When actress Ellen Barkin Tweeted her anger about the NYPD's apparent "random arrests" of innocent people in the wee hours of New Year's, she set off a firestorm of criticism from other Twitterers when she criticized the NYPD ("People being thrown in police vans, arrested for 'jaywalking'What happened to the NYPD of my youth?Who are u all?Shame shame on u all") and Mayor Bloomberg ("Fuck all of u,Bloomberg & every1 goose-stepping behind u.I cannot believe what I am seeing.U protect nothing.U ARE the violence in my city") and complained about a cop shoving her. But what do the cop-types on NYPD Rant think? more ›

A spokesman for the Brooklyn DA says the office will investigate NYPD officers who may be linked to a Facebook group complaining about having to work the West Indian-American Day Carnival. The group called itself "No More West Indian Day Detail," and said it was intended for "NYPD officers who are threatened by superiors and forced to be victims themselves by the violence of the West Indian Day massacre." Printed out, the messages added up to 70 pages with comments such as "Let them kill each other," which was made by someone whose name matched an NYPD officer. more ›

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. more ›

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. more ›

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.” more ›

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... more ›

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 help be reminded of the assassination of Brooklyn Councilman James Davis in 1994 more ›

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 round of bargaining." more ›

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. more ›

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 inmate indicated he'd pay $15,000 to behead Kelly and between $50,000 and $150,000 to put bomb outside 1 Police Plaza. Brown said he wanted to kill Kelly because he was frustrated with the Commissioner's inaction during the Sean Bell shooting aftermath. more ›

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 messageboard NYPD Rant got hold of Macchia's MySpace page - which of course bragged about being a city investigator - and angry police officers contacted the CCRB. A police union official told the Daily News, "The irony of this is CCRB is trying to hold NYPD to a higher standard and here is a serious lack of judgment by one of their own. To their credit, CCRB acted swiftly after receiving the complaints. However, a review of this investigator's cases is in order because of the obvious credibility issue." more ›

Scoppetta remind us of someone! more ›

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 News notes some choice NYPD Rants, plus mentions that there were pictures of Hitler and the Nazis (Polstein complained the NYPD was run like the Nazi Paty) and a picture of Commissioner Raymond Kelly that would morph into Popeye! Not mention bringing in various weapons into police headquarters to show how easy it was to smuggle in concealed weapons. In other words, this is something the NYPD really doesn't want to be involved with. What's at stake is the resignation agreement that Polstein signed: He agreed to resign with an annual pension of $23,000, with the stipulation that "he never sue or attempt to gain reinstatement to the police department." But then a medical board found that Polstein should actually received $60,000 annually in disability pension, because of an on-the-job injury. Polstein naturally tried to get the higher pension, and then the NYPD said that violated the earlier agreement and then officially "terminated" him. more ›