Tim Russert has invited all the presidential candidates to appear on Meet the Press, and yesterday former Mayor Rudy Giuliani appeared. We imagine many New Yorkers watching the program gnashed their teeth and/or swore at the TV (we happened to do both), as Giuliani tried to answer questions ranging from the straightforward (Giuliani's Iowa poll numbers, Russert asked, "Fifth place, is that a problem?") to the interesting (Russert on Giuliani's consulting business: "A Las......

The police are investigating a hate crime at Columbia University's Teachers College after a noose was found on the door of a black professor. Teachers College president Susan Fuhrman issued a statement:The police were here this morning because a hangman's noose was discovered on the office door of one of our African American faculty members. The incident has been reported to the New York City Police Department (Detectives Bureau of Manhattan) and is under active......

The NYPD decided not to appeal a judge's decision that the NYPD should declassify its surveillance documents from the 2004 RNC, so it has set up a special NYPD RNC Documents website with the documents. Of course, you have to scroll down to the very bottom for a zip file of the 600 pages of documents. And what's above the documents is the NYPD's rather thorough explanation/ defense justifying why it did such extensive......

Could New York City be forced to pay for issuing summonses for an unconstitutional law? That's the decision that U.S. District Judge Shira Scheindlin faces as she determines whether she will hold the city in contempt of court for failing to comply to her 2005 to stop enforcing an old panhandling law. The original law was struck down for violating the First Amendment in October 1992 by a different United States judge. That law......

As we all expected, the Hells Angels member who was arrested during a police raid of the motorcycle gang's headquarters plans to sue the city. The police were investigating the beating of a 52 year old woman found on the sidewalk outside the Hells Angels' location on East 3rd Street in the East Village. The police prepared to raid the establishment and brought out snipers, a hostage negotiation truck, and more, and arrested Richard West......

The Reverend Al Sharpton announced the "shopping for justice" protest march he's been talking about since the shooting of Sean Bell, Joseph Guzman, and Trent Benefield by the police."Many will be shopping for trinkets and toys. We will be shopping for justice and making a moral appeal to this city and this nation. The fact that we are going on probably the most visible street in the world tomorrow, you don't have to talk......

It's Law & Order: Concerned-Child- Who-is-a- Police-Officer Squad! An identity theft ring that targeted the elderly or people with "foreign-sounding" names was busted when a scammer called an old man, only to speak to an NYPD deputy chief - the man's daughter. Eleven people were indicted in Queens for duping people into giving up their credit card number, Social Security number, and other personal details. They would randomly call people, and one of the people......

Yesterday, the police announced that the death of actress-director Adrienne Shelly was murder, not suicide. Shelly's husband had found her body hanging from a shower rod in the Greenwich Village apartment she used as an office last week, leading the police to initially suspect she committed suicide. But they did find an unknown shoeprint in the bathroom, and the shoeprint turned out to belong to a construction worker doing renovations on a downstairs apartment Diego......

NYC Transit Authority is putting the subway photo ban back up for vote with the MTA board! Back in September, it seemed like the MTA was moving away from a full-blown ban. However, an amended proposal that would have put a ban on photographing sensitive areas, like dispatcher's room and towers (as the Daily News reports), was rejected. The full-up photo ban was officially proposed in the State Register (PDF) last Wednesday. Subchat speculates......

In a lightweight story about the NYPD, the Post reports that a uniform trade organization says the NYPD has "superior uniform standards and programs," with clothing that is "highly functional, comfortable and manufactured to the highest standards." Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly, who is a natty dresser himself, French cuffs and all, had his press department whip up a statement, saying, "From the earliest days of the New York City Police Department, the uniform has functioned......

The Mayor was crowing about how the Republican National Convention was a boon for New York City, bringing in $255 million during the dog days of August, but other businesses are saying it ain't so, with higher end businesses doing well and more mom-and-pop operations (especially around Madison Square Garden) doing only okay. The Beacon Hill Institute tells the NY Times that NYC did better than Boston, but that the city's $255 million figure will......

The Tribeca Film Festival wound down yesterday, with awards going to Chinese film "Green Hat" for best narrative film and best new narrative filmmaker (Liu Fen Dou), documentaries "Arna's Children" (Israel) and "The Man Who Stole My Mother's Face" (South Africa & Australia) sharing best documentary, and Paulo Sacramento ("The Prisoner of the Iron Bars: Self-Portraits") for best new documentary filmmaker. What's interesting is that last year's narrative winner, Blind Shaft, was released without much......

My neighbor has a dog that barks all night long and keeps me awake. Is there anything I can do about it? Jen M., Washington Heights It’s not against the law for your neighbor to keep his or her dog outside at night, as long as it has food, water, and shelter from bad weather. However, sticking your head out the window and screaming, “Shaddup you stupid dog!” usually just makes the dog bark louder,......

To most New Yorkers, Interpol is a band. But this week it was announced that the NYPD will be able to access Interpol data to track international criminals. Interpol is the world's international police organization and keeps criminal data, like photographs and fingerprints, in a database that is accessed by many countries. It seems like police departments of the U.S.'s major cities should have had access to Interpol sooner, but NYC will be the first......