How long until the gun bubble blows up?

Surveillance unit produced no terrorism leads, NYPD says

New York (CNN) -- A controversial NYPD surveillance unit that cataloged information on Muslim communities never produced a lead that linked to a potential terrorist plot during years of investigating, according to the head of the city's police intelligence division.

The NYPD's Demographics Unit -- or Zone Assessment Unit -- was put together with the CIA's help following the September 11, 2001, attacks. The unit has acknowledged that it engaged in monitoring that included Muslim-owned business and mosques across the New York region...

..."I could tell you that I have never made a lead from rhetoric that came from a Demographics report and I'm here since 2006," he said in a June 28 deposition unsealed Monday. "I don't recall other ones prior to my arrival. Again, that's always a possibility. I am not aware of any."

A 60-page report obtained by The Associated Press earlier this year showed NYPD maps of Newark, New Jersey, and photographs of Muslim residences and mosques, while other reports revealed that authorities had tracked websites and on at least one occasion placed an undercover officer with university students.

Bloomberg Endorses Republican in Heated Massachusetts Senate Race
By DAVID W. CHEN

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, one of the most outspoken defenders of Wall Street, has sided against one of the financial industry’s biggest critics in a hotly contested Senate race in his native Massachusetts.

Mr. Bloomberg has agreed to host a fund-raiser at his Upper East Side town house for the re-election campaign of Senator Scott P. Brown, a Republican, who is being challenged by a fiery consumer advocate, Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat who is also a professor at Harvard Law School.

Administration | Police Commissioner

Raymond W. Kelly

Raymond W. Kelly was appointed Police Commissioner of the City of New York in January 2002 by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, making Commissioner Kelly the first person to hold the post for a second, separate tenure. He also served as Police Commissioner under Mayor David N. Dinkins from 1992-1994.

In 2002, Commissioner Kelly created the first counterterrorism bureau of any municipal police department in the country. He also established a new global intelligence program and stationed New York City detectives in eleven foreign cities. Despite dedicating extensive resources to preventing another terrorist attack, the NYPD has driven crime down by 40% from 2001 levels. Commissioner Kelly also established a Real Time Crime Center, a state-of-the-art facility that uses data mining to search millions of computer records and put investigative leads into the hands of detectives in the field.

Don’t police the NYPD: Bloomberg

By DAVID SEIFMAN
Last Updated: 1:22 AM, October 9, 2012
Posted: 12:42 AM, October 9, 2012

Appointing an inspector general to oversee the NYPD is a recipe for disaster, Mayor Bloomberg warned yesterday.

“I think if you want to bring crime back, let’s go politicize control of the Police Department,” the mayor said, responding to a reporter’s question about a new City Council bill requiring an IG for cops getting a hearing tomorrow.

“The last thing we need is some politician or judge getting involved with setting policy, because you won’t be safe anymore. But today, you are. Think about that when you write your story,” Bloomberg added.

Thirty of the council’s 51 members have signed on to the IG measure.

Bloomberg calls NYPD his 'own army' during MIT speech

By DAVID SEIFMAN
Last Updated: 2:42 PM, November 30, 2011
Posted: 2:41 PM, November 30, 2011


Mayor Bloomberg boasted yesterday that "I have my own army" in the NYPD and, if that wasn't enough to establish the city as a worldwide power, added "I have my own state department" as well.

The comments came during a speech the mayor delivered at MIT describing how he was managing the city.

Trying to offer some idea of the scope of New York's workforce, Bloomberg got a bit carried away with himself.

"I have my own army in the NYPD, which is the seventh largest army in the world," he said.