Word: nypd
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...world through depictions in TV and movies, and since Sept. 11, 2001, it has been revered for the bravery and sacrifices of its officers. It's also a secretive organization fraught with corruption, misconduct and a dangerous lack of public accountability, argues reporter Leonard Levitt in his new book, NYPD Confidential. A former TIME reporter, Levitt wrote a New York Newsday column about the department for 11 years, once so angering police commissioner Ray Kelly that Kelly traveled to the newspaper's Long Island headquarters to complain in person to Levitt's editors. Levitt spoke with TIME about the department...
Even people who don't live in New York City feel familiar with the department, thanks to shows like NYPD Blue and the ubiquitous logo on hats and T-shirts. What are some things they may not know? It's truly one of the great institutions in the world. There's very little they cannot do when they set their minds to it. The "Son of Sam" serial-killer case was solved by real detective work. They landed helicopters on the roof of the World Trade Center in 1993 to rescue victims after the bombing. But at the same time...
...interesting you say that, because on first blush this appears to be a relatively strong period for the NYPD. Crime remains fairly low, and we haven't seen some of the tensions between the department and the public that we saw in the 1990s. This is more style than it is substance. There have been four killings of unarmed black men by police since Kelly has been commissioner, and there's been no reform of police procedure that I'm aware of. We had the case of a black teenage boy shot to death on the roof of his apartment...
Mayor Giuliani often gets credit for the dramatic drop in New York's crime since the 1990s. Does he deserve it? I think so. It wouldn't have happened without Giuliani. He had a commissioner [William Bratton] that changed the culture of the NYPD and made them accountable for the first time in perhaps a decade, but Giuliani was unable to share credit and Bratton was dismissed. Bratton, in my opinion, was not blameless either. He couldn't control himself when it came to publicity...
...write that Sept. 11 has become a "cloak" for the NYPD. Has it been exploiting the tragedy? Yes, I do think that. The fear of terrorism has definitely become a cloak hiding all sorts of problems. Because of the lack of transparency and critical reporting, we do not know what the NYPD is doing in its spying on individuals and on groups that they perceive could have a terrorism connection...