Police News Roundup.
The Post reports sad news that a cop was seriously injured last night in a car accident driving home from the Yankee home opener and is in currently in a coma.

In a much less serious injury, the Post also reports that an authcrime cop lost his pinkie opening the hood of a car during a stop in Brooklyn.

Also in the Post, a Vermont deputy sheriff was arraigned in federal court regarding the murder of a Bronx man over eight years ago. The killing was tied to a drug deal.

The Daily News reports a former member of the NYPD also had a court appearance and pleaded guilty to petit larceny and official misconduct regarding an incident where he stole drugs from a suspect in custody. The former officer resigned as a condition of the plea.

The NYCLU, self-styled protector of our civil liberties, has criticized the NYPD for sending undercover detectives to attend a meeting of the "Black Tea Society" in Boston back in February. Donna Lieberman, the NYCLU executive director noted that

The Police Department should not be causally [sic] adopting the tactics of bad old days of undercover spies in political organizations. It impacts the freedom of political debate, chills political activity and ought not be done unless there is strong evidence of criminal activity.

Lenny Levitt, the erstwhile Newsday Police Beat reporter also noted the incident in his Friday column, One Police Plaza. In both articles, Mr Levitt insisted that the Handschu guidelines--a set of rules designed to limit police ability to investigate political activity--were still in effect. Apparently Lenny Levitt didn't bother to read this story in the NYT back in August that Judge Haight's ruling expanding Handschu was still in effect. (Link to full text to follow). Or this article in NY1. The Handschu controversy deserves more detailed and thoughtful treatment and will be accorded such, but the guidelines are clearly too restrictive in a post-9/11 world. For example, no legal restriction would have prevented Lenny Levitt from attending that meeting and not revealing his identity. In fact, he could have published a transcript. But under Handschu, the Police Department could not, even if police officials were only gathering intelligence over criminal activity.

And in the "I feel dirty" department, an Atlanta man was convicted of burglary after being discovered taking a shower in the apartment of his victim and faces up to twenty years at his sentencing next month. While we deplore the crime of burglary, we also commend the defendant, Tyron Jones, for his commitment to personal hygiene. Mr Jones should stand as an example of cleanliness in the criminal community.

UPDATE: As promised, a link to the full text of the NYT piece about Judge Haight. Lenny Levitt isn't paying much attention these days. Text via Proquest, a great free resource from your local library.
- posted by Base10 @ 7:01 PM