With the Grand Theft Auto IV trailer circulating a good six months before the game's release, NYC officials are giving the thumbs down. The Daily News has comments:"It's despicable to glamorize violence in games like these, regardless of how far-fetched the setting may be," said Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly. "The mayor does not support any video game where you earn points for injuring or killing police officers," said Jason Post, a spokesman for Mayor......

Last night, police officer Rory Mangra (pictured) attempted to approach a man smoking pot in Prospect Heights, but the man ended up shooting him in the leg. Mangra and his partner, Eric Merizelde, both uniformed but driving in an unmarked car, saw Kingsley Newland light up outside a beauty parlor at Flatbush Avenue and Dean Street in Brooklyn. From the Daily News:Mangra stepped out of the car to approach Newland, but the suspect fled, police......

A NJ family was driving along the Staten Island Expressway when their minivan crashed into a tree off the side of the road. Highway police were able to save three young children, ages 2, 3, and 9, but could not save their parents, as the front of the minivan was "fully enguled in flames" according to one of the police officers in the Post. Arturo Lopez-Mendez and Christina Guardado of Elizabeth, NJ were killed in......

It's global leader week in the city, and many who work, live and travel through East Midtown know that as intense security and more traffic are evident (plea from the Mayor: "Take mass transit"), especially as the President will address the United Nations today. Yesterday, President George Bush and First Lady Laura attended a conference on global literacy sponsored by the White House at the New York Public Library, but the bigger question was whether......

That's what the NYPD is complaining about - the complete lack of cooperation from Busta Rhymes in the investigation of his bodyguard's murder during a video shoot two weeks ago. Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly implied that Rhymes (aka Trevor Smith) was withholding information about the shooting of Israel Ramirez. There have been conflicting accounts as to where Rhymes was during the incident - he told detectives he was on set, but he reportedly told others......

Here we go again. It's probably just that with most of the news media's attention focused on Hurricane Rita metro reporters are trying to find an easy, catchy story, but to be honest Gothamist has very little patience for the non-story that is being set-up around the launch of True Crime: New York City. Let's review. The game company Activision has been working hard to muster up press for its new "True Crime:NYC" game,......

The R train stands for the "Really Rude" and "Retch": A woman who spied a man pleasuring himself on a train car decided to seize the moment and took a very clear cameraphone picture of the pervert. And then she went to the police; then she put it on her Flickr account with her telling of the incident:I got off at 34th street and reported it to a token booth operator. She was very helpful......

- Thank you, Politicker, for posting Anthony Weiner's campaign flyer to show how he's probably the "only candidate for mayor who will mail out a copy of his Bar Mitzvah photograph." The flyer also says Weiner "will be New York City's Middle-Class Mayor" because middle-class is no longer a twelve letter word. WNBC 4 says that the latest WNBC/Marist poll has Bloomberg soundly beating all possible Democratic mayoral candidates, leading Fernando Ferrer 16 points, C.......

Peter Hayden, the Chief of the FDNY, will testify in front of the City Council today to make the case for why any emergency response protocol should be led by a joint NYPD-FDNY team, instead of the Bloomberg administration's current NYPD-led effort. Two weeks ago, Chief Hayden openly criticized the plan, calling it a "recipe for disaster," and it seemed that the Mayor's team sought to quiet Hayden by having only Office of Emergency Management......

This weekend brings Passover to New York City, and the City is ready: Mayor Bloomberg and Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly announced a few initiatives to make sure Pesach is peaceful. First, security will be increased with more police foot patrols and security at synagogues; plus the police will patrol "sensitive" areas in certain neighborhoods. The City's Bureau of Consumer Affairs also wants to crack down on price gouging of Passover related items, so they're asking......

It's been a big subway week. Yesterday, it was announced that subway ridership is at a 50 year high, thanks to the advent of the Metrocard. However, the MTA still has that $600 million deficit. Subway expert and author Clifton Hood makes a very good point to Newsday, pointing out: "There's no rapid-transit system in the world that's not subsidized and New York's is less subsidized." The lack of subsidies is a point driven home......

Rudy Fleming, a 19 year-old who has been serving parole for previous weapons charges, was charged with first-degree and second-degree murder, as well as robbery and criminal posession, in the murder of Brooklyn actress-playwright Nicole duFrense. Police have also charged two others in connection to a robbery earlier on the Lower East last Thursday morning. A number of police tips helped the NYPD find the individuals involved with the crime, but it turns out that......

Gothamist is utterly sad to report that Jerry Orbach, the versatile actor of stage, screen, and tube who epitomized the seen-it-all cynical NYPD detective on Law & Order for twelve years, is dead at age 69. Earlier this month, Orbach's manager had confirmed to the Daily News that Orbach had been suffering from prostate cancer but was recovering, but now it seems that he succumbed. Radio station 1010 WINS was first to report Orbach's......

For the 14th year in a row, murders are down in New York City. To date, there have been 549 homicides in 2004, down from a total of 579 homicides in 2003. Of the other major crime categories, rape, robbery, felony assault, burglary, grand larceny, and grand larceny auto, only grand larceny has seen an increase from 2003. The total drop in major crime has been 4.6%. The numbers are considered impressive because crime in......

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......

With the convention winding down, the coverage is turning to Washington > Campaign 2004 > Tactics by Police Mute the Protesters, and Their Messages" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/02/politics/campaign/02protest.html?ex=1251777600&en=1eaf494b20b38aa3&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland">examine how the protests and police have coexisted these past few days. The NY Times goes through the NYPD's tools of the trade when dealing with protests, and Newsday looks at how protesters are able to inflitrate Madison Square Garden, in spite of the GOP's best efforts, like yesterday's AIDS'......

Police officers will be flooding the subways in and out of uniform, as the NYPD gears up for the Republican National Convention that's just 10 days away. The Daily News has an exclusive about the plans:Hundreds of detectives in the NYPD's elite specialized units are being ordered to put aside cases and ride the rails as extra security as early as this weekend, the Daily News has learned. Narcotics, vice, gang and organized crime investigators......

The Post reports that the New York City Marketing Development Corporation is recruiting different celebrities and NYC notables to explain why they love the city in order to develop ways to drum up tourism. A recent poll that the NYC MDC conducted says that "crime is still the No. 1 reason why tourists stay away," prompting the MDC to go to people like Russell Simmons (Phat), Sofia Coppola, Mark Messier, Dick Wolf, and Ric......

The FBI has released an initial report on uniform crime in 2003, and it seems that New York is one of the safest cities in the country, ranking 211 for crime, out of 230 cities with populations over 100,000. Mayor Bloomberg excitedly proclaimed NYC was the "safest", saying, "New York City has not only retained its title as the safest big city in the country, it had defied the odds and become even safer," using......

The "9/11 Comission," really the National Commission on Terror Attacks Upon the United States, is meeting today at the New School, to speak with various NYC government officials and servants, from past and present, to understand how the city reacted on September 11, 2001. At the center will be how first responders, from NYPD, FDNY, and emergency services, reacted, as the September 11's events will be summarized. The Times reports that the Pentagon's response plan......

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......

On the heels of Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly's announcement about stepped up security measures during the Republican National Convention this August (think security sweeps on trains coming into Penn Station and the NYPD monitoring protest websites for protestors posing as volunteers), Mayor Bloomberg made clear he was not supportive of the NYPD and FDNY rallying outside the convention and the city rejected a plan for an antiwar protest at the Great Lawn the day before......

Yeterday, New York, along with other cities in the U.S. and across the world, was filled with Iraqi war protestors on the one-year anniversary of the U.S.'s attacks in the Middle East. Estimates for the crowd in Manhattan along Madison between 24th and 33rd Streets ranged from 33,000 to 100,000. Democratic presidential hopeful Dennis Kucinich (who rode the subway with two bodyguards and chatted with a friend) applauded protestors for turning out. Mayor Bloomberg and......

Crime might have gone down in 2003, but this past week has been a doozy. First there was the horrific case of Nathalie Guzman being hit and run by three different cars - with none of the drivers bothering to stop and see if she needed help. Queens Councilman Eric Gioia felt that the three hit and runs had a level of "human callousness and depravity not seen since" 1964's Kitty Genovese murder (38 people......

In our book, 2004 started when the ball at Times Square dropped in New York City. Mayor Bloomberg was joined by Cyndi Lauper and guest of honor, former Iragi POW Shoshana Johnson, in ringing in the New Year; Lauper looks like she's on the confetti diet. Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly called 2003 a good year because it was "Another year where we haven't had a terrorist attack here." True, but, eek, what a downer.......

Mayor Bloomberg and Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly announced that New York is the safest city in the U.S. for the second year in a row. NYC experienced a 5.5% drop in crime (after a 5.9% drop in 2002) a rate which the Daily News calls, "nearly four times lower than in Dallas, three times lower than in Phoenix and roughly half as high as in Philadelphia or Los Angeles." Thrilled to show that his......

Even with 4,000 fewer police officers, the crime rate in NYC continues to drop. Cops are the true heroes of New York. The Daily News reports major crime is down 5.6% comparged to last year, which continues the 10 year trend decline in serious crime first scene in the Giuliani administration. The Mayor's office will probably be touting these statistics as proof that he can effectively fight crime, contrary to what his critics think. Some......

If you have ever complained about how tiny your NYC apartment is, think about the poor, poor 400 pound tiger cooped up in a Harlem apartment building. Police removed the 400 Bengal-Siberian tiger, Ming, from the apartment of Antoine Yates yesterday, calling in a police officer who needed to be rappelled down the building, in order to shoot the tiger with a tranquilizer gun. Also found in the apartment: A caiman alligator named Al.......

Bank robberies are all the rage in New York, as the NYPD reports that bank robberies are up 148%. The Post reports that most robberies took place in Manhattan, and robbers' main weapons of intimidation (like bulletproof teller windows, visible video cameras, etc.) were threatening voices and notes. In order to scare banks into taking the NYPD's advice about robbery prevention more seriously, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly had police rank banks by the number of......