Back in January, The Daily News reported about a lawsuit filed by veteran police officer Michael Birch against the New York Police Department (NYPD). Birch claimed that he was punished by his superiors for not racially profiling more efficiently.
Michael Birch, 44, was a transit cop in District 34 in Brooklyn when he secretly recorded a sit-down with his commanding officer and a lieutenant after he had received a poor evaluation in 2011.
Birch was reminded by Capt. Constantin Tsachas that most of the crimes in the subway system were being committed by black and Hispanic teens, while most of the cop’s stops were of women and whites.
And while the News’ coverage of this event referenced an audio recording Birch claimed was an interaction between himself and his commanding officer, Capt. Constantin Tsachas, the audio wasn’t made public until yesterday. Gawker has published the audio clip and the interaction, if the genuine McCoy, is damning stuff.
Commanding Officer: Who commits the crimes in the city?
Birch: Who commits the crimes? Well, it’s mostly teenagers, anywhere between the ages of 15 and 19, mostly male blacks and Hispanics.
OK. Who are you stopping?
Everybody. I stop everybody.
Fifty-four TABs up to 8/20. Twenty-five of those are female. Half.
Like I said, I stop everybody. I’m not targeting anybody.
You just told me who the bad guys are.
Yeah, I know that. But there’s also other people who are committing violations as well. I’m not saying that there’s not violations being made.
The male blacks, that you told me commit the crimes—
Plenty of people that I write summonses to are male blacks and male Hispanics.
You stopped two male blacks.
Not for the whole year. You’re telling me for the whole year I only stopped two male blacks on summonses?
8/20. From January 1st to August 20th. Fifty-four TABs: two male blacks, seven Hispanics, seven other, ten white, three Asian. So where are you targeting the perps that you just told me?
Like I said, if I don’t see a perp jumping over the turnstile, what am I supposed to do to him?
These people are not going to pop.
How do I know that? A female Hispanic that I stopped in Sheepshead Bay did pop, actually, for a warrant, and I arrested her. Female Hispanic. The Hispanics that we’re supposed to be going after. That are committing the crimes. The people that I—
Did you think that she was going to pop?
Did I think she was going to pop? I didn’t put no thought into it. If you come up for a collar, I’m taking you in.
Here’s what I see. You just described to me who’s committing the crimes. You’re fully aware of it. But you’re not targeting those people.
I am. I’m targeting everybody.
Two male blacks.
Whoever is out there. If I—
So you only saw two male blacks jump the turnstile?
If you’re saying that’s what’s in front of you, then yes, that’s all I saw, is two male blacks for the whole year jumping the turnstile. If you’re saying that’s what’s in front of you, I’m not disputing that. If that’s what I got there.
That is what you have. That is not disputed here.
I’m saying, we’re also talking Hispanics as well. I stopped a lot of Hispanics, too.
Seven male Hispanics. But more than half are female.
And like I said, everybody’s committing violations in front of me.
The audio takes place during the good old stop and frisk era of the NYPD, when, like the gestapo, the NYPD decided harassing black and hispanic kids to look through their backpacks was good police work.
You can listen to the audio below the fold.