Last night, four members of the Shomrim, the Orthodox Jewish volunteer patrol, were shot in Borough Park when they confronted a man who allegedly fondled himself and leered at young children in the neighborhood. When they approached David Flores, 33, near 49th Street and 10th Avenue, he opened fire on them. Motty Perl, who was shot in the hand and shoulder, told the Post, "I tackled him and as we were falling to the ground, he started shooting all over the place. I thought it was a BB gun. I didn't think the gun was real." more ›

After a spike in violent crimes, the NYPD is increasing its overnight street patrols. According to the AP, most of the increase will be in Brooklyn and the Bronx: "Police said that over the past 28 days, about 90 percent of shootings occurred on the street. That’s up from about 65 percent. They say the number of officers on the street could double or triple between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. in 23 police precincts." more ›

Over the summer, NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly pulled the plug on a program that required "house cat" cops, who normally spend their days doing paperwork, to also conduct street patrols on a regular basis. Supposedly, Kelly axed the plan after two weeks because Chief of Patrol Robert Gianell tried to implement it without consulting him, and because some thought it "was just window dressing." But now the desk jockeys are riding again! more ›

Hundreds of NYPD officers accustomed to pushing papers, not thugs, are being ordered out from behind their desks to walk a beat in New York's toughest and busiest neighborhoods. Starting tomorrow in each of the 76 police precincts, roughly six to 10 administrative cops must report every Friday to their borough commander for reassignment to a patrol in need. That could mean walking a beat anywhere from Times Square to high-crime Brownsville. An NYPD spokesman tells the Post, "This is not a new program, and the NYPD has been using this for years" during the summer, when crime traditionally spikes. Sources say the desk jockeys won't be required to meet the same summons and arrest quotas as their beat-cop counterparts, but their mere presence is expected to both deter crime and be a boon to local purveyors of fried, jelly-filled confections. more ›