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NYPD Ticket-Fixing Probe Leader May Be A Big Fat Hypocrite
By
Christopher Robbins
Published May 23, 2011
Modified May 23, 2011
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By
Christopher Robbins
Published May 23, 2011
Modified May 23, 2011
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Like the old adage "Don't throw stones if you live in a house made of corrupt favors," so goes NYPD Internal Affairs inspector John McDermott, who is leading the department's massive ticket-fixing probe and may have indulged in the deed himself. Two weeks ago a policeman from the Bronx told a grand jury that an officer from McDermott's precinct asked him to "take care of a speeding ticket for McDermott," a source tells The Post. The officer who made the request asked that a ticket issued for Bridget McDermott, whose relationship to Inspector McDermott is still unclear, go away. So it did. It's like saving 15% on your car insurance with Geico, only you know, illegal.
Inspector McDermott was reportedly eying retirement from what some officers call "the rat squad" before the probe, but wanted one last chance at glory, telling his colleagues that he wanted it to "be my Michael Dowd case." The NYPD calls this information "a complete fabrication," and Deputy Commissioner Paul Browne told the paper that the "purported claim that he was asked to fix a ticket for a family member…is false. Someone is either grossly ill-informed or you're being set up." Yeah! It's like a reverse Serpico, or something.
Granted this "source" of The Post's could be as unsubstantiated as the one stoking the NYPD/Long Island serial killer rumors, or the elusive Viane Delgado. But given that the probe has already implicated hundreds of department employees, the words that an unnamed policeman told the paper seem especially damning: "If you asked everybody in the Internal Affairs Bureau under oath, more would say that they either had a ticket fixed or knew of a ticket being fixed for a relative than don't." Bottom line: if you were holding out on committing murder, now's your chance!
Tagged
corruption
crime
Michael Dowd
nypd
serpico
ticket-fixing
ticket-fixing probe
tickets
Christopher Robbins
Christopher Robbins is a New York City reporter covering transportation, affordable housing, local politics, and criminal justice. His work has also appeared in New York Magazine, The Village Voice and The New York Times. Chris is a graduate of Patrick Henry High School in Roanoke, Virginia, and enjoys biking to Fort Tilden in the summertime.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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