via AnimalNY

[Update Below} Yesterday, Bucky Turco of AnimalNY posted a document on the city's counter-terrorism plans...which he had found sitting in the garbage can in front of the NYPD’s Manhattan South Task Force stationhouse on 42nd Street. The documents, which are labeled "law enforcement sensitive," detailed specific locations and deployment instructions for the NYPD’s Chemical Ordnance, Biological, Radiological Awareness (COBRA) taskforce. But NYPD spokesman Paul Brown isn't that worried: "Granted, we would have preferred it was disposed of more discreetly, but its discovery by a dumpster-diver posed no threat to the public or anyone else."

The document details instructions for officers on how to spot potential terrorists, and includes the locations in Times Square where anti-terror cops were deployed to conduct sweeps. Brown also added this bit of snark about the document: "The document involved the deployment of 20 highly visible uniformed officers whose assignments were obvious to anyone with eyes in their head. The assignment sheet was tossed out the day after the assignments were completed."

Over at Thee Rant, the NYPD message board, user Blue Trumpet is none too pleased with Turco, although he does seem to imply he may very well be a master thief:

Bucky Turco is a long-time hipster gadfly who likes to embarrass law enforcement types and is involved in the so-called "bike culture" (Critical Mass) nonsense around the city. He found the documents in the garbage because he probably routinely dumpster dives at NYPD locations looking for stuff like this. I wouldn't be surprised if he somehow didn't get into the facility itself using some subterfuge and plucked the documents out of an inside garbage can. I'm sure he has a soft spot in his heart for MSTF given their interaction over the years at Critical Mass rides.

But user Keystone Kop offers a more reasonable response for the NYPD: "Be prepared for an unusually high request for paper shredders." For his part, Turco sounded annoyed at how he was being identified by other news sources: "When the MSM says "blogger" is that the PC way of saying rubbish reporter? Cause there's definitely something condescending about it."

Interestingly, the majority of the comments on the post over at AnimalNY seem more upset with Turco posting the documents online, rather than the pathetic way the NYPD chose to "dispose" of them. One went so far as to try to spark a first amendment smackdown: "I think even Julian Assange would kick Bucky in the ass for posting this." Do you think old NYPD documents should be posted online?

Update: We spoke to Turco, who responded to the criticisms he's received since putting the document online:

The reaction is expected. People tend to glance instead of read and therefore the responses are highly emotional. Had I brought this document to One Police Plaza, does anyone really think the NYPD would change the way they go about disposing of their documents? Sometimes it takes a public forum like the media to keep the department on their toes.

The reaction by the NYPD was also expected and their spin in calling me a “dumpster diver” would make Fox News proud. The document was sitting in the bottom of the can, with no other garbage, in plain sight. But of course they have to protect their ass.

He also sent us this picture of the actual public garbage can he plucked the document from:

(Bucky Turco)