Not at all creepy…..
The agency will be testing risks posed by airborne contaminants by pumping benign chemicals into the lungs of straphangers.
(Source: jayaprada)
I'm a global citizen, with an academic backgrund in the Middle East and Africa. Cities around the world feel like my home. I'm a professional Educator, which means something both in and out of public schools in the Bronx. And I believe in Solidarity. Wherever I am. Notes from my travels, research, and encounters tend to end up here...
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May 12, 2013
NYPD To Inject Totally Harmless Gas Into Subway This Summer
May 1, 2013
April 11, 2013
NYPD Officer Charged After Helping Police Gang Commit Over 100 Robberies
A 17-year veteran of the New York City Police Department pled not guilty Thursday to charges that he supplied police paraphernalia and weapons to a stickup crew, which then used the equipment to rob drug dealers.
Officer Jose Tejada is accused of involvement in a string of 2006 and 2007 robberies in which he is alleged to have provided NYPD badges, uniforms and even police vehicles to a group of thieves. Tejada, 45, who had been assigned to police Harlem, was in uniform and on duty at the time of at least one of his alleged crimes.
He’s been connected to three of the more than one hundred robberies the crew is supposedly behind, with some dating back to 2001. Tejada is charged with conspiracy to commit robbery, conspiracy to distribute drugs including heroin, cocaine, MDMA, and marijuana, as well as an unlawful use of a firearm charge, according to local NY1 news.
Prosecutors say Tejada was caught in an “ongoing Internal Affairs Bureau investigation” and has been suspended from the department after holding a family of three at gunpoint while his colleagues searched their home.
He also is accused of checking the legal status of other robbers in the gang and letting them know when it was safe to flee then reenter the United States.
“Obviously it is sad and disappointing anytime a police officer is arrested,” said NYPD commissioner Ray Kelly.
Tejada is the second officer to be charged as part of the robbery crew, which began in 2001 and has “netted more than 250 kilograms of cocaine and $1 million in narcotics proceeds,” prosecutors told the Times.
Emmanuel Tavarez, an eight-year veteran of the force, was sentenced to 25 years in prison in May 2012 after being convicted for aiding the gang. Twenty other members have been implicated in the years-long investigation.
March 17, 2013
Minority living in NYC
NYPD Enters Building Without A Warrant, Breaks Landlords Leg And Handcuffs Her To Hospital Bed For 17 Days
A Brooklyn landlord says she was shackled to a hospital bed for 17 days after cops broke her leg during a wrongful arrest in the hallway of her Flatbush building.
Karen Brim, 42, claims an NYPD officer threw her to the ground, severely fracturing her left leg, after she identified herself as the owner of the Utica Avenue building and asked why the cops were there, according to a new lawsuit.
The single mother was arrested and brought to Kings County Hospital, where she needed multiple surgeries, plates and screws to fix the bones broken in a tussle with Officer Timothy Reilly.
Adding insult to injury, court papers say, was the way police restrained her for more than two weeks during her hospital stay, with one officer posted outside her room.
“She was hand- and ankle-cuffed to her hospital bed,” lawyer Marshall Bluth told The Post. “They would not allow family or friends to enter. She wasn’t presented before a judicial hearing officer for 17 days. It was pretty egregious.”
A state court spokesman said the 24-hour standard for arraignment in criminal cases doesn’t apply when defendants are hospitalized.
But Brim was conscious and incapable of fleeing because of her injuries and could have been arraigned at any point, Bluth said.
“She’s not a flight risk. She cannot run out of the hospital. There’s no need to handcuff and ankle-cuff her. Being handcuffed to a bed — it’s like being a caged animal. It’s outrageous,” he said. “It’s beyond belief. Not for one day, not for one week, but for 17 days?”
The confrontation with cops unfolded on April 30, 2012, when Reilly, Officer Ralph Giordano and an unidentified partner spotted four neighborhood teens hanging out on a roof adjacent to Brim’s building. They chased the youths into Brim’s building, entering via the roof, as Brim was mopping a hallway, according to a police source and Brim’s Brooklyn federal court lawsuit.
Brim claims things got physical when she protested that the kids were visitors and not trespassing.
Cops maintain that Brim was the violent one — swinging a broom at Reilly, smacking him in the head and putting her hand around his neck, according to a criminal complaint.
The cops arrested the teens — Brenado Simpson, Clifton Bailey, Robean Romans and Distephano Destin — for trespassing. The charges were later dropped, the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office said.
Brim was charged with assault, resisting arrest, menacing, harassment and obstructing governmental administration. Her criminal case is pending.
Brim insists in court papers the cops lied.
“She’s mopping the common areas, as she does once every two weeks or so, and suddenly police officers descend from the roof into her building and proceed to beat her up, basically,” Bluth said. “No one really knows for sure why they did this. They basically stormed her building.”
The cops did not have a warrant, according to Brim, who’s owned the three-story building for more than a decade and operates a beauty salon on the first floor.
Brim is seeking unspecified damages in her lawsuit, which accuses the officers of using “unnecessary and unreasonable” force, false arrest, falsifying evidence and violating her constitutional rights.
It was the second time in a year officer Reilly was accused of being violent with the public. Brooklyn resident Samuel Semple sued the city last year after Reilly allegedly “forcibly dragged” him out of a restaurant. Semple, who suffered minor injuries, got a $10,000 settlement in January.
The city will review Brim’s allegations once it gets a copy of the lawsuit, a Law Department spokeswoman said.
February 14, 2013
Second LAPD Officer Makes Manifesto In The Wake of Chris Dorner
“My Former LAPD Officer Joe Jones MANIFESTO…I know most of you who personally who me are in disbelief of the partial story I will tell today. A story that has been suppressed for about 18 years, But lives strong everyday of my life. I without hesitation would like to send my condolences to the Victims who were lost and their families during this tragic situation. I would also like to send my condolences and well wishes to the many former and current Officers, as well as …Citizen’s and their families who lost the lives and souls of loved one’s to the injustices of Police Corruption, Scandal, Lies, Deception and Brutality.
Unlike Former Officer Dorner, I fear dying; But I also fear living in a society where Innocent people are dying for no reason. A society where pain so great can be afflicted to people who have to desire to live right and treat people right and then be punished for doing right. They say we all look alike. In very few cases this of course is true. But in most cases it is not. I feel a resemblance to Dorner, (See Photos) However several people who have no resemblance to Dorner have been shot due to the fear of what is taking place. I DO NOT WANT TO BE SHOT FOR CRIMES I DID NOT COMMIT!. Neither does anyone else. To preface my story I will say this: Just like former Officer Christopher Dorner I used to smile a lot. I loved everyone. I was voted Friendliest Senior of my Sr. Class in High School. I always believed in the system and never got into any trouble. I loved hard and gave to all I could.
After Joining the LAPD in 1989 I quickly found out that the world and society had major flaws. I had flaws as well for ever believing that our system of government was obligated to do the right thing. This* is what I believed as a young Officer. Without going into major detail, I need you to first assume that I would not surface 16 years later with lies about a situation that has me with PTSD to this very day. The pain forces me to speak as I have yet to shake the Ill’s of my experience as an LAPD Officer. Of course I have moved on physically. But mentally and emotionally I still live with flaws. I can’t go into re-living the emotions of what I went through so I will say this. I had my home viciously attacked by a gunman with my family and myself inside the house. No arrests were made and my family and I Received very little support. I had my Civil Rights violated on several occasions. I was falsely arrested at gunpoint by the Sheriffs as an Officer who ID’d himself and was conspired against by both LAPD and the Sheriffs when my Civil case went to Trial.
I was falsely accused on more than one occasion and simply placed in a position that the trust was so compromised that I could no longer wear the Uniform. Also know there were many more episodes. All of these issues are well documented and I present them not to be a Whistle blower, However to hope that one would not assume that all of what is being said is Lies as presented by Dorner. I don’t know him, But I know me. I will say from my experience, If a person knows they were wrong it is easier to move on without anger. Seems that Dorner obviously could not move on… Could I just be content and move on with my life and not say anything? Yes…Then I would feel that I for once had my chance to speak on something that hurts me to this day and I did nothing to arouse thought or provoke reform.
This is what I hope comes from this whole situation:
1. Families that lost someone to this tragedy find the peace that only God can give at this terrible time.
2. Citizens of Los Angeles be mindful of this fearful time to be an Officer and comply vigorously so that you are not the victim of an Officer on high alert.
3. Government and Politicians please be diligent in the responsibility of creating Laws that protect those who could be the victim of a conspiracy. Never allow the door to be shut on the Truth.
4. Honest and Fair LAPD & All Agencies: Keep doing what you are doing to protect citizens and be safe while you are doing so. We need you and I would hope that you do not allow the Bureaucratic drama and Stress to kill your morale as I know it can.
5. Unethical LAPD & all Agencies: Whatever is was that lead you down this path, Pray to somebody’s God to forgive you and begin to remove unethical methods to your policing style. Always think what if it were you, How would you feel?..How would you like if you were falsely accused and your life, lively-hood and career was taken from you? How would you like if someone was beating on you just because they felt they could get away with it? You are no better the criminals you took and oath to arrest when you do what you do!
6. Chistopher Dorner. The 1st thing I would say to him is, I feel your pains!…But you are going about this the wrong way. To take innocent lives could never be the answer to anything. I say this as a Man who experienced the same pain, betrayal, anger, suffering, litigation and agony that you did in many ways, Only I didn’t get Fired. I just choose to go a different route. My heart still suffered that same shock, I was still left to try and put the pieces back together. The disbelief that people could conspire and cause you to loose something you loved so dearly was still there. I lost my Career, I lost my Family, I lost my Dignity, I lost my Trust…But I am here now to hopefully one day see change…Bro, Don’t kill anymore Innocent people. Your point has been made. Clearly. They know you mean business, The whole world knows. Refrain from any further wrong doing and do what you must to salvage your Soul. Whatever that means to you. Just remember that God is a forgiving God.
In conclusion I say to people who knew none of this about me that one day I will have to reflect on when was the time to speak. When I see the potential for innocent lives to be lost…The time is Now!…JJ”
August 2, 2012
"
Raising the matter (of police abuse of Occupy protesters) with the the international body is especially important, (Legal Observer) Knuckey said, because there have been instances of authorities in Egypt, Syria and Indonesia pointing to NYPD actions to justify their own and far more severe crackdowns on non-violent protests.
“The point needs to be made that the NYPD does not exemplify international human rights law, it violates it,” she said.
"— http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jul/25/nypd-occupy-protests-report?CMP=twt_fd
August 1, 2012
"Three people who said they were pepper-sprayed by police officers during an Occupy Wall Street demonstration in September filed lawsuits on Tuesday against the City of New York, the Police Department and several officers."
— The completely unsympathetic New York Times
July 12, 2012
The city of New York spends $75,000,000 in taxpayers money annually to arrest marijuana possessers.
(Source: anarcho-queer)
June 15, 2012
![arielnietzsche:
City Council bill introduced to rein in ‘out of control’ NYPD abuses
Squeezed and huddled on top of the steps of City Hall to escape the light rain, a diverse group of activists gathered to denounce New York Police Department (NYPD) practices that violate civil rights on June 13. There was the South Asian group Desis Rising Up and Moving (DRUM), activists from the homeless advocacy group Picture the Homeless, Latino activists with Make the Road and black leaders working to end the practice of “stop and frisk.”
But for all the diversity that resembled New York’s ethnic panoply, the message at the press conference was singular: the NYPD needed to be reined in. And now there’s action to try and make that need a reality.
City Council members Brad Lander and Jumaane Williams, both representing parts of Brooklyn, have introduced a bill that would create an Inspector General for the NYPD, much like what the FBI and other major police departments have. The bill, introduced yesterday, would create a mechanism to oversee NYPD operations and issue reports and recommendations on police practices. The Inspector General would be appointed by the mayor, and cannot be someone who served the NYPD within the last 10 years, according to the bill’s text.
“True accountability is impossible without effective independent oversight,” said Williams, a prominent critic of the NYPD who was arrested at the city’s West Indian Day Parade last year, in a statement. “This is what the NYPD lacks, and that is what an Inspector General will provide.”
Still, an Inspector General would be no panacea, as it would not have the power to prosecute.
Calls for an independent mechanism to hold the police accountable have been growing in recent months, as the scope of surveillance of Muslim communities became known and widespread harassment of people of color continued. Many activists at the press conference focused on the NYPD’s “stop and frisk” tactics, which ars overwhelmingly targeted at blacks and Latinos.
The bill was introduced at a critical time, as a Sunday march organized by the NAACP, a silent action against “stop and frisk,” is expected to attract thousands. Muslim groups and activists will participate as well in an effort to address how “stop and frisk” impacts their communities and to show solidarity with those bearing the brunt of the tactic.
“Whether it is stop and frisk [or] surveillance of Muslim communities,” said Fahd Ahmed, legal and policy director of DRUM, “it is the same pattern of broad suspicion and mass policing of our communities.” Speaking to reporters, Ahmed told of how Bangladeshi and Indian members of DRUM have reported being stopped and frisked dozens of times in Jackson Heights, where DRUM is based.
In an interview after the press conference, Ahmed explained why the bill was needed. “This is a police department that’s out of control,” he said. “We know these battles are not won in City Hall, but it’s an important step.”
The wide coalition, which also includes progressive Jewish groups, is up against the ardent opposition of the NYPD to the bill. Paul Browne, an NYPD spokesman, told the New York Times that the NYPD was already scrutinized enough. But critics say the oversight mechanisms he points to, like the Civilian Complaint Review Board, lack teeth.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a close ally of the police department and its chief, Ray Kelly, is likely to oppose the bill. But City Council members say that 24 members of the council have already signed on to the bill, and that they would have a veto-proof majority.
“The rights of individuals in the city have been violated,” City Councilwoman Letitia James, a fiery progressive from Brooklyn who is supporting the bill, told me in an interview. “This is a growing movement and two people [Kelly and Bloomberg] can’t stop it.”](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m5oazkDH4T1qjdk8lo1_1280.jpg)
City Council bill introduced to rein in ‘out of control’ NYPD abuses
Squeezed and huddled on top of the steps of City Hall to escape the light rain, a diverse group of activists gathered to denounce New York Police Department (NYPD) practices that violate civil rights on June 13. There was the South Asian group Desis Rising Up and Moving (DRUM), activists from the homeless advocacy group Picture the Homeless, Latino activists with Make the Road and black leaders working to end the practice of “stop and frisk.”
But for all the diversity that resembled New York’s ethnic panoply, the message at the press conference was singular: the NYPD needed to be reined in. And now there’s action to try and make that need a reality.
City Council members Brad Lander and Jumaane Williams, both representing parts of Brooklyn, have introduced a bill that would create an Inspector General for the NYPD, much like what the FBI and other major police departments have. The bill, introduced yesterday, would create a mechanism to oversee NYPD operations and issue reports and recommendations on police practices. The Inspector General would be appointed by the mayor, and cannot be someone who served the NYPD within the last 10 years, according to the bill’s text.
“True accountability is impossible without effective independent oversight,” said Williams, a prominent critic of the NYPD who was arrested at the city’s West Indian Day Parade last year, in a statement. “This is what the NYPD lacks, and that is what an Inspector General will provide.”
Still, an Inspector General would be no panacea, as it would not have the power to prosecute.
Calls for an independent mechanism to hold the police accountable have been growing in recent months, as the scope of surveillance of Muslim communities became known and widespread harassment of people of color continued. Many activists at the press conference focused on the NYPD’s “stop and frisk” tactics, which ars overwhelmingly targeted at blacks and Latinos.
The bill was introduced at a critical time, as a Sunday march organized by the NAACP, a silent action against “stop and frisk,” is expected to attract thousands. Muslim groups and activists will participate as well in an effort to address how “stop and frisk” impacts their communities and to show solidarity with those bearing the brunt of the tactic.
“Whether it is stop and frisk [or] surveillance of Muslim communities,” said Fahd Ahmed, legal and policy director of DRUM, “it is the same pattern of broad suspicion and mass policing of our communities.” Speaking to reporters, Ahmed told of how Bangladeshi and Indian members of DRUM have reported being stopped and frisked dozens of times in Jackson Heights, where DRUM is based.
In an interview after the press conference, Ahmed explained why the bill was needed. “This is a police department that’s out of control,” he said. “We know these battles are not won in City Hall, but it’s an important step.”
The wide coalition, which also includes progressive Jewish groups, is up against the ardent opposition of the NYPD to the bill. Paul Browne, an NYPD spokesman, told the New York Times that the NYPD was already scrutinized enough. But critics say the oversight mechanisms he points to, like the Civilian Complaint Review Board, lack teeth.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a close ally of the police department and its chief, Ray Kelly, is likely to oppose the bill. But City Council members say that 24 members of the council have already signed on to the bill, and that they would have a veto-proof majority.
“The rights of individuals in the city have been violated,” City Councilwoman Letitia James, a fiery progressive from Brooklyn who is supporting the bill, told me in an interview. “This is a growing movement and two people [Kelly and Bloomberg] can’t stop it.”
(via fuckyeahmarxismleninism)
May 22, 2012
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