Police Commissioner Bill Bratton wants New Yorkers to know that despite Manhattan’s new no-arrest policy for offenses like public urination or riding between subway cars, quality-of-life enforcement is here to stay. “The idea that ‘Anything Goes’ is not going to happen, not as long as I am the police commissioner,” Bratton said yesterday. The new policy would change the law so that low-level offenses still technically result in arrest, but suspects are given a summons rather than being handcuffed and taken to criminal court. Mr. Bratton said the change is appropriate given that the city has become safer over the past few decades. (DNAinfo)
Three NYPD officers have been suspended without pay after an alleged hit-and-run in Staten Island last Friday night. The officers, identified as Lieutenant Vincent Molinini and detectives Frank Muirhead and Christopher Corulla, crashed into another car in a strip mall parking lot and then backed into a hair salon, leaving the business in ruins. They had been at the Rookie Sports Bar, celebrating Molinini’s recent promotion. The salon owner said her business suffered about $80,000 in damages as a result of the crash. (Daily News)
The number of students with disabilities admitted into the city’s most selective screened high schools is increasing. While less than 1,000 students with disabilities received offers to go to screened high schools in 2012, over 2,500 were offered seats for next fall. “This is an opportunity that has historically never been granted to a child who may have an I.E.P. (Individualized Education Program),” said Corinne Rello-Anselmi, the city’s deputy chancellor of special education. She says access to high-performing schools is a universal right of all students. (WNYC)
A lecturer at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice says he experienced racial bias in a recent encounter with NYPD officers. Damion Scott, an African-American man, says after being locked out on the roof of his Hamilton Heights building, he was unlawfully handcuffed and searched. “I think without a doubt they stereotyped me,” he said of the officers, who said he was subject to search because he was trespassing. Mr. Scott plans to file a lawsuit with the Federal District Court in Manhattan on the grounds that his Fourth Amendment rights were violated and he was racially profiled. (New York Times)
Two young Inwood residents are setting out to solve the mysteries of their neighborhood. The Gore & Gore Detective Agency, founded by siblings Jack and Phoebe Gore (ages seven and ten, respectively) has already solved three cases. Their favorite case involved an envelope they found in the lobby of their apartment building with $820 in cash inside. They announced their discovery through a flier, requesting the owner call them and “tell us the exact amount, what it was in [and] where they were walking,” Jack explained. The money turned out to be the weekly pay of a nanny working in the building—who, predictably, was very thankful the young detectives were around. (DNAinfo)
