"Holy Corruption, Batman!"
As reported in the New York Times last week, 16 officers - many of them "white shirts" were formally charged (arraigned) in New York State Supreme Court in the Bronx with various crimes ranging from "fixing" tickets for friends and relatives all the way up to selling drugs, attempted robbery, attempted grand larceny, and other felonies. The Bronx district attorney says that the value of the tickets that were fixed total to somewhere between $1 million and $2 million US dollars.
Actual crimes have been committed. Bad stuff, indeed!
Of course, the rest of the NYPD would never support this kind of corrupt behavior . . . or would they? The answer is gonna make you sick and we'll explore it on the other side of Markos' cute little doodle.
The 16 who appeared in court were only the first of what is expected to be several dozen cops who will be facing no less than disciplinary charges from the NYPD and some may be looking at much worse action against them. In fact, some of the cops who have been tipped off regarding their impending legal entanglements have already retired in order to protect their pensions from being denied them.
All of this comes ON TOP OF the "shenanigans" announced earlier last week:
Federal agents earlier in the week arrested eight current and former officers on accusations that they had brought illegal firearms, slot machines and black-market cigarettes into New York City. Recently, other officers have been charged in federal court with making false arrests, and there was testimony in a trial in Brooklyn that narcotics detectives planted drugs on innocent civilians.
The above paragraph is quoted from the
NY Times article linked to at the top of the diary.
These events should raise very serious concerns about the culture of the NYPD. Yes, their "culture". The NYPD has a culture of its own. Just like different companies foster a unique "corporate culture" and our own Occupy locations each have their individual culture, the NYPD has a culture - and it's starting to look like a really ugly one.
The reaction of the NYPD to the charges against the corrupt members of their organization shows how malodorous their culture has become. Again from the NY Times story:
. . . hundreds of off-duty officers, who converged on the courthouse to applaud their accused colleagues and denounce their prosecution.
The assembled police officers blocked cameras from filming their colleagues, in one instance grabbing lenses and shoving television camera operators backward.
Forming a wall four deep in the main foyer, they applauded as the defendants appeared. The indicted officers waved and pumped their fists. A court official who came out to calm the crowd drew insults.
They APPLAUDED the corrupt cops? This says alot about the NYPD culture. Add this behavior to what they've done to our OWS brothers and sisters and the smell of the NYPD culture becomes most pungent.
I ask that you read the NY Times article. Seriously, please click this link to the original NY Times story. The details you will read there are pretty bad, and include taunting people who are waiting in line for their public assistance money.
I wrote this diary not to celebrate the indictment of a few cops, but to give you folks some insight into who the OWS people are dealing with every day in NYC. On top of the cold and the other uncomfortable conditions these good men and women have to endure, they have to face a group of uniformed and armed people who do not respect their constitutional rights, but who will actually applaud members of their own group who have clearly broken the law.
The OWS protesters are more brave than you or I may have thought.
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UPDATE: Holy Rec List, Batman! I go to take a nap and look what all you nice folks have done here! I thank you sincerely.