More than 400 cops could be facing disciplinary charges in a massive ticket-fixing probe which has been going on for the past few months. But in the course of the probe, investigators have uncovered other more serious crimes captured on wiretaps, including conversations in which cops arranged to meet and pay for dates with hookers. We imagine that that's not just a normal courtesy.

One source gave the News a glimpse into the findings of the probe, and how a call to get rid of a ticket could snowball into even worse requests: "In some cases guys would call their delegate to handle something more serious than a ticket. They probably thought, 'If it's okay to ask for that favor, why not others?' But it's a giant leap from getting rid of tickets to getting rid of arrests." In addition to the cops who allegedly arranged for hookers, there were at least two cases where delegates tried to get cops out of arrests, one of them for drunk driving. And Bronx ADA Jennifer Troiano, who is facing drunk driving charges from a crash last summer, may have used her status as an assistant district attorney to get out of a potential DWI arrest prior to that.

On the wiretaps, investigators have allegedly heard evidence of bribery, arrest-fixing and other crimes by fellow cops. That includes at least 15 cops intentionally "lost" tickets as a favor to fellow officers, dozens of cops asked union delegates to fix tickets for friends, relatives and government officials, and more than two dozen cops who fixed summonses in exchange for gifts, including tickets to Yankees games. As one source put it last week: "One cop would ask the other to take care of a ticket and set him up with seats to show his appreciation. It was something done as a 'thank you'...a favor for a favor."

And despite Mayor Bloomberg's insistence that the NYPD has adopted a new computer system to track tickets since July, making it "very hard to manipulate the system," cops have been overheard on wiretap discussing new ways to adapt and manipulate the system.