An off-duty detective who ended up wounding a man who fired upon him was initially sidelined from the force, for having a blood alcohol level of 0.09, slightly higher than the legal limit for driving. But now Police Commissioner Kelly has praised him as a near hero. The Post reported that the detective, Ivan Davison had been "placed on modified duty and stripped of his weapon," after the shooting incident. Davison tried to stop a......

Yesterday, the Daily News reported that one police officer was stripped of his badge and gun "for ordering the NYPD's highest-ranking uniformed black officer out of his auto while the three-star chief was off-duty and parked in Queens." Naturally, the incident has sparked outrage from both sides. Two plainclothes cops, both white, approached a parked police-issued SUV in Corona and asked the driver to roll down the tinted windows. Chief Douglas Zeigler, who is in......

Some Capitol Hill offices received letters claiming responsibility for this morning's bombing in Times Square. WNBC reports that the letters, which arrived today, included a photo of the Army recruiting center "before it was bombed and...the words 'We did it.'" According to the AP, Senator Dianne Feinstein's office sent this email to other lawmakers:"A few offices on the House side have received a letter today addressed to 'Members of Congress' with a picture of a......

Images from surveillance footage via WNBC The NYPD released surveillance footage of this morning's explosion near the Army recruiting center in Times Square. The footage shows a bicyclist approaching the building and an explosion taking place after he leaves. The bicyclist is of interest because a witness told the police he/she saw a bicyclist acting suspiciously. Earlier today, Police Commissioner Kelly said, "The individual (on the bicycle) was wearing a hood and dark colored......

The Post has fun with a story about a robbery at a Brooklyn grocery, as a man stole a number of salamis and was trying to spirit them out in his clothes. Of course, this earns the headline "WURST-CASE SCENARIO FOR THIEF: COPS." Orlando Martinez was arrested after putting seven salamis "into his trousers and up his sleeves" at a Brownsville Western Beef on Sunday. The assistant manager saw the salami smuggling and confronted Martinez,......

While announcing that overall felony crime in 2007 is down 6% versus last year, Mayor Bloomberg and Police Commissioner Kelly proclaimed that the city is on pace "is on course to set a new record in crime reduction" - to have the fewest number of murders "since records have been kept." The city expects the murder rate will be below 500 (as of Wednesday 7:30AM, there have been 484 reported murders), which is the......

Even thought Rudy Giuliani's presidential campaign tries to insist that the story is old news and a hit job, the Rudy-NYPD security detail Travelgate situation keeps getting messier. Why? Because even if one agrees that a security detail for Giuliani while he was visiting his then-mistress (and now current wife) Judi Nathan in the Hamptons is a legitimate use of taxpayer money (even if it was randomly billed to various city agencies - which the......

The family of late Detective Dillon Stewart was joined by Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe, Police Commissioner Ray Kelly and other city officials in the dedication of a Prospect Park playground in Stewart's honor. The Parade Ground Playground, at the corner of Caton Avenue and Parade Place, near East 16th, was renamed the Dillon Stewart Playground. Stewart was killed on November 28, 2005, when he and his partner stopped a car for a traffic violation. Someone......

Howard Beach residents are probably shaking their heads over reports of yet another allegedly racially motivated attack in their neighborhood. The police say that a group of white teenagers claims they were attacked by a group, who were made up of Hispanics and blacks. At Cross Bay Boulevard, a the group of white teens noticed the group of black and Hispanic teens; according to the Post, "The apparent leader of the black group walked up......

The early Thursday morning fight in Union Square was apparently set off by a diss. The Post reports that the victims were all affiliated with gangs and the "violence appeared to have stemmed from a show of 'disrespect.'" The police confirmed that a fight did occur at the McDonald's at East 17th Street and Broadway, but it's still unclear if that fight continued on into the park, where a gunman later fired, injuring four people.......

The police arrested two white men in the the beating of a black man in Staten Island. The Reverend Al Sharpton appeared with the victim and said, "We cannot live in a city, state or nation where people cannot safely be in the streets or anywhere else because of the color of their skin." In Mariners Harbor on Tuesday night, 20-year-old Skylar McCormick and four friends - who are white - were having a foot......

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is getting a lot of ink in our newspapers today after it was revealed that (A) he had requested a visit to Ground Zero - to lay a wreath, no less - and then shortly later that (B) the city had denied the request. Way to work fast, city agencies! Iranian mission to the United Nations says that Ahmadinejad still wants to go to Ground Zero, but the Daily News sends......

The police department has launched a citywide dragnet to find suspects who fired at two police officers during a Brooklyn traffic stop early yesterday morning. 23-year-old police officer Russel Timoshenko was shot twice in the head while 26-year-old police officer Herman Yan was shot in the arm and chest. A surveillance video showed that the cops were shot before they had reached the driver and passengers in the car. The Daily News' Michael Daly......

With July 4th just days away, Mayor Bloomberg, Fire Commissioner Scopetta and Police Commissioner Kelly are reminding residents that fireworks are completely and totally illegal. Some interesting stats from the city's press release: - 1,100 cases of illegal fireworks have been confiscated by the NYPD - Nearly 50 people have been arrested for possessing or trafficking illegal fireworks - 29 vehicles have been seized - A seventh-month old boy suffered burns on his face......

Yesterday, two cars full of gasoline and nails were found near London's Picadilly Circus. The car bombs were defused, and British authorities determined that the two vehicles were linked, which is apparently an al Qaeda tactic. Had the bombs gone off, the Post reports "security experts said that if the car bombs found yesterday had been ignited, they would have created enormous fireballs, followed by shock waves forming a killing zone at least 400......

Some more details about the man suspected of raping women in NYC parks. Now police believe he is behind five rapes (yesterday he was linked to four): Two rapes occurred four years ago in Queens parks - a June 2003 rape in Baisley Pond Park and a August 2003 rape in Roy Wilkins Park. This year, police believe the attacker is behind three rapes - one in Prospect Park in April, a June 11 attack......

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......

After two days on life support, the 56-year-old bodega owner, who was shot in the face during a robbery attempt, died yesterday morning and police continued their search for the group suspected of robbing a number of bodegas over the past four months. Police Commissioner Kelly said the robbers are "certainly" considered "dangerous," but Cruz's family wonders why the police didn't tell the community about the robberies. One of Cruz's eight children, Karina Cruz, asked,......

The police continued to look for the robbers who shot a Queens bodega owner in the face on Monday night. Bolivar Cruz, a Dominican immigrant, is still on life support; the Post reports that two of his seven daughters were working in store at the time and that Cruz tried to protect them. According to Police Commissioner Kelly, Cruz did take out a gun (unlicensed) but did not get a chance to fire it. It's......

Truck drivers entering New York will have to be patient: The NYPD is inspecting more of them for bomb materials as authorities step up counter-terrorism efforts, and two days ago, the NYPD ending up stopping 40 of 50 trucks that entered. It's called "Operation Rolling Vigilance," and according to the Post, cops will use radiation detectors to scan trucks at rotating checkpoints and will also work with the state and federal authorities to stop trucks......

The new chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee says the NYPD thinks it's the NPD - the National Police Department. The Daily News reports that Democratic Mississippi representative Bennie Thompson is critical of the NYPD's tactics that stretch into other jurisdictions. He told the News, "While I understand that chasing down leads in other locales might help keep the city safe, I emphasized that the NYPD is not the FBI, that it does......

Police officers from both the regular and auxiliary force attended a second funeral in two days for a slain auxiliary police officer killed during a Greenwich Village rampage. Nineteen-year-old Eugene Marshalik was remembered at a funeral in Brooklyn by friends, family members, fellow cops, and city officials. Marshalik was remembered as a high achiever and someone dedicated to helping others. Mayor Bloomberg said, "He was a steadfast protector of his community, who would warn residents......

There was another attack on cops last night, this time at the Broadway Junction J train station. Police officers were trying to give a summons to a man who was smoking. When they asked his friend Hugo Hernandez for ID, Hernandez slashed police officer Angel Cruz in the face. Cruz and his partner fired at Hernandez multiple times. One witness who had been reading his bible said, "When everyone heard the shots everyone took off......

Yesterday, thousands of people said goodbye to the Bronx fire victims. A procession of eight hearses carrying one woman and nine children was escorted by the police to the Islamic Cultural Centre, and many in the crowd, including police officers, were crying. People had waited all morning to pay their respects, and loudspeakers were set up so people outside could hear. The city's diversity and compassion has also been on display. A Gambian neighbor,......

News that a man had mugged 85-year-old and 101-year-old women in vicious attacks has infuriated New Yorkers all over the city. After the NYPD released surveillance footage of a man punching 101-year-old, walker-wielding Rose Morat, Police Commissioner Kelly vowed to pull out all the stops in trying to find the attacker. The attacker seemed to be targeting particularly vulnerable elderly women - both Morat (pictured) and 85-year-old Solange Elizee both use walkers. He approached them......

Yesterday morning, an off-duty police officer killed another clubgoer who was threatening another off-duty cop. At Brooklyn's The Elite Ark, which was having a Notorious B.I.G. tribute, a shoving match started that caused a commotion. Twenty-one year-old Kristen McKenzie allegedly fired a gun at an unarmed off-duty detective's head, but missed. The detective then tackled McKenzie, trying to get the gun, and the gun went off, injuring the detective. The NY Times reports that he......

Retired NYPD cop John Galtieri was charged with the murder of his ex-wife, Jeanne Kane. Kane was found shot at a Staten Island park-and-ride Tuesday night, as she waited for her daughter's bus to arrive. Kane and Galtieri had a bitter divorce, with Galtieri upset at how much he was forced to pay her in the settlement. Galtieri, who had moved to Florida after divorcing Kane a few years ago, was arrested on I-95 in......

The police say two teenagers have confessed to robbing, beating, and even killing various parkgoers late November. Belter Yovanni Gubara Rivera and Marco Polanco were arrested; 17 year old Rivera was charged with four counts of robbery and the murder of Ecuadoran immigrant Carloes Flores while 17 year old Polanco was charged with four counts of robbery and attempted murder. Rivera, who was known as "Nyquil," since one punch from him could put someone out,......

It's cop vs. cop in an interesting Brooklyn incident that stems from a robber attempting to steal a car. A sergeant at Brooklyn's 78st Precinct accused three officers of assaulting a man suspected of stealing a car belonging to one of the officers. The Daily News says that Sergeant Greg Abrahams and officers Mark Zajac and Chris Kirch were off-duty when they saw a man trying to steal Abrahams's car, parked in front of 11......

Yesterday, Mayor Bloomberg and Police Commissioner Kelly heralded the new group of police officers to graduate from the Police Academy. And this was the most diverse class. Here are some stats from the city:Of today's graduates, approximately 28% of the graduates are Hispanic, 17% are black, 8% are Asian, 1% are other ethnicities, and 46% are white. Approximately 18% of the graduates are female. Among today's class, 23% have received four-year college degrees; 17% have......