Police News Roundup (Special Two-Day Edition).
Monday was a little busy for Base10, but don't worry it was a relatively slow news day. In a follow-up to Friday's 911 blackout, NY1 reports a Queens family is claiming that a member died of cardiac arrest as a result of the 911 failure. NY1 also reports that the NYPD plans beefed up security during the Passover holiday. The unimaginatively named black law enforcement group "100 Blacks in Law Enforcement" give Police Commissioner Kelly failing grades in diversity. Read about it in NY1, and the Post. The Daily News reports that the Police and Fire Department risk losing millions in federal aid because their disaster operations are not sufficiently coordinated.

The Post also reports that a cop is accusing the Department of discrimination. Base10 thinks this is a great example of the adage that a plaintiff's attorney is a lazy reporter's best friend. The plaintiff in this case is alleging that she is being discriminated against on the basis of race (at least that's what I get from the story). Yet she claims that the discrimination started because she passed out during a 12-hour shift on the subway during last year's 4th of July. Now aside from the obligatory, "NYPD will not comment on ongoing litigation" quote at the end, did the reporter in this case actually do any work other than copy down verbatim what was alleged by this "victim?" The attorney says that the intense heat led her to go to the hospital (and presumably go sick--remember readers cops have unlimited paid sick leave). Did the reporter check any of this? How about an attempt to interview other cops from District 4? Was it unusually hot that day? Did other officers working on the subway have to go sick from heat exhaustion that day? Presumably there were other cops working, not just the plaintiff. Or was this just an attempt to avoid an unpleasant assignment by going sick? If I had to bet, I'd say it is the latter, but the outcome of the case certainly won't be mentioned in the Post.

In the "couldn't you think of something better to do during the Easter season" department, thieves stole the stations of the cross from a Bronx church. The stations of the cross! Really! Is this "The Passion of the Christ" merchandising gone crazy? Maybe Mel Gibson should have come out with an action figure set. Base10 thinks there's a special place for those who did this, and it's not in the Bronx.
- posted by Base10 @ 8:26 PM