NYPD is not being transparent enough to cops about the growing cases sickened by the virus in the department

NY Post

Officers are furious that the NYPD isn’t even telling its own members about who has tested positive for coronavirus — with cops in one precinct only finding out their bosses were out sick when they read it in The Post.

“You shouldn’t have to find out through the news,” one police source said, complaining about officers in Lower Manhattan’s 1st Precinct not being told about the positive case and sick cops last week.

“Their bosses went out sick and they didn’t even tell them. If there are 31 cops out sick in a precinct with 500 cops, there’s a lot more who are infected. They all have contact with their supervisors.”

More than 3,200 cops were home ill Wednesday — more than three times the average number for this time of year — according to Police Commissioner Dermot Shea, who said the number of confirmed cases also ticked up but did not provide a number. Shea said Tuesday evening that 211 members of the NYPD had contracted COVID-19.

As the virus spreads through the force, police sources told The Post the only way cops are finding out about positive cases is when sick cops personally reach out.

But even then, sources said, they aren’t getting tested — despite working in close quarters and continued public interactions, which could cause further spread as health officials have ordered social distancing.

“Guys have pregnant wives and older parents at home. You can test a basketball team … you should be able to test the NYPD and the FDNY,” one source said.

The mysterious and creepy abandoned nursing home

Hi Crappie, I was wondering if anyone knows what's going on with the Nursing Home that's on the beach in Neponsit. I remember that Mayor Giuliani ordered an evacuation in the middle of the night in the winter because of structural problems with the building.There was an outcry that some people died from the move and there was talk that the mayor was doing his developer friends a favor by condemning the property. Recently I was at Riis Park and noticed a police car sitting by the building all day. What's up?

The Nursing Home on the boardwalk at 116 street has a dead tree hanging over it's main entrance.The tree was half dead before Hurricane Katrina pushed the boardwalk against the building. You think someone would have removed the dead tree before it clobbers someone and they will sue the city for millions.

Thanks

- Rich

Police impersonator strikes in Flushing

From CBS:

Cops are still looking for a police impersonator who made a fake stop in Flushing, Queens last week.

He told an 82-year-old man he could pay him $700 to avoid a traffic violation for running a stop sign.

The suspect drove the man to a bank where he handed over the cash

BDB losing support among black community

From the NY Times:

Dozens of black ministers, justice reform advocates and civil rights activists and four black members of Congress gathered last Monday at Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem to discuss a delicate matter: What to do about Mayor Bill de Blasio.

Over the course of the morning meeting, attendees voiced a series of concerns: Mr. de Blasio, some complained, seems to have lost his appetite for criminal justice reform. The mayor, they said, has been too slow to take action against the police officer whose use of a chokehold on Eric Garner, an unarmed black man on Staten Island, led to Mr. Garner’s death. Other participants grumbled that Mr. de Blasio and his staff have simply not done enough to communicate with black community leaders on issues like affordable housing.

The unusual congregation of community influencers, convened by the Rev. Calvin O. Butts III, was part gripe session, part strategic huddle, revealing the first hints of frustration with a mayor who won 96 percent of the black vote when he was elected in 2013.

Black voters have been an essential base of support for the mayor, remaining largely enthusiastic about him even as his support has wilted with other groups in the city. The bonds were forged in Mr. de Blasio’s early criticism of stop-and-frisk policing, and reinforced by politically resonant images of his biracial family broadcast during the 2013 campaign.

Yet the perception that Mr. de Blasio, a Democrat, has eased up on his commitment to police reform has plainly begun to rankle some: At a weekend gathering this month at the Rev. Al Sharpton’s National Action Network, Representative Hakeem Jeffries, a Brooklyn Democrat, publicly lamented that “broken windows policing,” the aggressive enforcement of minor violations, was still policy across the city.

Mr. Jeffries, who also attended the gathering at Abyssinian, said in an interview that there was “growing disenchantment with the administration in the black community.”

“The disenchantment relates to policing issues, the mayor’s support of broken windows, his lack of support for banning
chokeholds and his willingness to support making resisting arrest a felony,” Mr. Jeffries said, adding: “We’re very early in the mayor’s first term, and there’s a lot of room for progress.”

Thousands of cops turn backs on DeBlasio

From the NY Post:

Mayor de Blasio tried to make peace with the NYPD Saturday but again collided with the Blue Wall of Resentment.

As he took the podium Saturday at the funeral of slain Officer Rafael Ramos, thousands of cops outside the church turned their backs to the video monitors showing the mayor delivering his eulogy inside.

In a gradual wave, the assembled cops nearest the screens and speakers on Myrtle Avenue in Queens began to about-face, until the entire sea of blue stretching two blocks had their backs to the image of the city’s leader.

“Our hearts are aching today. We can feel it physically. We feel it deeply. New York City has lost a hero — a remarkable man because of the depths of his commitment to all around him,” de Blasio said of Ramos.

As he acknowledged the fallen officer’s family, the mayor reached out to the rank-and-file.

“I extend my condolences to another family — the family of the NYPD that is hurting so deeply right now,” said de Blasio.

Officers outside maintained a stony silence throughout the eulogy until de Blasio began to speak in Spanish, which prompted snickers.

And the ones in the photo aren't even NYPD, for the most part...

Speaker calls for increase in police force

From the NY Post:

City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito is breaking ranks with her BFF and calling on Mayor Bill de Blasio to hire an extra 1,000 cops, The Post has learned.

The speaker said the additional beat cops are needed to help the mayor achieve his own goals to reduce traffic deaths — a plan he calls “Vision Zero” — and to improve policing tactics and community relationships.

“We want to give Commissioner (Bill) Bratton and the NYPD the tools they need to ensure that NYPD continues to be the best police force possible. By adding 1,000 cops to the beat, NYPD will have more flexibility and will be better able to keep New Yorkers safe,” Mark-Viverito told The Post.

It’s a far cry from fully replenishing the ranks from their high point in 2001, when there were 40,710 officers. Today that number has fallen to only 35,437.

But it’s an important first step, law enforcement sources said.

Day of reckoning for civil servant scammers

From NBC 4:

More than 100 former police officers, firefighters and other city workers faked mental disabilities in order get tens of thousands of dollars in Social Security benefits a year, NBC 4 New York has learned.

But an investigation has revealed the former city workers were pursuing other activities that appeared to negate their claims. One police officer who claimed he was so mentally disabled was allegedly working as a martial arts instructor, officials said. Another who claimed he could not work was allegedly flying helicopters.

One got benefits because of a fear of crowds and yet was found to be selling cannolis in Little Italy during the San Genarro festival. And another went on to allegedly run a private security company.

Many allegedly claimed to be affected by their efforts on 9/11, yet investigators found many were not even near ground zero that day.

All allegedly got help gaming the system from the same two lawyers, ages 89 and 83, and two former police officers who in exchange allegedly took cash payments.

Investigators said one of the attorneys who helped run the scheme is Raymond Lavallee, who worked as an FBI agent in the 1950s and '60s. Calls to Lavallee’s home and law office were not returned Monday.

The criminal charges expected to be announced Tuesday will include 106 people in all.

The more than 100 workers were allegedly taught how to claim they were mentally scarred on SSID applications in order to collect $30,000 to $50,000 in benefits annually.

Investigators said Lavallee would receive thousands in cash payments from successful applicants that were at times left for him in paper bags on a park bench near his office.

Homeless cause havoc in Briarwood

From the Queens Chronicle:

A Briarwood church has grown frustrated with an ongoing problem facing the property.

For seven years, the Victoria Congregational Church at 144-64 87 Ave. has been having issues with inebriated individuals at all times of day and night sleeping and consuming alcohol on a ramp that acts as one of the main entrances to the church and in front of the parsonage’s primary entrance door located next to the church.

The Rev. Mark Marsh, pastor of the Victoria Congregational Church, has reached out to Capt. Frederick Grover, the commanding officer of the 107th Precinct in Flushing, in an effort to solve the issue, but little to no action has been taken.

“We need patrols but not only that, we need the officers to get out of the car and walk onto the property,” Marsh said. “Normally they just drive through.”

The times when Marsh had called 911, police officers did not show up at all or almost 45 minutes after the initial call was made.

One time, Marsh had to wait over an hour to go home because the exit was blocked. He called 911 but the police did not respond even though the operator knew an inebriated individual had a brick in his hand and threatened to throw it at Marsh.

Though the individuals have become a nuisance, Marsh said he is not looking to harm anyone.

“What we noticed is that the same people that were here in 2006 are still using the ramp today,” he said. “We’ve talked to the precinct about maybe having some program that the police could put them through to help them.”

According to Marsh, the church is not allowed to contact a social agency to remove the drunken individuals.

“The police are the only ones allowed to contact them and request their help,” he said. “The only way we would be able to get a social agency involved is if we go up to the individuals and ask if they would like us to take them to a facility but if they say no, there is nothing we can do to force them.”

Marsh said that the church has had to call three ambulances in the past month and has found old carpets, trash and even feces at the top of the ramp.

I wonder what Samaritan Village is planning to do about this since it is most likely their drunken residents who are peeing and shitting all over the place when they miss curfew and get locked out. If they want approval to open a homeless shelter in Glendale, they probably should clean up their act in Briarwood first.

MTA Police are rolling in dough

From the NY Post:

Nearly nine out of 10 MTA police officers who patrol the Staten Island Railway, Long Island Railroad and Metro-North rake in more than $100,000 a year, according to MTA salary data obtained by The Post through a Freedom of Information request.

The commuter-rail cops averaged $27,000 in annual overtime and more than $127,000 in total pay last year. More than 86 percent took in $100,000 or more in total earnings, and 11 cops topped $200,000.

The biggest cheese of all — bagging an eye-popping $234,641.84 last year — was Brian Sullivan, a Metro-North detective sergeant who joined the force in July 1992.

He took home $76,000 in overtime and almost $158,000 in base pay, which, in a 40-hour work week, would mean he was paid $75.96 an hour. But according to the MTA, his hourly pay rate in 2012 was only $53.21 an hour. Sullivan’s total earnings could buy more than 93,800 MetroCard rides, 11,732 round-trip tickets from Grand Central Station to New Rochelle, or eight MTA police cars.

Crowley forgets who slashed police force

From Elizabeth Crowley's Op-Ed in the NY Post:

More than 30 members of the City Council have co-sponsored the Community Safety Act, a set of bills designed to curb stop-and-frisks and alter NYPD policies. While it is indeed important to discuss ways of improving the NYPD, these bills neglect to examine a simple solution that will improve policing and keep us protected: Hire more cops.

...a larger force would make us safer — and greatly reduce the tensions that stops give rise to.

When Ray Kelly first served as police commissioner under Mayor David Dinkins, he promoted community policing that placed thousands more cops on the street — a policy continued by Mayor Rudy Giuliani.

Community policing put officers in position to prevent crime and gave comfort to residents. The growth of the force that began under Dinkins put the NYPD’s ranks at nearly 41,000 under Guiliani — and brought a dramatic decrease in crime.

But since then Mayor Bloomberg has slashed more than 6,000 cops, including a 30 percent drop in detectives. We’re asking the NYPD to do more with less each year, even as it faces new responsibilities for counterterrorism and technology crime.

Mayor Bloomberg slashed 6,000 cops? I think Ms. Crowley has forgotten which branch of government is responsible for passing the budget every year. Just because the Mayor hands you a shit sandwich doesn't mean you have to eat it. But for the first time in NYC history, this Council, under the leadership of Christine Quinn, seems to think it does.

And if we're still debating whether or not stop-and-frisk works, then it probably doesn't. Not to mention that it's unconstitutional.

Also keep in mind that this Op-Ed was probably ghostwritten by Pat "Support it as a tool" Lynch, a "very close friend" of Liz Crowley.