana in New York City has increased tenfold in the past decade." More people get arrested for misdemeanor pot possession in our city than in any other U.S. city (the figure comes to about 97 arrests per day). The New York Civil Liberties Union......

The NY Times highlights how, in spite of being many years away from opening, the National September 11 Memorial and Museum does have one exhibit in place: The 62 foot by 64 foot foundation wall, aka the slurry wall, from the original World Trade Center. However, the big challenge now is securing it. The Port Authority and the memorial's builders are reinforcing it with "steel caisson cores," a "new concrete liner," and a "pilaster wall,"......

Photograph from yesterday's Sean Bell protest by urbanblitz on Flickr The Reverend Al Sharpton is planning a series of rallies and acts of civil disobedience in the wake of the acquittals of three police officers involved in the fatal shooting of Sean Bell. Bell, who was a few hours from his wedding, was unarmed when undercover police fired at him 50 times outside a Queens strip club on November 25, 2008. At yesterday's National......

Photograph by gdanny on Flickr A long time ago (last week), in a galaxy far far away (the far West Side), this photograph was taken outside of the Javits Convention Center, where the New York Comic Con was held. It's unclear if the police were making sure the light sabers at 34th Street and 8th Avenue remained safe, but the Storm Trooper getup seems very similar to what Operation Torch cops need!......

Photograph of protesters in Jamaica, Queens by Jason DeCrow/AP Last night, hundreds of people marched from the Queens courthouse to the Kalua Lounge, the strip club where Sean Bell was killed on his wedding day, yelling, "Fifty shots equal murder," to protest yesterday's not guilty verdict for three police officers charged in the shooting. Bell's mother, Valerie, fainted when Judge Arthur Cooperman delivered the verdict, amid tears from Bell's fiance Nicole Paultre Bell and......

Photograph of Detectives Marc Cooper, Gescard Isnora and Michael Oliver by Dima Gavrysh/AP Detectives Michael Oliver, Gescard Isnora and Marc Cooper, who were acquitted of all charges in the Sean Bell shooting trial, spoke at a press conference this afternoon. Detectives Oliver and Isnora thanked Judge Cooperman for his "fair" decision (Isnora also, per City Room, "thanked God, his family, his lawyers"). Detective Cooper, who was only charged with reckless endangerment, said, "I'd like......

Above, from left, Detectives Marc Cooper, Michael Oliver and Gescard Isnora Update: Queens DA Dick Brown just held a press conference with his prosecution team to discuss Judge Cooperman's not guilty verdict in the Sean Bell shooting trial. While many fault the prosecution's case against the three cops as the reason for its outcome, Brown defended the work of everyone involved in the case, stressing the amount of time and effort put into preparing......

Starting today, teams of six NYPD officers will be patrolling the subway system in 12 hour shifts to thwart would-be terrorists. You’ll be able to easily identify the squads – called “Torch Teams” – by their rifles, MP5 submachine guns, handguns, body armor and bomb-sniffing dogs. The program is being paid for with $151 million from taxpayers nationwide, allocated through D.C. The Torch Teams will function like the similarly equipped NYPD “Hercules Teams” (pictured) above......

Photograph of Reverend Sharpton, with William Bell, Valerie Bell, Nicole Paultre Bell, John Liu, and Trent Benefeld on City Hall steps (above) and photograph of Mayor Bloomberg with Sharpton and Paultre Bell by Jin Lee/AP The Reverend Al Sharpton held a press conference on the steps of City Hall today to discuss the Sean Bell shooting trial verdict, which will be announced on Friday. Sharpton said an acquittal would not be justice. The News......

Holy nunchuks! The Staten Island Advance reports "the NYPD has quietly closed the book on Staten Island's so-called Ninja Burglar case, after authorities started deportation proceedings against at least one Albanian man they believe to be connected to the string of break-ins." Before you wonder, "Hmm, should this have been called the 'Vampire Burglar' case?", please bear in mind that the Staten Island thief who was linked to nineteen separate burglaries typically wore a black......

Now that Pope Benedict XVI has left NYC, it's time to pay the NYPD overtime bills. According to the NYPD, the State Department will reimburse the city for 50-60% of the costs associated with making sure the pope was safe throughout his 3 days in the city. While the exact total will be released soon (Pope John Paul II's 1995 visit cost $4 million in overtime), Mayor Bloomberg emphasized, "This is one of those things......

Photo by Jake Dobkin. New stats from the NYPD show an 81.5% rise in graffiti-related complaints from 2006 to 2007 (pre-Splasher!), a year that graffiti arrests also went up 28%. Queens council member Peter Vallone, Jr. notes that, "we did an excellent job turning the tide against graffiti in the '90s and the beginning part of this century. Unfortunately, because of the lack of police officers, the fact that they have to do double duty......

Photo courtesy Gothamist reader Heather D. One Park Slope resident emailed us to describe a surprising scene unfolding this morning on 4th Street between 6th and 7th Avenues.I went out for my coffee around 10am and there were 4 white undercover SUVs, an NYPD emergency truck and a large, black DEP/HAZMAT truck/mobile unit parked on my street! When I came back from my coffee run I saw a Fire Dept. SUV parked at the 6th......

A man who apparently fired at police after a traffic stop in Queens was charged with criminal possession of a weapon. Darnell Routier, a passenger in a livery cab with another person stopped by the NYPD's anti-gang unit at Foch Boulevard and 169th Street in Jamaica on Saturday night, had fled the car and initiated fire. Police returned fire, hitting him in the leg and arm. Routier is in stable condition at Mary Immaculate Hospital,......

Responding to the siren call of higher salaries and a lower cost of living, about 200 cops showed up to take the four hour written exam to join the Seattle Police Department yesterday. Of the 200 who sat for the exam, it was estimated that the vast majority were from New York's police department. The New York Post reports that 148 of the test takers had at least one year experience in law enforcement already......

The beaver that was rescued from the East River by an NYPD SCUBA crew Fiday near the United Nations has reportedly died. According to CityRoom, the 40 pound animal was on its way to Utica to be treated by a wildlife medical specialist, but expired along the way. The SCUBA crew was patrolling the East River near the United Nations because of the Pope's address to the General Assembly. They saw the animal swimming awkwardly......

Photos from MyFOX News Police patrolling the East River near the United Nations as part of increased security linked to Pope Benedict XVI's visit to the General Assembly diverted their attentions momentarily to rescue a beaver who seemed to be in distress. Cops noticed that the animal, which was four feet long and weighed 40 pounds, seemed to be laboring in the strong currents of the East River and was swimming awkwardly. Quick-thinking officers......

Police are looking for a man who tried to rape a woman entering her Sullivan Street apartment on Sunday morning. According to WABC 7, after the woman "opened the door to her apartment...the suspect forced his way in, pushed her onto the bed and began to choke her." He allegedly said he would rape her, but a neighbor who heard her cries rushed in and the suspect escaped. The suspect's image was captured on a......

What could the increased number of NYPD on foot in the South Williamsburg area mean? One reader tips us off to a new South Side stabber who may have the 90th Precinct working overtime. Ladies, hipsters, et al, even though Matchbox 20 and McLovin were bro-ing down south of the Williamsburg Bridge – the ultimate sign of gentrification – you still need to buddy up on those evening walks. A tipster writes:There is a man......