Officer Adrian Schoolcraft, formerly of Brooklyn's 81st precinct, has become a major thorn in the NYPDs side ever since he lobbed accusations that commanding officers have been massively under-reporting crime stats in the throes of quota-lust. He's suing the NYPD for $50 million, for throwing him in a psych ward unwillingly and suspending him from duty. But in a new interview with the Daily News, he makes it clear that it's not about the money: "There's not enough money in the state to get me to settle this suit. It's going to trial and there's no way around that—the truth has to come out." more ›

Officer Frank Palestro, the latest cop to call foul on corruption in the NYPD, has gotten serious flak from his fellow police and the union, though he maintains he was just doing his duty. The union delegate and nine-year police veteran was outed after secretly reporting Lt. Susana Seda for behavior such as telling cops to write summonses for traffic violations they didn't witness, refusing to take complaints and tampering with a gun at a crime scene. Since then, he's been transferred so he won't have to deal with the wrath of his peers in the precinct. "I was the [Patrolmen's Benevolent Association] delegate, and now I'm labeled a rat for doing what I was supposed to do," said Palestro. "This will stay with me for the rest of my career." more ›

A 24-year-old woman says she was handcuffed and thrown into a police holding cell when she tried to use a valid gift card at a NoHo Best Buy. Llona Klaver wanted to buy a DVD player with American Express gift cards she received from her father and brother, but she claims a cashier told her one wasn't valid because it didn't have raised numbers, while another was deemed unacceptable because it was connected to a different person's credit card. Then the cashier accused her of credit card fraud. more ›

As the classic song goes, 911 is a joke—but calling police precincts is even more of a laugh, according a little survey conducted by the Daily News. Over the course of a month, reporters called all 76 neighborhood precinct stationhouses across the city at least seven times and found that many of them need to work on their telephone manners. The tabloid gave 40% of them a ranking of "unacceptable" because nobody picked up within 10 rings on at least five out of seven calls. At one Bronx stationhouse, a uniformed officer twice picked up the phone and immediately hung it up after a reporter called from the waiting area. At the 104th Precinct stationhouse in Ridgewood, Queens, when a reporter asked to be transferred to Community Affairs, the phone rang 175 times before the caller finally gave up. And on two occasions at the 66th Precinct, the stationhouse's phone rang at least 50 times—then went to a busy signal. One anonymous cop explains that officers simply dread answering the phone, because "if you pick up the phone you are stuck with whatever ... is coming out of the receiver." NYPD commissioner Paul Browne says New Yorkers should just call 911 during emergencies. more ›

Jack Bauer's day at the police station is over, and today's coverage is all about the fashion! The NY Post reports that Kiefer Sutherland walked into the precinct yesterday with "three-quarters-length black raincoat, blue jeans and cowboy boots," apparently taking his glasses off and leaving his celeb status in his DIVA-plated town car outside. He was in the station for around two hours, during which time he updated his mug shot, got fingerprinted, and allegedly didn't "crack jokes, laugh or sign autographs." He left with his desk-appearance ticket for a misdemeanor of third-degree assault and a court date of June 21st. Meanwhile, this whole thing may land on the shoes of Brooke Shields. TMZ reports that the actress herself "blames the fall on her 6" high heels and the fact that the room was dark and crowded and it was really really late." She also admits that Jack McCollough made contact with her—and of course anyone with their own action figure is going to have a knee-jerk reaction to save the damsel in distress. more ›

Is the economic free fall already leading to higher crime and degentrifying neighborhoods, as previously speculated? Brooklyn's 88th precinct, which includes Fort Greene and Clinton Hill, is reporting that so far this year robberies have spiked 7.6 percent and burglaries are up 18.6 percent. And a cardboard box of bloody human remains discovered on fancy Washington Park isn't exactly putting residents at ease; one of them tells The Brooklyn Paper, “This hasn’t happened since the 1970s. Back then, I came out of my building one morning and found a body hanging from a lightpost." more ›