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Activist Post
Adrian Schoolcraft of the New York Police Department’s (NYPD) 81st precinct in Brooklyn noticed some disturbing trends within the department and in response to his brave move to step forward, his superiors had him thrown in a psychiatric ward.
Schoolcraft realized that there was a pattern of the victims of crimes being caught up in bureaucratic hurdles which he thinks were deliberately put in place in order to make it harder to report serious crimes.
He then did his job and reported multiple incidents to investigators in 2009.
According to the Village Voice, in October of 2009 Schoolcraft met with NYPD investigators for some three hours, during which he detailed over 12 cases of manipulation of crime reports in his district.
Three weeks after this meeting, which was supposed to have been kept secret from his supervisors for obvious reasons, he was targeted.
Schoolcraft’s precinct commander and a deputy chief both ordered him to be forcibly removed from his apartment and locked up in the psychiatric ward of Jamaica Hospital for six days.
This is not the first time Schoolcraft has stood up to corrupt practices at the NYPD.
In the past, Schoolcraft released two years worth of recorded roll calls at NYPD precincts.
These recordings led to an award winning series in the Village Voice revealing widespread incompetence and corruption in the department.
The details of Schoolcraft’s imprisonment in the psychiatric ward were just recently revealed in a 95 page report.
This report vindicated Schoolcraft, who was been suspended with no pay for over two years, simply for seeking justice and actually doing his job.
Schoolcraft has filed a lawsuit and the NYPD has allegedly been attempting to keep the report under wraps since it was completed some two years ago.
This is understandable since it would seriously tarnish the department’s reputation.
The Village Voice reports that NYPD commissioner Raymond Kelly ordered an investigation into the claims made by Schoolcraft, resulting in the report being completed by June of 2010.
Since that time, the department has attempted to keep it secret, according to the Village Voice.
The report, obtained by the Village Voice, shows that the NYPD actually confirmed the allegations made by Schoolcraft, yet they went after him with a vengeance anyways.
They report that “at the same time that police officials were attacking Schoolcraft’s credibility, refusing to pay him, and serving him with administrative charges, the NYPD was sitting on a document that thoroughly vindicated his claims.” The complaints made by Officer Schoolcraft focused mostly on the NYPD’s alleged practice of manipulating crime statistics to give a false impression of effectiveness.
“Officers were told to arrest people who were doing little more than standing on the street, but they were also encouraged to disregard actual victims of serious crimes who wanted to file reports,” according to the Village Voice.
Of course, the Mayor of New York City, Michael Bloomberg and NYPD commissioner Raymond Kelly have both denied all of the allegations.
However, the newly released 95 page report appears to confirm the allegations, contrary to the many claims made by Schoolcraft’s supervisors.
Individuals who investigated Schoolcraft’s claims concluded that “an atmosphere was created discouraging members of the command to accurately report index crimes.”
This is not the first time the NYPD has been associated with corrupt practices, indeed, last year there was a large scandal surrounding allegations of planting drugs on suspects and manufacturing charges.
Schoolcraft’s courage in the face of systematic corruption is nothing short of commendable and hopefully he will no longer be the target of harassment simply for actually doing his job.
At least there are some police officers out there who are actually working to protect and serve, not give a false sense of security and collect revenue for the government.
Hopefully Schoolcraft is reinstated with all back pay and perhaps even promoted or at least recognized for his brave actions and his active fight for justice.
The Law Office of Jon L. Norinsberg and Cohen & Fitch, LLP have filed a lawsuit on Schoolcraft’s behalf against the City of New York and high ranking members of the NYPD and have launched an official website devoted to their efforts. I encourage you to support his struggle however you can.
This article first appeared at EndtheLie.com. Read other contributed articles by Madison Ruppert here.
Madison Ruppert is the Editor and Owner-Operator of the alternative news and analysis database End The Lie and has no affiliation with any NGO, political party, economic school, or other organization/cause. He is available for podcast and radio interviews. Madison also now has his own radio show on Orion Talk Radio from 8 pm -- 10 pm Pacific, which you can find HERE. If you have questions, comments, or corrections feel free to contact him at admin@EndtheLie.com
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5 comments:
Maybe a cop one can trust. Rare these days when the majority of complaints of citizens claiming abuse are at the hands of police. Maybe Kelly can dispatch one of his new drones to watch this honest officer just in case he slips up and goes a minute over on the parking meter.
I have much respect for police officers and most are caring. They are involved with the community both in service (volunteering, family, and neighbors). They also have to deal with the stress of seeing and not being able to discuss what ugliness lies in a community that they are a witness too. Many officers are not police officers but are PEACE officers when they do their job well.
Having said that about the majority, it is also true that there are a few bad apples just like in every profession. Corruption is like Cockroach that has always been around and it likes to stay hidden and kept in the dark. When it hive grows to big then it comes to light because there is no more room left to hide.
This officer has threatened the hive and the hive has aleady figured he can not be bribed, bought, or corrupted to join the hive. It has no where to hide so it must flight is out of the question so the hive will fight first to neutralize. Hence the charachter assisnation and labling him a Kook first.
If his credibility survives the character assisnation and people dig further, then the efforts to neutralize will turn more aggressive to exterminate the extistential threat(s) to the hive.
It's a never ending cycle like pest control or weeds in a garden. Hopefully more will be done to get this Hive under control. I am sure it is tied to WallStreet and the underground since that is where the money is (motive). The corrupt underlings within get to taste the scraps but it is for the rich on Wallstreet to feast. Even the Cockroaches do not like their own kind and only tolerate out of their own self interests but not out of respect or decency only money and power.
I am glad that most officers are good, and hope that those that are corrupt stop adding to the negative stereotype that officers get and do not deserve.
This is an episode right out of Brezhnev's Soviet Union(1964-1983), where dissidents were not sent to gulags, but to psychiatric hospitals!
The few good cops are the exception. The majority are rotten to the core. We're fed a line of propaganda bs which alludes to the otherwise. The analogy "one good apple" is a complete falsehood when it comes to the police, a more apt analogy is "One good apple can't polish a bushel of rotten s**t." And obviously they can't, they just lock you in the psyche ward if you try. Look at it historically. All the way from Serpico to Schoolcraft, seems the MAJORITY are the ones stabbing you in the back and in every instance, the good ones are the ones that end up persecuted, fired, dead, or worse.
What Anonymous said... is true, I believe it. However, the last part is ... well put it this way. "end up persecuted, fired, dead, or worse", Pray tell us, what is worse then dead?
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