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Brooklyn Cop: Crime Statistics Are Lies
By
Ben Muessig
Published Feb 2, 2010
Modified Feb 2, 2010
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By
Ben Muessig
Published Feb 2, 2010
Modified Feb 2, 2010
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A Brooklyn cop has accused the NYPD of under-reporting and refusing to investigate crimes in order to keep crime statistics down. Officer Adrian Schoolcraft alleges that cops in the Bedford-Stuyvesant's 81st Precinct have deliberately recorded felonies as misdemeanors and turned some victims away so crime rates at Ralph Avenue stationhouse appear lower. "I wanted to become a police officer, chase the bad guys, and I thought the NYPD was the best police department in the world," said the Texas native, who joined the NYPD in 2002 because he wanted to serve after the Sept. 11 attacks. "I never thought it would turn out like this."
To back up his claims, Schoolcraft gave the Daily News the names of 14 crime victims who tried to report crimes at the 81st Precinct, where the crime rate has dropped 17 percent over the past two years. In interviews, five victims backed up Schoolcraft's allegations, three said police responded correctly, four could not be reached, and two initially agreed that police had erred, though they couldn't be reached for follow-up interviews. Here are some of the allegations:
- Even though burglars left a hole in his door, police allegedly wouldn't take a 79-year-old man's report because there was "no evidence."
- After thieves stole a 65-year-old woman's car, cops purportedly refused to file a report.
- Though perps "kicked, pummeled and even tried to suffocate" a 27-year-old man in a mugging, officers apparently classified the attack as "lost property."
The Internal Affairs Bureau and the Quality Assurance Division are now investigating Schoolcraft's allegations, which he claims have made him quite unpopular on the force. The seven-year veteran has been suspended since Halloween for leaving work an hour early without permission, then getting into an altercation with other cops about that suspension.
After the confrontation, he was deemed unstable and committed to a psychiatric unit at Jamaica Center for more than six days—a move he told the Post was payback for coming forward. A person reportedly "familiar with a psychiatric assessment" of Schoolcraft told the News: "He doesn't understand the police culture. Is he insane? Is he psychotic? Is he manic? Absolutely not. I think he can be believed."
Tagged
Adrian Schoolcraft
bed stuy
Bedford-Stuyvesant
compstat
cops
crime
Crime Statistics
internal affairs bureau
nypd
police
police department
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report
serpico
the Quality Assurance Division
Ben Muessig
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