The Spy Game: NYPD Style

It’s been a little over a year since Islamic Terrorists hijacked planes and flew them into the World Trade Center. Several days after that tragic event, the corruption in the New York Police Department was all but forgotten. No distinction was made between the police officers that went into the World Trade Center and the entire New York City Police Department. Everyone in the department suddenly became a hero. For that reason, no distinction should be made between the corrupt officers and the good officers.

In fact, just a month after 9/11, the New York Police Department was being sued yet again. This time by their own foot soldiers. Black police officers filed a lawsuit against the NYPD claiming that the department was monitoring their home and cell phones.

In a December 13, 2001 article, Donna De La Cruz of the Associated Press, broke the story. Lt. Eric Adams, of 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement Who Care, said, “New Yorkers must know that if the police department can do this to a law enforcement body, it can do it to any citizen.” Lt. Adams had learned that his office phones were being taped and that a secret camera had been planted in his office from a mystery man who claimed to be a part of Internal Affairs.

Maybe the 100 Blacks organization is wrong. The case is still pending. However, this is the same police department that shot and killed Amadou Diallo in 1999. The West African immigrant was gunned down on the steps of his apartment building by four police officers. The victim’s body was riddled with 41 bullet holes. And to add insult to injury, the officers who executed Diallo were acquitted. Two years earlier, Abner Louima, a Haitian immigrant, was sexually assaulted and tortured by police officers while in custody.

In addition to the NYPD, the lawsuit included 10 unnamed city employees and Verizon. The cell phone giant was accused “of improperly providing the department with the officers’ phone numbers.” Did NYPD provide Verizon with a subpoena? According to John J. Bonomo, spokesman for Verizon, the company provided information lawfully.

Deputy Inspector Chris Rising, a police spokesman, said “What we can state is that it is most definitely a policy and practice of the NYPD to comply with all facets of the law when conducting its investigations.” This is laughable, given NYPD’s history of dealing with African Americans. Furthermore, the New York Police Department has been plagued with scandal since it’s founding in 1845.

It turns out that the NYPD did not obtain a court order for phone records. Instead, they used “an administrative subpoena.” K. C. Okoli, the attorney for 100 Blacks and Alvin Hellerstein, the presiding judge, had never heard of an administrative subpoena. Translation: The phone records were gotten by illegal means.

How are they allowed to get away with it, you wonder? Perhaps it’s because each scandal is over shadowed by another scandal. On top of that, there is the blue code of silence. Cops don’t generally “rat” on fellow cops’ illegal activities. Serpico, where are you?

In a 1995 article for United Feature Syndicate, Inc., famed attorney, Alan Dershowitz, points out that lying is a way of life in the NYPD. One particular police officer admitted to lying 17 times in six criminal cases.

Dershowitz also points out that the New York District Attorney’s offices are privy to the lying and cannot prosecute the police without implicating themselves. Translation: The police in New York City know they can lie under oath without fear of prosecution. Therefore, when a deputy inspector, who isn’t under oath, speaking for the department says, “we comply with the law”, can you believe him?

According to a December 26, 2001, Village Voice article by Ginger Adams Otis, the 100 Blacks has had problems with NYPD in the past. There seems to be a connection between the Diallo murder and the testimony of Officer Yvette Walton, who was subsequently fired in April 1999, “30 minutes after testifying anonymously at a New York City Council hearing on the Street Crimes Unit and the death of Amadou Diallo.”

Is it a coincidence that Yvette Walton was a member of the 100 Blacks group? With the exception of the 100 Blacks group, no one in the NYPD knew Walton’s identity. Sergeant Noel Leader, also a member said, “We felt her dismissal was a reprisal for her speaking out against the SCU and for being in our group. And we suspected the NYPD learned her identity through its covert monitoring of 100 Blacks.”

Deputy Chief Raymond King, of Internal Affairs, admits that “Surveillance’s were conducted,” and “Phone records were obtained.”

100 Blacks in Law Enforcement Who Care was founded in 1995. In their first year as an entity, they collected $10,000 in grant monies from the membership and gave the money to the needy in New York City.

Their Mission:
01)	To fulfill our moral mandate to our creator, to enhance and cultivate the blessings that have been bestowed upon us.
02)	To serve as a model organization for individuals and other professionals in our communities so that we can again take our rightful place on the stage of history as a free, proud, and productive people.
03)	To offer (via non repayable grants) a minimum of $1,000 a month to a worthy cause in the African American community.
04)	To be the vanguard for justice on the behalf of those who traditionally have no voice in society.
05)	To vigorously challenge racism, sexism, and all of the debilitating ism's that retards the growth of today's global community.
06)	To economically empower our people by pooling our resources.
07)	To uplift our people through education.

With a mission like that, one wonders, why were they being monitored? If they had been a group of liars and murderers like others in the department, they probably would have been welcomed by NYPD. The irony is the New York Police Department has been elevated to hero status since 9/11. Untold numbers of baseball caps and T-shirts with NYPD stenciled on them have been sold. People have forgotten the murders, the beatings, the lying, and the overall corruption. If O. J. Simpson had been near the World Trade Center that faithful day, perhaps his transgressions could be forgotten and he too could be elevated to hero status.

I’m sure some people who read this article will be outraged because of the O. J. Simpson comparison. But what I find equally outrageous is how quickly the same people forget about the murders and corruption in the New York City Police Department. The terrorist acts of 9/11 only delayed the 100 Blacks’ lawsuit. They obviously thought it was a serious crime and should be pursued.

Hollywood won’t let us forget about Simpson. It’s been almost a decade since his acquittal; yet, Simpson’s name is often used as a punch line in situation comedies. Television courtroom shows like ABC’s The Practice and Fox’s Ally McBeal refer to the Simpson case, keeping his name in our collective ears. Perhaps the crimes that Simpson was accused of are somehow worse than the crimes that the NYPD commits on an ongoing basis.

Elevating the NYPD to hero status after all the corruption must depend on who’s been murdered. That must mean that if terrorists attack Los Angeles in the same manner as they attached New York City, the corruption in the LAPD will be forgotten and forgiven too. But O. J. Simpson will be forever viewed as a murderer.

All comments about this article should be sent to:
KeithLeeJohnson1@aol.com

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