Police News Roundup.
A Traffic Enforcement agent has won the first round in a battle to be reinstated. He is a Sikh and refused to wear his uniform hat and instead opted for his turban. The Times reports that he agreed to refrain from wearing the turban while the Department considered his request for accommodation. The Times seems to indicate this action was initiated by the Department with such quotes as the "department continued to insist that he not wear a turban." If you extrapolate from the story, he requested the accommodation and then began to wear the turban anyway. On a lighter note, the Post referred to it as "Turban Renewal."

The Post also reports that the NYPD overtime bill is skyrocketing. Overtime accounts for 10% of the total police budget.

The Post also reports that the City Council was surprised that the VIPER video surveillance cameras were being manned by some of the more unsavory members of the Department like those on modified assignment or otherwise under investigation. I would like to know which neighborhood they would remove a full-duty cop from in order to watch the cameras. More on this as it relates to press credentials below.

Another detective has pleaded guilty to corruption charges in the ever widening Narcotics Division scandal. The problem with this scandal is that it doesn't have a good corruption nickname like the "Morgue Boys" or the "Dirty 30."

Speaking of the Morgue Boys, The Daily News reports that Michael Dowd was released from prison yesterday after serving ten years of a fourteen year sentence for corruption charges. In a story that got surprisingly little media attention, Dowd reportedly stated he "wasn't looking for any sympathy." Happy to oblige here!

Newsday's erstwhile Police Beat reporter Lenny Levitt reports that the Department seems to be ruthlessly yanking press credentials. First threatening the reporter who obtained the video tape of the Staten Island VIPER Unit office and then for NY1's Gary Ramsay.

And finally, in the "but where did he hide his weapon" department, the AP reports a naked man tried to hijack a private school bus in Georgia. Police would not comment on the man's mental state, but Base10 suspects the man comes from somewhere in the state of inebriation.
- posted by Base10 @ 11:49 AM