NYC Magazine » NYPD

NYC Murder Rate at Record Low

Igor Derysh — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 22:30:51 +0000

Say what you will about New York City turning into a police state (and I’ve said plenty) but it does work. According to the New York Times, New York City is on pace to have its lowest murder rate on record.

The Times reports that by December 27, the city had 461 murders, 35 less than the city had in 2007 when the city had less than 500 murders for the first time.

Pretty good considering as recently as 1990 the city saw more than 2,200 murders in one year.

At the same time, the city’s current deficit will undoubtedly lead to thousands of ...continue reading

NYPD Pushing Ridiculous “Feet-on-Seat” Tickets in Subway

Igor Derysh — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 14:00:01 +0000

Just as the NYPD tried to tackle jaywalking a few years ago, cops are not stringently ticketing commuters (who are already being screwed by the MTA) for putting their feet up on train seats…even when train cars are nearly empty.

The Gothamist details how two people have received $50 fines for putting their feet up on seats nearby despite the fact that they did so on nearly empty cars after midnight.

One such case included a Fashion Institute of Technology student who received two fines on two consecutive days even though he did so at around 2:30 ...continue reading

NYC Wastes Tens of Millions on Pot Arrests, 12% of All Arrests Are Marijuana Charges

Igor Derysh — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 14:00:43 +0000

For all the talk about crime statistics in New York City, the irony of all ironies is that the taxpayer is charged tens of millions of dollars every year so that cops can arrest people for harmlessly smoking a pot.

According to a recent study, around 12% of all arrests in New York City are on marijuana charges, something that was rarely done until Rudy Giuliani and, even more so, Michael Bloomberg installed policies to make their crime statistics look good by going after pot smokers.

Of course the crime stats improved under Giuliani and Bloomberg, the two mayors saw marijuana arrests surge ...continue reading

Fatal Shooting In Times Square

Yelena Mandenberg — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 06:13:55 +0000

Thursday morning, a police sergeant (wearing plain clothes) had a showdown with a street vendor on 42nd street, ending with the death of the vendor.

The incident, taking place on New York’s most famous and crowded street, caused quite a commotion and was incredibly public as hundreds of people passed by the scene.

This happened at around 11:15 a.m., when the sergeant, Christopher Newsom, 41, had a confrontation with two men outside of 1515 Broadway, the skyscraper that is between 44th and 45th Streets that is most famous for being the setting of the MTV show, “Total Request Live.”

According to the New York ...continue reading

City Offers Free Swine Flu Shot To All, Until Saturday

Yelena Mandenberg — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 06:10:37 +0000

Since the hype about swine flu has died down recently, the city has been getting less and less demands for the swine flu vaccine, and is going to stop giving out free shots this Saturday. However, until then, they are inviting everyone – regardless of age or health – to come receive the shot.

These shots are given out at free clinics, which were mainly created so that middle and high school students could receive free medical attention but are now also currently open to accommodate pregnant women, people ages 4 to 24, and people from 25 to 64 who have underlying ...continue reading

NYPD Won’t Stop Stop-and-Frisk Program

Igor Derysh — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 14:00:50 +0000

When Michael Bloomberg campaigned for re-election, one of his biggest claims was his work to lower crime in the city. While crime did indeed go down under the Bloomberg but so did the level of civil liberties that New Yorkers have.

Now, it appears that the controversial and seemingly unconstitutional NYPD Stop-and-Frisk program will continue despite countless calls from civil liberties and beleaguered New Yorkers to stop the searches of innocent New Yorkers.

The NYPD’s Stop-and-Frisk program has been going on for years. Each and every year the NYPD stops more than half of a million New ...continue reading

NYPD Finally Pulls in New Applicants

Yelena Mandenberg — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 20:30:38 +0000

For a place like New York City, a gigantic police force is a top priority, but in recent years, the NYPD has been unable to generate any interest in this career field. Finally, new numbers show that because of the prolonged recession and an increase in rookie salaries, the number of applications to the Police Academy rose 54 percent.

For a while, the applications have slowed. Many thought they could find better jobs, or safer jobs. Now, however, many people who have been out of work for a while decided to live out their childhood dreams and become police officers.

This increase in ...continue reading