Tag: new york

Investigation Finds NYPD Disciplinary Records Often Go Missing

In the summer of 2021, New York Police Department officer Willie Thompson had sex at least twice with a witness to a Harlem carjacking that he was investigating. When a prosecutor questioned Thompson about his relationship with the witness, Thompson first lied, denying the relationship, before recanting and confessing the next day, according to an internal discipline report. About a week later, the woman, sounding upset, called the prosecutor and said Thompson had cornered her at a bodega, blaming her for getting him in trouble and threatening that officers from the precinct would be coming to her home, the document shows.

Thompson, who declined to comment, was found guilty by the NYPD on two misconduct charges and was placed on probation.

But if you looked up his disciplinary history on the department’s public database of uniformed officers, you would be unlikely to learn that.

ProPublica has found the NYPD site for allowing the public to track officers’ misconduct is shockingly unreliable. Cases against officers frequently vanish from the site for days — sometimes weeks — at a time. The issue affects nearly all of the officers in the database, with discipline disappearing from the profiles of patrol officers all the way up to its most senior uniformed officer.

ProPublica examined more than 1,000 daily snapshots of the database’s contents and found that, since the fall of 2022, the number of discipline cases that appear in the database has fluctuated often and wildly. Try to pull up the record for a disciplined officer and the site sometimes spits back, “This officer does not have any applicable entries.”

Since May 2021, at least 88% of the disciplinary cases that once appeared in the data have gone missing at some point, though some were later restored. As of this week, 54% of cases that had at one point been in the system were missing.

“It is really disconcerting to see that there are records that are there one day that are not the next,” said Jennvine Wong, a supervising attorney with the Legal Aid Society’s Cop Accountability Project.

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New York governor regrets saying Black kids in the Bronx don’t know what a computer is

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul says she regrets making an offhand remark that suggested Black children in the Bronx do not know what the word ”computer” means.

Hochul, a Democrat, made the extemporaneous comment Monday while being interviewed at a large business conference in California to discuss expanding economic opportunities in artificial intelligence for low-income communities.

”Right now, we have young Black kids growing up in the Bronx who don’t even know what the word computer is. They don’t know, they don’t know these things,” Hochul said while on stage at the Milken Institute Global Conference.

The remark was not addressed during the interview and the governor went on to explain that her goal is to provide avenues for communities of color to access emerging artificial intelligence technologies as a means to address social inequality.

Still, the gaff drew immediate criticism from some political leaders in New York, including state Assemblywoman Amanda Septimo, a Bronx Democrat, who said the remark was ”harmful, deeply misinformed, and genuinely appalling.”

In a statement later Monday, Hochul said ”I misspoke and I regret it.”

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New Columbia Wrinkle: Police Takedown Facilitated By Faculty Member Who Serves On NYPD Anti-Terror Squad…Conspiracists Cry Foul

The recent ousting of students and professional agitators from a Columbia University building was led in part by a Columbia adjunct professor who is also the civilian Deputy Commissioner for Intelligence and Counterterrorism for the NYPD.

The story is from The Grayzone, a media project headed by Max Blumenthal, Jewish blogger and former Clinton aide. That said, the article is written with a decidedly pro-Palestine bent. Author Wyatt Reed describes the Columbia uprising as a “protest model [that] has since spread to over 100 other universities in the US, and even been taken up abroad, with similar actions occurring at Leeds University in the UK and the Sorbonne in Paris”, as if it were organic, and not, in fact, funded by groups such as the Soros-backed U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights (USCPR).

Still, Reed injects some salient points into the Columbia conversation. He correctly notes that, “During the NYPD’s triumphant May 1 post-raid press conference, Weiner blamed ‘outside agitators’ for triggering the military-style police crackdown at Columbia. However, she refused to name the outsiders supposedly on the scene.”

Next, Reed asserts that Weiner falsely used the terroristic past of an elderly Columbia encampment visitor–Nahla al-Arian, 63, as preface for police intevention:

“…a brief visit to Columbia by Nahla Al-Arian, who Weiner incorrectly described as ‘the wife of somebody who had been convicted for material support to terrorism.’

‘That’s not somebody who I would want necessarily influencing my child if I were a parent of somebody at Columbia,’ Weiner commented.

Nahla’s husband, Palestinian academic Sami Al-Arian, had been indicted on flimsy terrorism charges in 2003, but a jury refused to convict him. Nevertheless, her brief stop at the Columbia encampment — where she says she did not even interact with any demonstrators — was cited by Adams during three separate media engagements to justify the police repression.”

–Ibid., editorial emphasis.

Further, Reed points out, somewhat ominously, that Weiner is the granddaughter of one of the creators of the hydrogen bomb:

“Weiner is the granddaughter of Stanislaw Ulam, the Polish Jewish mathematician who helped conceive the hydrogen bomb as part of the Manhattan Project. “I’m very proud of that legacy,” Weiner said of her grandfather’s work upon being appointed as NYPD intelligence chief.“

–Ibid.

Reed stops short of calling Weiner a Mossad asset, but he sets the table elaborately, stopping just short of lighting the dinner candles:

“The NYPD’s Counterterrorism Bureau currently maintains an office in Tel Aviv, Israel, where it coordinates with Israel’s security apparatus and maintains a department liaison. Weiner appears to serve as a bridge between the Bureau’s offices in Israel and New York.

A 2011 AP investigation revealed that a so-called ‘Demographics Unit’ operated secretly within the NYPD’s Counterterrorism and Intelligence Bureau. This shadowy outfit spied on Muslims around the New York City area, and even on students at campuses outside the state who were involved in Palestine solidarity activism. The unit was developed in tandem with the CIA, which has refused to name the former Middle East station chief it posted in the senior ranks of the NYPD’s intelligence division. 

The ‘Demographics Unit’ appears to have been inspired by Israeli intelligence as well. As a former police official told the AP, the unit attempted to ‘map the city’s human terrain’ through a program ‘modeled in part on how Israeli authorities operate in the West Bank.‘”

–Ibid., editorial emphasis.

To sum up: Rebecca Weiner is, plainly, a liaison between the NYPD and Columbia University. The police division she works for was formed as a response to 9/11, and was done so with Israeli intelligence guidance, as would seem a natural fit for a country that has dealt with Middle East terrorism for decades.

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NYPD union sues over officers’ rights to use steroids

Lawyers from the Police Benevolent Association have filed a lawsuit against NYPD Police Commissioner Edward Caban and Mayor Adams over recent policy changes relating to the use of performance enhancing drugs such as steroids by active duty officers. From NY Daily News:

The 2011 contract prohibited officers from ingesting or possessing any anabolic steroid or other forms of human growth hormones without a medical prescription. However, the old standard didn’t require officers to run any such prescription by their NYPD district surgeon before starting to use it.

The new protocol — which was enacted on Dec. 26, 2023, and described in an internal memo reviewed by The News as a “zero tolerance drug policy” — beefs up the old rule by affirming that officers must “immediately notify their district surgeon” of any steroid prescription they receive and provide “all supporting medical documentation” to the surgeon backing up the need for the drug.

If officers are caught violating the new rule by, for example, deviating from a prescribed dosage, they can face firing, the memo says.

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Turbo cancer in New York

Executive summary

Cancer cases are up by 2.5X in New York state Medicaid vs. a 2017-2019 baseline.

Is this normal? Absolutely not! This is a very serious problem.

Isn’t it awesome that they keep these numbers confidential? And that nobody in the mainstream press will look into this?

The data

You can examine the data: NY Medicaid ICD-10 Cxx codes data (2019-2023) (the link downloads the xlsx spreadsheet).

Cancers with the highest increase

The ratio column is the ratio vs. counts in the 2019 baseline.

Overall, there was a 2.5X increase over baseline.

Some cancers got better vs. baseline, others got worse. The odds that a given cancer code got worse were 25:1.

Note that the rates of increase strongly depends on the type of cancer. This means that they can’t use the excuse that this is all because people didn’t get treated for their cancers during the Covid lockdowns. It that were the case, the increases would be the roughly the same for all cancer types, not dramatically different.

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NY District Attorney Sandra Doorley Flees Police During Traffic Stop — Asserts She is Exempt from the Law Due to Her Position as DA

District Attorney Sandra Doorley is at the center of controversy following a traffic stop where she appeared to leverage her status as Monroe County’s DA to evade law enforcement procedures.

The incident, captured on an officer’s body-worn camera, shows Doorley dismissing the reason for the stop and insinuating her legal authority would nullify the traffic violation.

Doorley was recorded going 55 mph in a 35 mph zone on Monday evening on Phillips Road. Instead of pulling over, Doorley continued driving to her residence on Fallen Leaf Terrace, about a mile away, while an officer followed with active lights and siren.

The video, released by the Town of Webster, depicts a defiant Doorley who, at several points during the encounter, reminded the officers of her position.

Doorley argued she had been on a call with Webster Police Chief Dennis Kohlmeier to assure the police officer she was not a threat. However, the video shows her using her phone to demand Kohlmeier convince the officer to leave her be.

The encounter escalated when Doorley refused to provide her ID, instead handing the officer her phone with Kohlmeier on the line.

“Listen, I know the law better than you. Would you just leave? Would you just leave me alone?”

“I don’t really care. I don’t really care. You know what? If you give me a traffic ticket, that’s fine. I’m the one who prosecutes it.”

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NYC Man Convicted Over Gunsmithing Hobby After Judge Says 2nd Amendment ‘Doesn’t Exist in This Courtroom’

A Brooklyn man has been convicted of 13 weapons charges after having been arrested and charged in 2022 for building his own firearms. Dexter Taylor’s ordeal could become a landmark Second Amendment case in light of the Bruen ruling handed down in the same year.

The jury found Taylor guilty of second-degree criminal possession of a loaded weapon, four counts of third-degree criminal possession of a weapon, five counts of criminal possession of a firearm, second-degree criminal possession of five or more firearms, unlawful possession of pistol ammunition, violation of certificate of registration, prohibition on unfinished frames or receivers. Two lesser charges, including third-degree criminal possession of three or more firearms and third-degree possession of a weapon, were not voted on.

Taylor, a 52-year-old New York native and a software engineer, discovered the world of gunsmithing years ago. He decided to take it up as a hobby and possibly turn it into a business later. However, when a joint ATF/NYPD task force discovered he was legally buying parts from various companies, they opened up an investigation that led to a SWAT raid and arrest. 

He is currently being jailed on Rikers Island as he awaits sentencing. Taylor’s conviction highlights the ongoing battle for gun rights. During an interview with Vinoo Varghese, Taylor’s defense lawyer, he detailed how Taylor’s trial proceeded and highlighted a distinct bias in favor of the prosecution.

Varghese described how Taylor became fascinated by weapon science during the COVID-19 lockdowns, which inspired him to take up his gunsmithing hobby. “He ended up building, I believe it was eight pistols and five rifles or six rifles, AR-style rifles, and then eight or nine Glock pistols that he built,” Varghese said.

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New York Governor Signs Squatter Law in Favor of Homeowners

In the wake of a series of high-profile squatter cases making national headlines, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has signed into law a bill that will make it easier for homeowners across the state to evict unlawful occupants.

State Assemblyman Jake Blumencranz, a Long Island Republican, spearheaded the bill. It modifies a section of New York property law that describes a tenant as an occupant of a home “who has been in possession for 30 consecutive days or longer,” clarifying that squatters are not tenants and, therefore, not entitled to tenants’ protections under a landlord–tenant relationship.

“A tenant shall not include a person who enters onto property with the intent of squatting on such property or who otherwise settles on land or occupies property without title, right, permission of the rightful owner, or payment of rent,” the law now reads.

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New York Democrat Wishes DEATH On Trump Supporters

A Democrat who is running for Congressional office has received fierce backlash for wishing death on supporters of Donald Trump.

Nate McMurray, who is running to represent New York’s 26th congressional district, posted the demented comments on X shortly after the weekend vote on funding for Ukraine.

As we highlighted Sunday, after the House of passed legislation that includes a $61 Billion foreign aid package for Ukraine, Democrats broke into chants of ‘Ukraine’ and waved Ukrainian flags on the House floor.

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NEW YORK JAIL THROWS MAN IN SOLITARY FOR REFUSING TO WORK WITHOUT PAY, LAWSUIT SAYS

Pretrial detainees at New York’s Broome County Jail are forced to work without pay and threatened with solitary confinement if they refuse to submit to forced labor, according to a lawsuit filed in state court on Thursday. The suit, filed on behalf of Thomas Florance, who says he received no pay for weeks of labor while detained at the facility pretrial despite promises of compensation, alleges the practice violates the Thirteenth Amendment prohibition against slavery other than as a punishment for a crime, New York State Labor Law, and New York’s Trafficking Victims Protection Act. 

This February, after nearly 500 hours of unpaid work in the jail’s kitchen, Florance decided he’d had enough, according to the lawsuit. He refused to work and was thrown in solitary confinement, where he was held for a week until he was able to make bail. 

Florance is seeking lost wages along with compensatory and punitive damages. The complaint, filed by the Legal Services of Central New York, a nonprofit law firm that has sued Broome County multiple times over conditions at the jail, names Broome County and its sheriff, as well as two jail employees and the facility’s for-profit dining services provider, Trinity Services Group. 

The lawsuit alleges corrections officers at the Binghamton, New York, routinely assure detainees they will be paid for their labor at the jail. But once assigned a job, they receive no compensation and are instead forced to work under threat of disciplinary sanctions, including “keep lock,” a form of solitary confinement. 

“The threats by the Jail staff create a culture of fear among the prisoner workers,” the complaint states. “The prisoners know that if they refuse to work, they will be punished, and if they lose their accumulated good time, will end up incarcerated for a longer period.”

Trinity Services is a major beneficiary of the free labor that results from this arrangement, according to the lawsuit. The contract between Broome County and Trinity requires the jail to provide seven incarcerated people to work in food service, the complaint states, which allows both Trinity and the County to avoid paying minimum wage, state-mandated benefits, and payroll taxes. 

Trinity employees train and supervise the detainees and may “report misconduct or poor prisoner work” to jail staff, which can result in them being placed in solitary confinement, according to the complaint. 

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