We know from watching cop movies that being a detective means having to deal with a lot of paperwork. On the plus side, this gives cops another thing to humorously grumble about, and creates opportunities for gruff stationhouse banter. (If detectives didn't have paperwork to procrastinate, would they have found the time to assemble a condom-covered tree plant on Danny Glover's desk in Lethal Weapon 2?) But now a group of detectives wants to put an end to this long tradition, and they're meeting with Chief of Detectives Phil Pulaski Wednesday to complain that mounting paperwork is keeping them from fighting crime.
Thomas Sullivan at the Lieutenants Benevolent Association tells the Daily News, "A lot of people feel their primary focus, the investigation, is being pushed to the back while all the administrative issues are dealt with." By the end of the workday, detectives are required to log their every move, "including what car they drove, what time they left, whom they talked to and where they stopped." Critics call these multiple forms "Pulaskigrams," and the Chief seems to be ruffling a lot of feathers; since his arrival, seven of the 25 captains assigned to the detective bureau have transferred, citing him as the primary reason.
Homicides are up 13%, and the percentage of murders solved this calendar year hovered under 50% in late summer, the lowest in five years. Now more than ever, NYC needs a couple of wisecracking cops who don't mind bending a few rules to get a collar, whether that hothead Pulaski likes it or not. Ideally, one of them will live on a houseboat.
