Over the weekend, the NY Times published an editorial slamming the NYPD for its "constitutionally suspect surveillance practices... employed against law-abiding Muslims" and suggested, "The Justice Department should also review other practices — chief among them, stop-and-frisk — that have virtually eliminated the presumption of innocence and that treat citizens, and even entire communities, as suspect even after they are proved innocent." So the NYPD issued its own defense on its website. more ›

An MTA engineer who faced up to seven years in prison is breathing a sigh of relief today after a jury threw out a serious charge of reckless endangerment, because the arresting officer apparently lied on the arrest report. MTA engineer John Hockenjos ultimately vindicated by a surveillance camera that captured footage of his interaction with officer Diego Palacios, who falsely claimed that Hockenjos sped up his driveway and almost ran him over, forcing him "to jump out of the way to avoid being hit by defendant's vehicle." more ›

A Duane Reade employee was arrested for being a terrible work colleague: The Post reports that Shaun Simmons "secretly recorded his half-naked co-workers with a cellphone wrapped in toilet pape." more ›

In yet another revelation of the scope of the NYPD's surveillance of U.S. citizens throughout the Northeast based on their religion, the AP has obtained secret reports on Muslim communities in Newark, New Jersey, and Suffolk and Nassau Counties in New York. The reports contain photographs of mosques and Muslim-owned businesses, and the names and descriptions of those who worked in them. Newark's mayor Corey Booker claims to have had no knowledge of the NYPD's actions, which occurred in 2007. "Wow," Booker said upon learning of the surveillance. "This raises a number of concerns. It's just very, very, sobering." more ›

An MTA engineer spent three days in jail after being arrested for reckless endangerment, and he faces up to seven years in prison if convicted. John Hockenjos, 55, was arrested last Sunday by cops who were called to his property by his Sheepshead Bay neighbor who's been feuding with him over who owns the driveway between their houses. When Hockenjos arrived home that night, police were standing in the driveway speaking with the neighbor. Cops say he sped up the driveway and almost ran over an officer, who had "to jump out of the way to avoid being hit by defendant's vehicle," according to the police report. Let's go to the videotape! more ›

An internal NYPD document recently obtained by the Associated Press shows that in 2006 NYPD analysts advised the department to infiltrate a number of Shiite mosques because of tensions between the U.S. and Iran. NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly has vigorously denied that the NYPD targets Muslims for surveillance, insisting that "We don't do it ethnically, we do it geographically." But a series of in-depth AP articles have repeatedly contradicted Kelly, revealing that the NYPD does in fact have a wide-ranging surveillance operation designed to infiltrate Muslim communities and mosques. (It's even called the Demographics Unit—not the Geographics Unit.) And the latest AP scoop is further evidence of the role religion plays in NYPD spying. more ›

An iPhone-wielding cop used his Find My iPhone app to track down a thief in Midtown in under 30 minutes on Thursday. After a cashier at Tuci Italia was robbed of her phone around 7 p.m., officer Robert Garland, who the Times describes as "an avid Apple consumer—he and his wife own iPhones, iPads and Macintosh computers," put her Apple ID into his Find My iPhone app and saw the victim's phone was a few blocks away. "I told her when I walked in, 'I'm going to find your iPhone,' " Garland says, in what will surely be a line in a Liam Neeson movie next year. more ›

The NYPD's controversial spying programs don't just include "sending undercover officers into ethnic and Muslim neighborhoods to act like 'a human camera' and 'map the human terrain' in mosques, hookah bars, and Internet cafes." Turns out they also involve flat out spying on college students. And students, faculty and legal experts are, understandably, furious. The multi-year police operation violates U.S. privacy laws and could jeopardize millions of dollars in federal research money and student aid. more ›

"The NYPD has been spying on entire neighborhoods based solely on who lives there and what their religious beliefs are,” Udi Ofer of the NYCLU said yesterday, just as NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly was grilled by City Council members during an "often adversarial" hearing. "We know the NYPD is watching us: the question is, who is watching the NYPD?" That's a good question! The City Council does not have the power to subpoena the NYPD for its intelligence records, and the Federal government—which has invested more than $1.6 billion in the NYPD since 9/11—has no authority to monitor its intelligence operations, either. Don't worry, it's the honor system! more ›

It must be frustrating working at the CIA sometimes, what with all those stifling rules keeping you from spying on suspicious Americans. Thankfully, there's a solution for spooks with an itch to snoop domestically: Just shuffle on over to the NYPD, which has been working closely with the CIA since 2002, when veteran CIA division head David Cohen came out of retirement to run a secretive police intelligence team. In a thorough 5,000 word article, the AP reports that the division's counterterrorism tactics have gone further than what the FBI allows, and they're probably illegal. more ›

The city's surveillance cameras have captured another despicable crime: a man was caught on tape attacking a 29-year-old woman in an elevator in Washington Heights. According to the Daily News—who describe the "goon" as a "Latino who shaves his balding head"—the violent effort was all to get a hold of the woman's cell phone. NY1 reports that the incident took place on June 9th. more ›

Sixteen employees at a Duane Reade warehouse in Queens are furious that the local pharmacy giant allegedly tried to videotape them in the bathroom. So naturally they've filed a $110 million lawsuit in Brooklyn Supreme Court. more ›

A pharmacy manager in Wayne, New Jersey is facing criminal charges for allegedly installing cameras in a men's room at St. Joseph's Hospital—and in the men's room at a Barnes and Noble and a gym in Fairfield! "I put that camera in the bathroom. I have a problem," Leonardo Zoppa confessed to a hospital security director on Wednesday. But before we go any further, let's make it clear that we're not going to use this as an opportunity to take cheap shots against New Jersey—just because they've been known to get it on with cows and molest sleeping women on airplanes doesn't mean everyone in the Garden State is perverted. We're pretty sure Bruce is a straight-up dude, at least. more ›

500 new surveillance cameras went live yesterday inside the Times Square, Penn Station and Grand Central subway station, and 500 more are on the way. At a press conference yesterday at the Minority Reportish Lower Manhattan Security Coordination Center, Mayor Bloomberg and NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly unveiled the new surveillance system, which provides real-time video images to the command center, and can analyze thousands of images to find a particular item. "If we're looking for a person in a red jacket, we can call up all the red jackets filmed in the last 30 days," Kelly told reporters. "We're beginning to use software that can identify suspicious objects or behaviors." (Note to terrorists: red jackets are not a good look for you.) more ›

Yesterday, a video showing a police officer beating a man in an Upper West Side housing project lobby was shown to a jury. Officer David London is accused of felony assault—and lying on his police paperwork—in the beating of Iraq war vet Walter Harvin in 2008. But London's lawyers claimed that Harvin had it coming, even when Harvin was handcuffed, because Harvin had previously uttered, "I'm going to f---ing kill you" and was kicking while cuffed: "Just because an individual is in handcuffs, it doesn't mean he is no longer a danger." more ›

The NYPD is not required to release roughly 1,800 pages of documents detailing their surveillance of individuals around the world in the months leading up to the 2004 Republican National Convention, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled yesterday. The 43 page decision [pdf], which overturned a federal judge's ruling last December, was written by José Cabranes, a Clinton nominee. In the ruling, Cabranes wrote that the NYPD field reports were protected by "law enforcement privilege." more ›

The Times Square terror suspect has been talking. In fact, the Daily News reports that he's "boasting of his connections to global terrorists, giving authorities a who's-who list of Islamic mad men he's met with, sources said Thursday night. Faisal Shahzad, 30, has waived his right to a lawyer and is chatting so much about his ties to anti-American fanatics that federal investigators are rolling their eyes, sources said. 'Maybe it's true, but none of it has been verified at all,' a U.S. counterterrorism official briefed on the interrogation told the Daily News." more ›

As the authorities continue to understand the plans behind the attempted car bombing in Times Square, there's relief that suspect Faisal Shahzad was arrested just before his flight to Dubai took off but there's concern about how he nearly got away. Not only did Emirates Airline ignore an update that Shahzad, a Pakistani national who became a U.S. citizen last year, was added to the no-fly list, the feds lost track of him for a number of hours on Monday during their surveillance. more ›

So far 70 stations are rigged with the cameras, and by June that number is expected to reach 100. The agency asked that $250 million be set aside for security projects over the next five years, but Albany—where Gov. Paterson is hashing out a budget for the upcoming year—rejected the proposal. Bridge tolls, which would have paid for subway surveillance in addition to other improvements to the MTA, were voted down by the legislature. With things as they are the administration warned earlier this year that the planned security overhaul "may never be completed."
more ›

After a two day manhunt, the missing owner of the Acura Legend that struck two women in Prospect Heights has come forward. Cindy Jasmin, 31, consulted with lawyers earlier today and is meeting with investigators this afternoon, the Post reports. Police believe Jasmin ditched the Acura immediately after Sunday's gruesome accident, which left Alma Guererro, 23, with a broken collarbone and her friend Erinn Phelan "clinging to life." Surveillance video taken at a livery car service after the hit-and-run shows a woman believed to be Jasmin. Watch below: more ›

Starting today, cameras installed in four cars on one E train will begin digitally videotaping straphangers. The "unobtrusive" cameras (four in each car) will roll for the next 12 months as part of a pilot program to "aid in the investigation and prosecution of criminal activity." If deemed a success, NYC Transit may expand surveillance to the entire fleet. But officials caution that the footage is not being monitored in real time—there is one DVR for each set of cameras and four NCUs (Network Controller Units) for transmitting the video signals between cars—which are also retrofitted with rush hour flip-up seats! more ›

For the second time this month, video has surfaced showing NYPD officers beating men who appear to be prone and defenseless. Last week two officers were suspended after a witness came forward with video showing them beating a handcuffed man, and now a surveillance video shows three cops punching and kicking a man during an arrest in Bed-Stuy on New Year's Day. The most violent part is probably seen at the 44 second mark: more ›

The demonstrators who fought for the right to rally in front of Mayor Bloomberg's townhouse claim the NYPD violated legal guidelines by taking photographs of them during the demonstration. Parents, students, and teachers who gathered in front of the Mayor's Upper East Side home to protest school closures allege that the NYPD's use of photography violated the Handschu agreement — a longstanding set of legal standards drafted to protect protesters from police intimidation. more ›

When doing an armed robbery, it's often useful to wear a mask, or come in drag. The mask is the simpler option, but the thing about that is it only works when it's covering your face. Yesterday the NYPD released this surveillance video of three men robbing a Kew Gardens deli. The perp who pulls the gun on the clerk gets so caught up in the excitement that he initially forgets one teensy detail. more ›

With the federal authorities continuing their investigation of an alleged terror plot with roots in Denver and Queens, some New York City Muslims have accused the feds and NYPD of racial profiling. Queens Islamic activist Monami Maulik said over the weekend, "An entire community and people and religion should not be profiled and characterized as terrorists because of certain investigations." more ›

Days after the NYPD announced plans to expand their anti-terror surveillance network to a huge swath of midtown, it's been revealed that the department is also quickly amassing a vast database of cell phone users. Officers have been instructed to remove suspects' cell phone batteries when making an arrest, for the twofold purpose of "avoiding leakage" and also documenting the phone's International Mobile Equipment Identity number [IMEI]. The IMEI number is registered with the service provider whenever a call is made, and can be used to connect the dots between suspects. Naturally, the NYCLU is pissed. more ›

The city will expand the downtown surveillance network commonly referred to as the "Ring of Steel" to midtown, using $24 million in Homeland Security grants. Mayor Bloomberg and NYPD commissioner Ray Kelly announced yesterday that the new "monitoring network" would cover the areas between 30th and 60th Streets, from the Hudson to the East River. Like the system downtown (formally called the "Lower Manhattan Security Initiative"), the expanded surveillance network would feed streams of data for analysis to a coordination center at 55 Broadway. more ›

It's been more than seven years since the attacks of September 11th inspired the MTA to beef up security in the transit system, but a massive effort to improve surveillance underground is still incomplete. Back in 2005, the authority sealed a $212 million deal with Lockheed Martin to install 1,000 video cameras and 3,000 motion sensors, as well as enable cellphone service in 277 underground stations. Today the Times reports that large parts of the project are not "scheduled" to be completed until September, and that estimate doesn't even include parts of the under-river tunnels used by the subway and the Long Island Rail Road. The project was supposed to be done last August. more ›

Boston police say the woman found shot to death in a hotel room was NYC resident Julissa Brisman. Brisman apparently advertised massage services in Craigslist's erotic services section and police suspect her killer was the man who answered her ad. more ›

Today's Times trend piece on NYPD officers getting caught misbehaving on video is enough to make one nostalgic. Of course, no one could forget the famous cop-bike-bodyslam blockbuster from last July, truly the gold standard in NYPD abuse porn. But let's not let that high water mark diminish the oeuvre's other classics, like the "cop pauses beating to take phone call" surveillance video, or the lively Delancey Street baton beatdown, or the tragically fatal Tasering of the naked disturbed man. This stroll down bad-memory lane is occasioned by a new addition to the series: Detective Debra Eager was indicted Monday on three felony perjury charges after her testimony before a grand jury about a 2007 drug arrest was found to have "starkly contradicted" video surveillance. It's unclear exactly how the video differs from Eager's testimony, but the charges have something to do with "misremembering" just how the bust went down. However, we do know the end result for the drug suspects: felony and misdemeanor charges were quietly dropped last October! more ›