The Daily News put together a map detailing the number of stop-and-frisks on the subway - and the racial breakdown of these stop-and-frisks. As the accompanying article makes clear (as well as interviews with people who have been stopped - 1, 2) how cops can stop anyone , though black and Hispanic riders make up about half of the subway riding population, 88% percent of the people stopped are black or Hispanic. The NYPD......

The defense for the man on trial for murdering his 7-year-old stepdaughter Nixzmary Brown opened its case by presenting a DNA expert. The Daily News says Dr. Lawrence Koblinsky, who teaches at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, "attacked the investigation but seemed to bore jurors." Cesar Rodriguez, accused of killing the little girl in January of 2006, has admitted to savagely beating Nixzmary, tying her to a chair, and more, but his defense has......

The tow truck driver who suffered third degrees burns over 80% of his body from the July 18 midtown steam pipe explosion is leaving the hospital today. Gregory McCullough, who attended classes at John Jay College and studied karate when not working, was in his vehicle with a passenger, waiting for a light to turn, when the steam pipe exploded underneath them. He spoke to the NY Times about his experiences. In one word,......

The city has hired a criminal defense lawyer to represent its various agencies who are coming under attack for the Deutsche Bank fire that claimed two firefighters lives. The Manhattan DA's office started a criminal probe, after some disturbing practices by the contractors and questionable omissions by the Fire Department and the Buildings Department came to light. Eventually smoking, by workers hired to help dismantle the WTC-dust contaminated building, was cited as the probable cause......

All four of the local papers devote attention to the Detusche Bank building fire, which took place 8 days ago and took the lives of two firefighters. Here's a roundup:Newsday reports that state politicians suggest hiring retired firefighters to inspect buildings for things like "poor sprinklers, blocked doorways and malfunctioning standpipes." The Deutsche Bank building's standpipe had a 20-foot piece missing, and the FDNY had not kept up with inspections to the under-demolition building......

The summer of 1977 was host to a serial killer, a day-long blackout and a crime rate around 75% higher than today's. The NY Sun reports that "politicians, police officers, and reporters are gathering together to remember that time and celebrate." John Jay College of Criminal Justice's Eugene O'Donnell is the one holding the press conference today which will focus on the anniversary of the capture of David Berkowitz, aka the " Son of Sam."......

The family of the tow truck driver who was right on top of the steam pipe that exploded in Midtown spoke about 21-year-old Gregory McCullough's progress. His mother, Tanya McCullough-Stewart, told the NY Times he had opened his eyes for the first time last week, "They can’t tell us if he’ll be O.K. because his injuries are too severe. He is still in a coma but the nurses said he can hear us. So I......

The city continued clean-up at the site of Wednesday's Midtown steam pipe explosion at East 41st and Lexington Avenue. Vanderbilt Avenue has been reopened, and Third Avenue was scheduled to be reopened today. Clean up of 42nd Street between Third and Park should be done by Monday, while clean up of Lexington between 42nd and 43rd should be done by the end of the weekend. Here's what the city said about the asbestos samples:The......

Yesterday afternoon, 1,097 police cadets graduated from the Police Academy in a ceremony at Madison Square Garden. The Mayor said, "Just a few weeks ago, the FBI reported that violent crime went up in the rest of the nation during 2006, but here in New York violent crime decreased. The NYPD has continued to drive violent crime and property crime down to historic lows this year - and year after year. Today we welcome 1,097......

Police Commissioner Ray Kelly announced new recommendations for police procedure; the recommendations were made by a special panel formed after the shooting of Sean Bell, an unarmed Queens man. The police press release (which is mis-dated according to the NY Times' CityRoom blog) reveals that there are nineteen recommendations in total, the most notable one stating that breathalyzer testing will be mandatory for all on and off-duty police officers whose "firearm discharge results in......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a shooting at Tremont and University Aves. in the Bronx, a person pinned by a bus on the upper level of the Queensboro Bridge, and a car overparked into a storefront at 258th St. and Riverdale Ave. in the Bronx. The Queens mother of a kidnapped soldier in Iraq hopes that her son is still alive, even though her son's ID and other effects were found in an al......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: A stabbing at Canal and Broadway, a naked EDP in Brooklyn, and a car into scaffolding at 54th and 8th in Manhattan Interesting story about the state NOW endorsement for the Democratic candidate and the city NOW endorsement for the Republican candidate in today's special election for an Upper East Side Assembly seat The soaking NYC got from tropical storm Barry may have caused a wall collapse in Staten......

Long before people cried out against 50 shots in protest of Sean Bell's death at the hands of the police, they decried 41 shots. We were surprised to hear that Kenneth Boss is still an officer with the NYPD. Seven years ago he fired five of the 41 shots that killed unarmed Amadou Diallo in the Bronx. He was acquitted of murder charges by an Albany jury, along with three other officers who subsequently left......

Congratulations to everyone graduating this month! As NYU's commencement was today, with speaker jazz musician Wynton Marsalis, we decided to list the many NYC commencement speakers, with help from The Chronicle of Higher Education (if we've missed any or gotten it wrong, let us know in comments): Barnard College: Anna Deveare Smith, playwright-actress CUNY Lehman College: Representative Charles Rangel CUNY Brooklyn College: Roberta S. Matthews, provost and vice president for academic affairs at Brooklyn......

How much of an emergency is getting back to the Governor's mansion for a meeting between Don Imus and the Rutgers women's basketball team? Because the NJ State Police confirmed that Governor Corzine's SUV, which crashed last Thursday along the Garden State Parkway, was going 91 MPH, well over the 65 MPH speed limit. Further, NJ State Police Superintendent Joseph Fuentes said that the speed of the state trooper-driven SUV probably contributed to the accident,......

The city's murder rate so far has dropped dramatically. There have been 84 murders through Sunday, and the Post reports that's an "average of roughly one per day - an astonishing figure compared to the early 1990s when six New Yorkers were killed during a typical 24-hour period." For reference, last year, there were 117 murders during the same period. Additionally, shootings are down 20% versus the same period last year (203 incidents in 2007,......

At 7AM, the three detectives indicted in the shooting of Sean Bell last November turned themselves. WNBC reports that Michael Oliver, Gescard Isnora, and Marc Cooper will be fingerprinted and processed before their arraignment this afternoon. The grand jury came to a decision last Friday, but said it would wait until today to make the official announcement. However, news of the indictments got out when defense lawyers for the cops involved found out whether their......

An apartment building doorman was stabbed outside the East 80th Street building where he worked. Police believe that 30-year-old Pasquale Esposito (pictured), was the unlucky third in a love triangle and arrested 22-year-old Steven Figueroa for the murder. Figueroa, who worked as a doorman nearby, and his girlfriend had broken up briefly, and the woman went out with Esposito during that time. Witnesses saw Figueroa and his girlfriend arguing with Esposito on the street around......

The family of Imette St. Guillen spoke to the Daily News as tomorrow will mark the one year anniversary of her death. St. Guillen, whose bound body was found dumped near the Belt Parkway in Brooklyn, was last seen at the Falls restaurant and bar in SoHo. The gruesome nature of her death - raped, stripped naked, and tied with duct tape - worried some that she was killed by a serial murderer, but then......

We hear a lot of things about the city being safer and various crime rates going down. But much of the time, it's more important to examine what's behind the numbers, and there's an good look at the city's crime statistics by Emily Vasquez in the NY Times today. Yes, crime is going down, but crimes by young people are going up and illegal guns continue to be a problem. Juvenile arrests increased 11%, whereas......

Today, the City Council is having a "nightlife summit" to discuss bar and nightclub safety. Yesterday, the City Council introduced new bills that would require clubs to: 1) Install ID scanners and security cameras; 2) Give nightlife employees more training (safety and spotting drunk customers...) and 3) Hire monitors is laws are repeatedly broken at their venues. amNew York noted that the leglislation would have video recording "kept in a secure area and made available......

Today, John Jay College of Criminal Justice masters student Johanna King Vespe will receive the first Imette St. Guillen Scholarship. The fund was created in honor of St. Guillen after her February murder. According to the Daily News, which donated money to the fund, more than $250,000 has been raised. Darryl Littlejohn, a bouncer at The Falls (the bar and restaurant where St. Guillen was last seen alive), was indicted for St. Guillen's murder. Here's......

As expected Darryl Littlejohn has been indicted for first-degree murder in the killing of Imette St. Guillen. On a CBS interview last night Littlejohn emphasized his innocence, saying that he had escorted St. Guillen from the Falls because it was closing time. He did not say what happened after that, but said that the police had focused on him because of his past. "I'm a likely suspect because I have a criminal background and......

Jen made an appearance on NBC's Dateline last night to talk about the tragic murder of graduate student Imette St. Guillen (screencaps at Random Observations.) For Dateline viewers who want to read Gothamist's posts on the case, here they are: February 27: Mysterious Deaths from this Weekend February 28: Grad Student Was Strangled and Suffocated March 1: Grad Student's Murder Scares City March 2: St. Guillen Seen At Another SoHo Bar Before Murder March......

A $42,000 reward is being offered in the Imette St. Guillen murder case. John Jay College, where St. Guillen was pursuing a graduate degree in crimnology, is contributing $30,000 with $2,000 from the NYPD and $10,000 from the Mayor's Fund. The police are also looking at crimes committed outside of NYC, to see if the crime fits other patterns. The media reports that there is a lot of forensic evidence for the police to go......

Police believe that Imette St. Guillen, the John Jay College graduate student who was murdered last Saturday, was probably targeted by a stranger. After confirming that St. Guillen was last at The Falls, a restaurant and bar on Lafayette Street just south of Spring (near the Andre Balazs Kenmare Square development, across the street from La Esquina) where she headed after the Pioneer Bar, witnesses say she left the restaurant alone. The current theory: A......

There are three strange deaths - two murders, one maybe murder - from this weekend: - The body of a John Jay College of Criminal Justice student was found on Fountain Avenue near the Belt Parkway in Brooklyn. Imette St. Guillen was last seen on Friday night at the Pioneer Bar on Bowery - she stayed behind while her roommates went home. St. Guillen's face was duct taped, her hands and legs bound, and her......

Brooklyn Assemblyman Dov Hikind made some controversial remarks over the weekend, saying the subway bag checks were ineffective and that the NYPD should use racial profiling to look for suspected terrorists. Now, Gothamist agrees with the former point, but terrorists can come in all shapes and sizes - the people of Oklahoma City would probably like to remind him of that. Sure, no one wants to have to search the "75-year-old grandmother, with sloping shoulders,......

The NY Times looks at the "sensational crimes" of late and wonders if it's a part of a crime wave or simply a result of the combination of the media and the fact that there is such little crime (especially when the Mayor crows about it at any opportunity) that anything that happens is news. The Times says the crime numbers don't suggests a crime wave, but there has been a rise in "nightmare crimes,"......