Transcript for the Piece Audio version of Stories from the NYPD
(Open)
You?ve probably seen them, people wearing baseball caps and t-shirts with the letters ?NYPD? written across the front. Since September 11th it?s become popular to wear clothing bearing the name and logo of the New York Police Department. But the attack on the World Trade Center is just one chapter in the NYPD?s long history.
Tape ? Far too many of my fellow officers have seen only hate, far too many of them have seen their dreams of service and justice frustrated and abandoned by a corrupt system.
Tape ? ?I remember being here as a rookie it was always, ?shots fired.? It was a lot of homicides.
Tape ? All of a sudden, put your nightstick in your hand a gun on your side, and put you in a radio car on 125th Street and Eighth Avenue, and you?re the sheriff, and you?ve gotta keep order.
I?m John Rudolph. From corruption scandals, riots and incidents of police brutality, to the heroism of cops in the line of duty, stay with us for the next hour as we bring you stories from the NYPD.
(break)
You?re listening to stories from the NYPD, I?m John Rudolph
For years in New York you either loved the cops or you hated them. When it came to the police most New Yorkers were not ambivalent.
Tape ? Police officer #1? I remember when I first got out of the police academy, working here, a little kid right out front of the precinct. Little kid goes to wave to me. Couldn?t be more than 2 or 3 years old. His mother yanks him by the arm and says, ?you don?t say hello to him, you don?t wave to him.? And I said, how can a kid like that be raised to respect society. Because the government represents society and the police are the government, they work for society. And how can that kid learn to respect society when the mother is teaching him disrespect like that?
The way people perceive the police has helped shape the New York Police Department?s history. So has the way the police see themselves.
Tape ? Police officer #2 ? This is a paramilitary institution, similar to the military. And in the military you follow orders. Same here, you gotta follow orders. That?s the way this whole machine works here.
(music)
This program is about the NYPD from the 1940s to the attack on the World Trade Center on Sept. 11th 2001.
Many things changed for the police after September 11th. Suddenly they were no longer seen as enforcers of the law. They were heroes. They were the city?s guardians, protecting New Yorkers against an evil greater than anyone could have imagined.
But one thing did not change ? the NYPD?s history.
Tape ? Police officer #3 ? Think about it. I mean, for myself, I?m a third generation New York City cop. My grandfather came from Ireland, and now I?m marching at the biggest parade in the world, in the greatest city in the world on St. Patty?s day. What could get any better than that?
Tape ?. Bagpipes ?
Over the years radio and television news and talk programs have reported on the New York Police Department. Listening to these historic programs today offers a unique perspective on the NYPD. Many of the broadcasts you will hear in this program are preserved at the New York City Municipal Archives and in the archives at WNYC, New York Public Radio.
These are stories from the NYPD.
(fade bagpipes)
In 1942 America was at war.
Tape? Valentine? Do you and each of you solemnly swear that you will support the constitution of the United States, and the constitution of the State of New York ?(fade)?
At a swearing-in ceremony for new patrolmen, Police Commissioner Lewis J. Valentine told his men that law-abiding citizens deserved respect.
Tape ... Valentine ... To the average person the cop on post represents this entire department, and this municipality - the City of New York. The citizen's opinion of the entire department may be based on his appraisal of you, the representative of that department. If you are officious and uncooperative when called upon for assistance the department suffers an irreparable loss in good faith, which is so necessary for gaining the complete confidence of our people.
Sound familiar? Maybe because it?s like today?s police motto, "courtesy, professionalism, respect."
Police Commissioner Valentine wasn?t the only one talking to the new patrolmen that day.
Tape ? Valentine ? And now I have the honor and privilege to present His Honor, the mayor ... (fade applause)
The new officers also heard from Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia.
Tape ? LaGuardia ? You're gonna have a lot of new friends, that is they're gonna try to make friends with you. Now you've had your old friends.
LaGuardia is remembered as a friend of the little guy. But on that day he made it clear that not every little guy on the street could be trusted.
Tape ... LaGuardia ? Stick to them, and watch every new friend. And, you know, you don't have to be a Sherlock Holmes or an experienced detective to recognize a punk or a tinhorn. Keep away from them, and keep them away from you. Don't give a tinhorn a break. If you see him on your beat, sock 'em in the jaw. I'll stand back of ya."
Tape... Walker ... Mayor LaGuardia's comments to the recruit class were September 1942. Less than a year later there was race riot in New York City resulting from a police incident.
Samuel Walker has studied this incident where a white police officer shot a black GI in a Harlem hotel. He's a professor of criminal justice at the University of Nebraska at Omaha.
Tape .... Walker ? There were ample warnings that there was a serious police - community relations problem in the city, and at that time not enough was done. I'm not sure anything was done.
Tape ... Announcer ... Ladies and Gentlemen, in view of the disturbances this evening in West Harlem (start fade) the mayor of the city of New York desires to make a statement to all the people of the city. Mayor LaGuardia ...
As gangs of people roamed the streets of Harlem throwing rocks and bottles through store windows, Mayor LaGuardia went on the radio in the early hours of August 1, 1943 to appeal for calm, and he offered the official version of what had happened.
Tape ... LaGuardia ... An arrest was made in a hotel lobby, a hotel incidentally which has given the police a great deal of trouble. There seems to have been interference with the arrest and a soldier attacked the officer, the arresting officer. A crowd gathered around and the soldier took the stick from the officer and struck him across the head, whereupon the officer pulled his gun and wounded the soldier.
The police shooting of a black GI in Harlem in 1943 and the riot that followed was the prelude to a new era.
Bill Epton was born in Harlem in 1932 and lived there most of his life. He was an activist in the Progressive Labor Movement and the Communist Party.
Tape? Epton ? After World War II soldiers came home full of fight. They were ready to demand their rights.
Martha Biondi is a professor of African American studies at Northwestern University.
Tape ? Biondi ? After World War II there?s just a rash, a-, a wave of police killings of unarmed Black men in New York City.
The period after World War II also saw a rise in violent resistance to the police. In almost every case the spark that set off the explosion was the shooting or beating of a black person by white police officers.
(music)
A gunshot is public. When the sound echoes down a city street - people remember, especially when the shot comes from a police officer?s weapon. Generally not as memorable are efforts by cops to get better working conditions for themselves. But in New York the struggle by police officers to gain union representation had a huge impact.
Tape ? Announcer ... Not many questions stir up more agitation in the public prints these days then the dispute over the rights of policemen. (fade)
When this program was broadcast on WNYC in January 1959 New York City cops who worked more than 40 hours a week were not paid overtime, and they had no paid holidays.
Tape ? Announcer ? Other workers freely organize into labor unions, but the suggestion that policemen have the right to do the same stirs up a storm of controversy.
By order of the police commissioner policemen could not join labor unions. So instead they formed social organizations based on religion or ethnic origin. In the late 50s officer Bob McKiernan became active in the largest of these groups - the Patrolman's Benevolent Association. Years later McKiernan was elected president of the PBA. He remembered another important group was the Holy Name Society, which represented Catholic police officers.
Tape ... McKiernan ... The Holy Name Society, which was quite strong in the police department at that time would have a holy name breakfast usually two weeks before Easter. And at that time we would be told by the police commissioner, or the mayor, if he was there, what our raise would be for the forthcoming year. And that was no way to negotiate, and we got no other benefits as a result of that.
In the late 50s many policemen were anxious for this system to change. And so they began to press for union representation. In 1958 New York City Police Commissioner Steve Kennedy transferred 1-thousand officers in an attempt to halt corruption in the department. But the commissioner?s action was seen as unfair and demoralizing by many in the department?s rank and file. PBA president John Cassese called for a formal grievance procedure to protect the rights of patrolmen.
Tape ... Cassese ... I know fellows out there who have been on the beat for eight years doing a wonderful job, enforcing the law, protecting life and property, arresting perpetrators, knowing people on their post, taking care of juvenile delinquency - know who the worst fellow is, and know who the good guys are and so forth and so on. Now when you take a man with eight years in a certain precinct and you take him away to an outlining (sic) area or some other place for no reason whatsoever the tendency is... well he's going to take it easy, let's put it that way. We don't condone the action, but it's human nature. And I say that indirectly the citizenry of the City of New York looses the efficiency of the man because he is not performing up to the high standards because of his low morale at that time.
Over the next decade the PBA not only won a grievance procedure for patrolmen, it evolved into one of the most powerful unions representing city workers.
When we continue after a short break, white cops versus black citizens and the defeat of the civilian review board.
The rise to power of the Patrolman?s Benevolent Association in the early 1960s, came as Blacks and Puerto Ricans in New York were pushing for their civil rights. They demanded better housing and jobs. And they wanted control of neighborhood institutions including the police.
It wasn?t surprising that white cops and black and Hispanic citizens came to blows.
Tape ... Epton ... The incident began with the murder of a young man named Jimmy Powell by a policeman called Gilligan. He shot him down on 70-something Street and killed him. That led to an uprising here in the community.
July 19, 1964 marked the start of four days of rioting in Harlem. Bill Epton, and other community organizers saw the shooting of Jimmy Powell by Lieutenant Thomas Gilligan as an opportunity to mobilize Harlem residents to fight for their rights. Epton was later arrested and served time in prison for inciting the riot.
Tape ... Epton ... We were on the streets, agitating. We were passing out flyers, informing the people of what the issue are. Our motive was to try to explain to the people that while the police are the face of brutality that you see every day, they are just agents of a system that creates this brutality
Tape... McKiernan ... There was looting and there was a bad time. The mood was bad in the community, as it was by members of the police department.
When we continue after a short break ? white cops versus black citizens, and the defeat of the Civilian Review Board. You?re listening to stories from the NYPD.
(Music)
You?re listening to stories from the NYPD. I?m John Rudolph
The police response to the Harlem riots of 1964 shocked and enraged many New Yorkers. In an attempt to quell the uprising NYPD officers had fired thousands of rounds of live ammunition over the heads of rioters, and sometimes at them. At least 15 civilians received gunshot wounds and 26 policemen were cut, burned, or bruised. From the cop?s perspective there was a deep sense of frustration.
Tape...McKiernan ... We did witness looters going into stores, picking up television sets, walking out with a policemen standing on the sidewalk told not to do anything.
According to former Patrolman?s Benevolent Association president Bob McKiernan commanding officers had ordered their men to use restraint when dealing with rioters.
Tape... McKiernan ? So the word was out to keep peace and not interfere, and see if things would simmer down as quickly as possible.
Tape ... Derek Norvel ? That night, we heard all this noise, like firecrackers. Then my mother said, ?No. That?s not firecrackers. That?s gunshots.?
Harlem native Derek Norvel was 10 years old when the '64 riots erupted.
Tape... Norvel ... And I thought, I said, ?Listen, that doesn?t sound like the gunshots I hear on ?Gunsmoke,? you know? And I said, ?Those are real guns,? so-, so, they, knowing from previous riots and that-, my mother and my grandmother and other relatives said, ?Uh-oh.? You know. ?Something?s happening. Something?s going on.? So they said to all the kids, all of us, ?Get under the bed,? and they said, ?there?s-, there?s a riot.? And I remember that one night but there were people running and the policemen were shooting, and some peo-, there-, at that time there was the-, they would-, they would throw Molotov cocktails, and I would hear this, and I was thinkin? it was an actual cocktail or a drink or something, but I didn?t know it was like they were throwing these little, you know, like bomb things, and so as this was going on, as policeman was running, he had two nightsticks just flailing, and he said, ?That?s right,? he said, ?I?m your white boss. I?m your white boss, Niggers.?
(Music)
At the end of four days of rioting the toll stood at one dead and over one hundred injured. And there were other costs as well - growing white fear of black violence, and a drop in public confidence in the police.
A month after the riot the police commissioner ordered a personnel shake-up. For the first time in the city?s history a black man was named commanding officer of a police precinct. Deputy Inspector Lloyd Sealy became precinct captain of the 28th Precinct in Harlem.
But the public was not satisfied. Outrage over police conduct found a voice in a dashing young congressman from Manhattan.
Tape ... Lindsay ... I campaigned on the issue of a police review board. Let me review what this means. Let's remove it from the atmosphere of accusation and counter accusation, which has surrounded it since last summer.
John V. Lindsay ran for mayor as reformer. Among other things, Lindsay promised to set up a board including both civilians and police officials to investigate charges of police misconduct and police brutality.
Tape ? Lindsay ? These men will be trained in due process and the laws of evidence. (fade)
Tape ? Epton ? I think when people saw Lindsay discussing Civilian Review Board they thought were going to get some redress.
Bill Epton.
Tape ? Epton ? People are basically hopeful, and hoping that yes there is a chance that we are going to get a Civilian Review Board, we are going to control these police, there is going to be a way where we can walk the streets without the fear of being shot or stopped and frisked or brutalized or insulted. People?s kindness, so to speak.
The promise of a review board helped Lindsay win the support of black and liberal white New Yorkers in the election of 1965. He was a Republican running in an overwhelmingly Democratic city. Even so Lindsay beat his Democratic opponent by a comfortable margin.
But opposition to the review board was fierce among the rank and file of the Patrolman?s Benevolent Association. The PBA went head-to-head with the mayor and civil rights advocates in a showdown that was felt across the nation.
Soon after Mayor Lindsay set up the Civilian Review Board, the PBA and other groups launched a referendum campaign to defeat it.
Tape ? Announcer ? New Yorkers can no longer walk without fear. Between you the criminal the addict and the hooligan is the policeman. (fade)
Highly emotional TV ads were an important part of the PBA campaign, which was supported by police groups around the country.
Tape ... Announcer ? When danger strikes the safety of you or a member of your family depends on his swift and decisive action. He must not pause even for an instant. If he does, because he fears the possibility of unjust censure, or if he feels his job, pension or reputation is threatened by politically appointed non-professionals then the safety of your family may be jeopardized. The civilian review board puts your family in constant danger. (fade)
In response the Lindsay administration launched a campaign of its own. The mayor warned that defeating the review board could lead to the creation of a secret police force that no elected official could control.
Prominent figures from Hollywood and Washington spoke in favor of the board. Among them New York Senator Robert Kennedy.
Tape ... Kennedy ... I think there is a basic problem about the police and their relationship with the Negro, which has nothing to do with the individual policeman, but just because of our society. The policeman is the man who really has to take care of the worst kinds of deeds for the all rest of us, and he's put in that kind of a position. Because of that problem, there has grown up some distrust between the police and Negroes.
I have always said I don't think the civilian review board is any panacea or the answer to the problems by any means. And I don't think the passage this civilian review board makes the basic problem disappear here in the city of New York. But I think it's a step and an important step.
But arguments like this were drowned out. In November 1966 New York City voters overwhelmingly rejected the Civilian Review Board. As a result, when it came to charges of police misconduct and brutality the police continued to police themselves, as they had in the past.
It was a stunning victory.
Tape ... Kriegel ... The PBA did something almost inconceivable in 1966.
Jay Kriegel was Mayor Lindsay's chief of staff and the mayor's liaison to the police department.
Tape ... Kriegel ... We had a newly elected mayor, fresh off an astonishing reform victory in 1965, and in his first year in office having beat the Democratic organization he gets defeated by one labor union, effectively. That's truly remarkable. And so the exercise of political clout by this union was a stunning political event for the union and for Lindsay.
As far as the union's role, it obviously made it a more powerful force in the life of the city, and certainly within the police department itself.
Tape... McKiernan ... We were elated because we were impressed more than anything else, that we were appreciated.
Former PBA president Bob McKiernan.
Tape ... McKiernan ... Had the majority of the people in the city of NY been abused or tormented by the police they would have voted in favor of a review board. But that wasn't the case, they supported the position of the PBA, they supported the cop on post, and they supported the city.
Tape ... Kriegel ... It certainly did not increase the confidence of the minority community in the police department, both generally and individual police officers.
Former Lindsay administration official Jay Kriegel.
Tape ... Kriegel ... The defeat in the review board simply made it clear that we were going to have to find other ways to achieve these objectives. We were not going to let the city get out of control, leave the cops isolated, allow police-community relations to become more aggravated.
Despite the review board?s defeat, New York remained relatively calm in the late 1960s, while across the nation cities including Detroit, Newark and Los Angeles experienced deadly riots.
Meanwhile the PBA grew increasingly aggressive in its dealings with the city.
In 1970 newspapers reported that the "blue flu" had hit the department as patrolman called in sick during a contract dispute with the city. A year later, as the dispute dragged on, thousands of cops walked off their jobs in a wildcat strike that lasted for 6 days.
It wasn?t until 1992, during the administration of Mayor David Dinkins that New York reestablished a civilian review board to investigate charges of police misconduct. Again, as in the 1960s, the PBA opposed the board, but this time union didn?t have the political muscle to stop it.
(?Car 54 Where Are You?? theme)
?Car 54 Where Are You?? was a TV comedy about a pair of New York City cops who were always getting into trouble. In the early 1960s, when the show was broadcast, there was enough good-will toward the police that having some fun at their expense wasn?t a problem.
But by the mid-60s relations between the police and the citizens they were assigned to protect had dramatically deteriorated. In New York and cities across the country fear of crime and urban violence was on the rise. A new telephone system called ?911? promised that the police would respond more quickly to calls for help.
This new technology was introduced just as the public was loosing confidence in the police, and the police themselves had started to doubt their ability to prevent crime. George Kelling is a professor of criminal justice at Rutgers University.
Tape .... Kelling ...This idea that all the police do was react after crimes are committed, became part of the culture of policing, that is, you wait for something to happen and then you respond
Another legacy of the 1960s was a series of historic rulings by the U.S. Supreme Court that were bitterly resented by many law enforcement officials. The most famous - the Miranda ruling - was handed down by the high court in June 1966. For the first time local police had to inform suspects of their right to remain silent, and to have a lawyer present during police interrogations.
Tape ... Kelling ... Criminal investigations were being conducted with torture. And police managers couldn?t or wouldn?t do anything about it, and so finally, the Supreme Court said, ?Okay, if you can?t or won?t do anything about it, we simply won?t accept the evidence.? And that was a big hit on policing.
Police violence was one reason for the crisis in law enforcement in the 1960s. Another was police corruption.
You didn?t have to look far to find New York City cops taking bribes, selling drugs, taking part in illegal gambling operations or extorting money from small businesses.
Tape ? Rustin ? I was sitting in a barber shop in Harlem a Saturday or so ago. A man comes in and goes into a back room. A police officer drives up in a car ? two of them ? one gets out and goes into a back room.
Civil rights leader Bayard Rustin speaking on a WCBS ?TV program in 1964.
Tape ? Rustin ? On either side of me were teenagers getting their hair cut. There is an exchange in the back room, and when the policeman leaves and the man comes out my barber says to the man who went into the back room, ?how much did he demand this time?? And the other fellow says, so these teenagers could hear it, ?he?s got up to fifty percent, and I?m getting out of the business.? He was talking about number writing.
Now, no young negro in Harlem can have any respect for police when he sees that kind of thing going on. And then this officer dares to come to him and accuse him of a crime because he?s shooting crap in the street. And there is a double, double resentment when they know that the police ? many of them, not all, but many of them ? themselves engage in the most criminal forms of bribery.
Tape ... (Cut from "Serpico")
Detective: Let?s face it, who can trust a cop who don?t take money? I mean you are pretty weird kid. And with that call and all the guys were getting a little worried. I told them you?re okay, that you?re from the old 2-1. You?d never hurt another cop, right? I mean, you?d never hurt another cop, would you Frank?
FS: Depend on what he did.
Detective: That?s the wrong answer Frank.
The movie "Serpico" was based on the true story of a plainclothes cop named Frank Serpico who almost got killed in the late 1960s trying to get his superior officers to investigate corruption in the NYPD.
Tape ... (Cut from "Serpico")
Cop #1 Jesus Christ, guess who got shot? Serpico.
Cop #2 Think a cop did it?
Cop #1 I know six cops said they?d like to.
Eventually Mayor Lindsay established a commission to look into the charges by Patrolman Serpico and his colleague Sgt. David Durk. The investigation by the Knapp Commission lasted 2 and a half years, and included dramatic testimony, including these remarks by Sgt. Durk.
Tape ? Durk ? Once I arrested a landlord?s agent - (You wanted to know if I ever arrested anyone for bribery)- who offered to pay me if I would lock up a tenant who was organizing other tenants in the building. As I put the cuffs on the agent a crowd of people really were around and actually said, ?viva la policia.? Of course it was not just me or even the police that they were cheering. They were cheering because they had glimpsed in that one arrest the possibility of a system of justice that could work to protect them too. They were cheering because if that agent could get arrested it meant they had rights, that they were citizens and maybe one day life would really be different for their children.
For me that moment was what police work is all about. But there have been far too few moments like that, and far too many times when I looked into the faces of this city and saw not hope and trust, but resentment and hate and fear. Far too many of my fellow officers have seen only hate, far too many of them have seen their dreams of service and justice frustrated and abandoned by a corrupt system. Superiors and politicians who just didn?t care enough.
It took five years of Frank Serpico?s life and five years of mine to help bring this commission about. It?s taken the lives and dedication of others to preserve as much of a police force as we have. It has taken many months of effort by all of you to help show the city the truth. What I ask of you now is to help make us clean again, to help give us some leadership we can look to. To make it possible for all the men on the force to walk at ease with their better nature and their fellow citizens. And perhaps one day, on a warm summer night to hear again the shout, ?viva la policia.? (applause)
Tape ... Announcer ... This is Jerry Miller, WNYC-TV News. Whitman Knapp the chairman of a commission investigating alleged police corruption held a press conference this morning in his law offices (fade)
The Knapp Commission found "widespread" corruption in the police department -- undercover officers on the "pad", a term that meant receiving regular payments from illegal gambling operations, and narcotics officers shaking down drug dealers for thousands of dollars.
Attorney Knapp said the NYPD could not be relied on to police itself.
Tape ... Knapp ... The commission is persuaded that the underlying problem is that the climate of the department is inhospitable to attempts to uncover acts of corruption, and protective of those who are corrupt.
The Knapp Commission was widely praised for its work. The commission?s report led to changes in the NYPD that reduced illegal activities by police officers, and helped the department shake its corrupt image ? at least for a while.
More than two decades later another panel, this one headed by Judge Milton Mollen, again uncovered widespread corruption in the NYPD.
One of the Mollen Commission?s star witnesses was Michael Dowd, who worked as a patrolman in Brooklyn. Testifying under a grant of immunity Dowd told the commissioners how in 1986 he went from being a good cop to a bad cop.
Tape ... Dowd ... In the beginning you start out saying, you know you're angry that the drug dealers basically run the street, and you're angry that you have no dent into what they're doing. So in the beginning you start, 'well what the heck if we arrest 'em we get a complaint by our C.O. or our sergeant that, 'what did you do, you took two crack vials off the street and you cost the city sixteen hours overtime. What's goin' on here?'
So it's that attitude, and the next day you won't get the same assignment. You'll be on a foot post in the weeds by the Belt Parkway. This is how it begins,. This is how it began with us. And then the negative reinforcement, constantly, you know, you say, 'make them pay a tax, make the drug dealers pay a tax.' Don't get me wrong I didn't go there intending to rob drug dealers, I made drug arrests when I first got there. But very, very quickly you get turned off to this by the department itself. If anybody tells you any differently, they're lying.
When we come back cops battle the crack epidemic, and the experiences of NYPD officers who lived through Sept. 11th.
You?re listening to Stories from the NYPD.
(Music)
You?re listening to Stories from the NYPD. I?m John Rudolph.
(Music, Theme from ?Shaft?)
In 1971 Hollywood offered its version of a Harlem cop. He was tough, he was suave ? he was private detective John Shaft.
The year ?Shaft? was released Stephen Davis started work as a patrol officer in Harlem. Davis retired from the New York Police Department in 1991 after serving as Deputy Commissioner for Public Information. In the film Shaft, goes up against the Mafia. For Officer Stephen Davis the assignment was less glamorous, but perhaps just as challenging.
Tape ? Davis ? We would be put out on the street on a summer day where it would be not uncommon to walk down the street, on Eighth Avenue or on Manhattan Avenue in upper Manhattan, and see, literally, fifty to a hundred people standing on a street corner for no apparent reason. And we knew that it was a lot of drug activity and, in fact, a lot of these people were drug abusers, selling drugs, buying drugs, high on drugs, et cetera. And your-, your charge quite often was to get this crowd to disperse. The dilemma facing the cops is that if you have a legal reason to clear a corner, and you?ve got some people that aren?t going to do it, give you a hard time, they?re gonna-, they?re gonna test you, they?re gonna come back at you - verbally joust with you or, you know, stare you down and refuse. Well, if you give-, if you had a lawful enough reason to get rid of them from the corner, then one would-, it would follow that you have something to charge them with, which would probably be disorderly conduct. You go into a precinct in the summertime, in a busy, inner-city precinct and walk before the desk with three people under arrest for disorderly conduct because they wouldn?t leave the corner, in the old days that desk officer would say, ?If you don?t know how to clear a corner, don?t bring the corner into my station house. You are the cop. You?re in charge. You?ve gotta get respect on the street.? And now, leave it to the cop to try to think of what that means.
(Music)
It was tough being a cop in the 1980s. It was tough living in New York. The crime rate soared, but the police force shrank. Following the fiscal crisis of 1975 the city was forced to lay-off 9-thousand police officers, along with thousands of other city workers. In 1980 New York employed 22-thousand cops, about the same number as in the mid-1950s. But the demands on the police department continued to grow. Crack cocaine created a new class of violent criminals. Gentrification turned working-class neighborhoods into battlegrounds pitting long-time residents against wealthier newcomers and real-estate developers. Deinstitutionalization of mental hospitals swelled the number of mentally unstable people living on city streets.
In 1983 the New York recorded 1,600 murders, 43,000 assaults, and nearly 93,000 stolen cars. At the peak of the street crime epidemic in 1988 there were over 1,800 murders - half of them drug related.
Tape ... Freeman ... You got to also remember that back then in the mid 1986 was the beginning of the crack epidemic.
Dexter Freeman went to work as a rookie cop in the Bedford- Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn in 1986.
Tape ... Freeman ... A lot of people that were home owners, they started experimenting with this drug and the next thing you know they was loosing their homes, and their families and they were robbing people to get this drug Crack had really deteriorated this entire community back in the mid 80?s.?
Daily News columnist Jimmy Breslin called the crack epidemic, ?the worst enemy this city has had in modern times.? The number of AIDS cases spiked due to IV drug use. Jails were over crowded, the courts were swamped with drug cases. The cost of fighting crack put additional demands on the police and other city agencies with too few resources.
Because muggings were so common, midtown- Manhattan became known as the ?gauntlet of fear.? The pressure was on to fight the drug war and retake the city. But a sense of helplessness and cynicism had taken root at the NYPD.
Again, Sgt. Dexter Freeman of the 79th Precinct in Bedford Stuyvesant, Brooklyn.
Tape ... Freeman ...I remember being here as a rookie it was always, ?shots fired,? it was a lot of homicides. And it was like, the officers here, they were all very upset ?cause they worked constantly, the radio was nonstop. It was because we had lost control at that point, we had lost control because we were addressing these violent crimes. We were letting the little things go.
(music)
Subway cars were covered with graffiti, illegal drug sales and prostitution flourished on city streets, and if you were stopped in your car at a red light you might find a squeegee men washing your windshield and then demanding payment before the light turned green.
People were scared. They were fed up. Some were leaving the city.
In the early ?90s a tough federal prosecutor ran for mayor, promising to turn the city around.
Tape ? Announcer ? Ladies and gentlemen, the mayor of the city of New York, Rudolph W. Giuliani (applauses)
Rudy Giuliani was sworn in as mayor in 1994, and immediately began a sweeping effort to restore order in New York.
Tape? Giuliani ? The era of fear has had a long enough reign, the period of doubt has run its course. As of this moment, the expressions of cynicism, New York is not governable ? (fade)
William Bratton was Giuliani?s first police commissioner.
Tape ? Bratton ? New York City in 1994 clearly said, ?We want these issues enforced. We want to get rid of graffiti. We want to get rid of squeegee pests. We want to get rid of the prostitutes on the corner that are destroying our neighborhoods. We definitely want to get rid of those eight thousand open-air drug locations that are cancers destroying neighborhoods. So, what I engaged in, and what I?m very supportive of, is assertive policing.
Bratton introduced a new computerized system, called Compstat, to monitor crime trends. For the first time ever, the department had a steady stream of current data showing where the NYPD was doing an effective job, and where it wasn?t. Up and down the chain of command officers who fell behind in making arrests were subject to intense pressure to improve their performance.
Compstat was a huge success. Police departments in cities around the world now use this system.
In 2001, as Giuliani approached the end of his second term as mayor, he continued to promote the changes in policing that he claimed were responsible reversing New York?s decline.
Tape ? Giuliani ? The City of New York is now world-famous for its turnaround, its renaissance, its reform, whatever you want to call it, and it-, that?s been ongoing for some time. The core, however, of the turnaround of New York City has to do with public safety and quality of life.
But aggressive policing under Giuliani had a tragic side. The fatal police shooting of African immigrant Amadou Diallo in the Bronx sparked widespread outrage.
Tape? Diallo demo sound ?.
Demonstrations like this one at police headquarters demanded that the police and Mayor Giuliani be held accountable for Diallo?s death. The Diallo case followed the brutal torture of Haitian immigrant Abner Louima in a Queens police station, and the fatal police shooting of another Haitian immigrant Patrick Dorismond.
On top of these infamous cases there were widespread complaints that black and brown-skinned people around the city were subject to frequent harassment and abuse by NYPD officers.
William Bratton, who left the post of police commissioner in 1996, was among those who criticized Mayor Giuliani?s law enforcement policies.
Tape ? Bratton ? When we came into New York City in ninety-four, my goal coming in was that with the reduction of crime, we would have a firm foundation to build improvements in the race relations in the city, particularly between the police and minority communities. And that?s why I was so frustrated when, after I left in ninety-six, that the department, instead of taking advantage of the peace dividend of a much safer city, began to increase the use of the police in stop-and-frisk tactics in the city to - I think - unacceptable degrees, particularly in the minority community.
In 2001, as Rudy Giuliani entered his final months as mayor, many police officers were eager for a change of leadership at city hall. They resented the mayor for denying them a pay raise. And they felt pressure ? from the Compstat system that required cops to make more and more arrests, and from the public that was growing increasingly intolerant of aggressive police tactics.
Tape ? Alexander ? I mean-, wooo! This lady stood in front of my face for five minutes one day, nose-to-nose, and cursed me out
Sergeant Kelvin Alexander was assigned to the NYPD?s Community Affairs Division. He also was a spokesman for 100 Black in Law Enforcement Who Care, a group representing black police officers.
Tape ? Alexander ? When police officers were accused of doing somethin? outlandish and-, and unethical and-, and-, and corrupt, instead of saying, ?Listen,? you know. ?Let?s get this-, let?s find out what happened here. This is wrong. This is wrong, but let?s find out what happened.? We just said, ?No. You?re wrong. It?s-, we?re right
Tape ? bagpipe dirge from police funeral
The attack on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001 was a turning point ? for the nation, the world, the city and for the New York Police Department.
The deaths of 23 NYPD officers at the World Trade Center silenced, or at least softened the department?s many critics. So did the procession of police funerals that followed the attack on 9/11. Police officer Jim Coughlin remembered the change.
Tape ? Coughlin ? It was amazing. The people who would normally look at you and either would want to or would spit on your shoes in the street, were waving to you and saying, ?hi,? and they weren?t being wise about it. They weren?t being wise aleck. They were actually being sincere.
In the year following the attack on the World Trade Center I spoke with Jim Coughlin and other members of the New York Police Department to hear about what happened to them on that day, and the months that followed. Here is some of what they had to say.
Tape ? Coughlin ? On the morning of September 11th, I was assigned to a demonstration across the street from the Empire State Building. I mean, it was a beautiful day. It was rush hour. Everybody was going to work and there were people all over the place and everything seemed like it was just another day. So, I heard somebody screaming about an explosion at the World Trade Center. Before I could even pick my head up to look down Fifth Avenue at the World Trade Center, I had four people running over to my window, ?Did you just see that plane hit the building?? And we went over there and basically right at the base of the Towers ? it?s just utter chaos. I mean, it?s just chaos just going on right in front of you and I?m going, ?Why are we just standing here??
A deputy inspector comes over to us and he says, ?Gentlemen, the North Tower is leaning. Get outta here.? And normally there sending you right into the middle of the fire, you know, right into the middle of the battle. So if they?re telling you to pull out you know something is happening. And at that point, we just ran.
Tape ? Reporter ? The building is falling right now. People are running through the street. Smoke is everywhere.
Tape ? Couglin ? Everybody had a hold of each other at one point so that nobody would fall behind, you know. We all kind of made a sharp left, and you know, no matter which way you went the smoke just kept comin? ? and things were just kind?a flyin? outta nowhere. You know, desks, chairs, computers. And the winds was so strong, it was whipping you around, and we just kept running. And one poor guy got stuck. We made a left and he got stuck on the opposite side of this big chain link fence. And he had a fireman and a paramedic with him on that side, and I?m goin?, ?One of us made a wrong call here, and I?m not sure who it was, but neither of us had the time to rethink it and try to go back,? cause the smoke was too close. And you know everybody just kept runnin,? and kept runnin,? and all of a sudden our side opened up and their side didn?t and we just kept goin?. You know, we really didn?t have a choice.
All three of them made it out. We found them about 20 minutes later. We went back in after the smoke cleared up a bit.
Tape ? Colozo ? My name is Rafael Colozo. I?m a police officer. I work out of the 1-0-4 Precinct in Queens. On morning of September 11th I had two rookies from the 1-12 Precinct with me. So, basically, I took the two kids and we raced down there. They were probably eight months into the job or nine months into the job. It was really ? they were scared. They were very scared and I don?t blame them. It was like the movie Towering Inferno. It was just jetting out.
For the next month we were on 12 ? tours, and I really didn?t see any days off, and I tried to sleep-work-sleep, and I think that?s what got me through it. Most guys were really gettin? freaked out about it. And later on, I found out, of the two rookies, one of ?em quit. He couldn?t take it
Tape ? Giuliani ? We were able to move 120 dump trucks out of the city last which will give you a sense of what was already overnight. So some of the debris has already been removed, more of it will be removed, and it will be taken by barge all day today.
Tape ? Claxton ? The landfill, Fresh Kills Landfill, started early on. And it really built up after they had reclassified the operation from rescue to recovery
After September 11th, New York City Police Detective Marq Claxton was assigned to the Fresh Kills landfill in Staten Island. Debris from the World Trade Center site was brought to Fresh Kills where detectives painstakingly searched for evidence and remains of those who had died in the attack.
Tape ? Claxton ? They have one section where the truck would dump whatever debris is there and you would actually take the rake and shovel and rake your way through it. And on a typical day you?ll find so many different identification pieces. You?ll find, you know, there?ll be body parts that are found by people, and it?s a demanding job. And many of us civil servants aren?t really like the heavy construction types, and we?ve been spoiled for so long doing so much administrative work, and we?ve been chasing bad guys on the streets, it?s very different than hands-on work. But it?s a necessary function and I think we?ve done a pretty good job at it.
Tape ? bagpipes
Tape ? Coughlin ? I think, from an inside perspective, and in dealing with each other, there was a lot of mutual respect gained that day.
Officer Jim Coughlin.
Tape ? Coughlin ? As far as city?s and civilians? perspective of the police there were a lot of people who very grateful for it. There were a lot of officers who were like, ?Wow this is great. Look. Everybody?s saying ?Hi? to us, and ?thank you.? And they?re crying and they?re telling us they love us, and they love to see us out here. And then there were other guys, and I was kind of stuck halfway in the middle, but there were other guys who were goin?, ?Hey look, lady or mister, we?ve been doing this for years, you know. Now all of a sudden, you?re gonna come by and say ?thank you?? Where were you when we needed you? When everybody hated us you looked the other way.
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Today there are more than 39-thousand police officers in the NYPD. Starting pay for a new police officer is just under 33-thousand dollars a year. In some ways the job has changed since 9/11 as counter terrorism has joined crime prevention as a significant part of the department?s mission. New York?s overall crime rate has continued to fall during the past five years. Recently however there has been an upsurge in the most serious crimes ? rape and murder. And being a cop is still dangerous. Since the attack on 9/11 five New York City police officers have been shot and killed in the line of duty.
Tape? Announcer ? Stories from the NYPD was narrated and produced by John Rudolph. The editor is Karen Frillmann and the technical director is Rob Weisberg. Associate producers are Alex Kingsbury and Maya Rudolph. Special thanks to WNYC archivist Andy Lanset and to the New York City Municipal Archives. This program was made in part with the support of WNYC, New York Public Radio and the PRX Reversioning Project...from the Public Radio Exchange. You can hear and rate more programs like this at PRX.org.
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