When retired cop Paul Soto joined the force in 1993, he weighed a svelte 250 pounds. He now weighs over 500 pounds and is living off disability payments since maladies like narcolepsy, hypertension and, yes, morbid obesity, made his desk job unbearable. In 2006, he left the force, living off benefits which equal half his old paycheck, tax-free. But had his disability resulted from activity in the line of duty, Soto would be pulling in......

Should a soldier who served in Afghanistan be able to join the police force? Well, not in New York City, when the soldier in question has a previous gun possession convictions The New York Times looks at a machine gun-wielding active duty soldier who can't apply to the NYPD when he returns home. Specialist Osvaldo Hernandez is a paratrooper with the Army's 82nd Airborne Division, set to be honorably discharged after his 15-month tour of......

Mayor Bloomberg has announced that the city will crackdown on the abuse of parking permits issued to civil servants, reducing the overall number by 20%. The change comes after the Post revealed in November that “149 separate government entities had qualified for the coveted placards last year, ranging from the state lottery to the US Navy recruiting office, which was allocated an astonishing 110 permits.” In fact, so many agencies produce and distribute the parking......

Note to public servants: Your embarrassing MySpace pages will get the tabloid once-over if you do something totally stupid. Last week, police officers Thomas Eliassen and Michael Danese were arrested after they stranded a 14-year-old boy who had been egging cars at a remote swamp. Now Eliassen's MySpace page, where he proclaims, "LET'S DO LINES OFF A STRIPPERS A--!!!", is getting attention from the boy's lawyer. The boy, Rayshawn Moreno, claimed the officers also made......

As if the whole failed Sonny Carson street naming proposal brouhaha needed more wackiness! Today, The New York Sun takes a look at City Councilman Charles Barron's chief of staff, Viola Plummer. During the Sonny Carson street naming debate, Plummer heckled City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and later threatened an assassination "on" another member, Leroy Comrie, who abstained from voting. Barron had laughed the incident off as political squabbling between political opponents, but one couldn't......

The firefighters' union has ratified a new contract with the city that offers big pay raises. For instance, the salary of a probationary firefighter goes from $25,100 to $36,400 (current firefighters will get an 8.16% raise). The head of the Uniformed Firefighters Association, the biggest fire union, said the contract passed 56% to 44% and, "This is far and away the best contract negotiated by any municipal labor union with this city in this current......

The Daily News reports that "scarecrow cars" are being used by the NYPD to deter crime, much to the dismay of the police union. Scarecrow crows are empty radio cars that are stationed on highways in hopes of scaring drivers to straighten up with their driving. The Patrolmen's Benevolent Association sees the cars as a sign of short-staffing and poor recruiting the NYPD has had lately, due to the low salaries offered. The Daily......

Rikers inmate David Brown who engaged a hit man to behead Police Commissioner Ray Kelly and blow up police headquarters was arraigned on charges of criminal solicitation yesterday. Brown, with a long rap sheet - 14 felonies out of 30 convictions - mentioned that he wanted to kill Kelly to another inmate, who called in a tip to the Crimestoppers tipline. When an NYPD detective posed as a hit man and spoke to Brown, the......

Ah, one of the emerging marvels of MySpace is getting fired over what you've posted on it. But this firing makes sense: An investigator on the Civilian Complaint Review Board - the organization that looks at people's complaints against the police - was let go after he posted about a "truck driver n----r." Twenty-two year old Chris Macchia had gotten into a fight with a truck driver, and naturally, he shared it on MySpace. Then......

Last week, the police officer behind the website, NYPD Rant, was fired. And now, a similar site focused on complaints from firefighters about the FDNY, FDNY Rant is getting attention. The Post reports about FDNY Rant, and says that the FDNY doesn't really think it's relevant, though some brass are secretly interested in shutting it donw. For instance, they don't like how Mayor Bloomberg's nickname is "Doomberg," Police Commissioner Kelly is called "Popeye," and Fire......

A police officer who was fired for running an internet message board where officers could complain about the NYPD is now looking to take the NYPD to court. Edward Polstein, who had been on the force for 18 years, ran NYPD Rant, which, as Newsday put it, "can be at turns racist, raunchy, misogynistic and comical" as well as "offer unedited, first-hand accounts of what goes on behind the scenes in the NYPD." The Daily......