It this what New York Mayor Bloomberg’s cops are planning to do to peaceful protestors and people who expose cops violating the law?

According to a blog called The Real Estate Observer, connected to The New York Observer, a weekly newspaper, New York’s “finest” may be planning to beat the crap out of some people the cops don’t like.

The story is entitled, "Cop-Blog Ranters Vow Vengeance Against 'Radical' Bicyclists." You'll find it at this address: http://therealestate.observer.com/2007/03/copblog-ranters-vow-vengeance-against-radical-bicyclists.html


How all this came about is a bit involved, so please bear with me. It starts with another website, Uncivil Servants.org. Uncivil servants is related to a group called Transportation Alternatives. The Uncivil Servants website is dedicated to exposing illegal and dangerous parking by all kinds of city employees – not just cops – on the sidewalks, in front of fire hydrants, in bus stops and other locations.
http://nyc.uncivilservants.org/

The site posts photographs and videos of illegally parked cars and forged parking permits, and highlights a general "to-hell-with-the-law-or-public-safety" attitude of some of the city’s employees who use their cars for personal commuting and then park wherever they feel like parking.

This exposure has led to considerable rage among New York Police Department officers. They've expressed their feelings on their own blog, NYPD Rant. You’ll find it at:
http://p066.ezboard.com/NYPD-RANT/bnypdrant64609

It’s not easy to access everything on that’s posted on NYPD Rant. Full use requires registration. Quite frankly, The New York Crank didn’t bother trying. But I saw enough to confirm the Real Estate Observer’s story. Specifically:

“Commenters have posted pictures of Paul White and Matthew Roth, two honchos at Transportation Alternatives, who are supposedly going to be riding in… [another group’s protest ride].

"’These lawbreaking cycle pirates must be stopped!!" writes Blue Trumpet on NYPD Rant.

“Gimmelosttime adds: 'Someone please hammer these 2 turds this weekend.’"

The site is difficult to navigate, but also refers to quotas – presumably arrest or ticket quotas – which the NYPD officially insist do not exist. Surf around the website for a while and you'll also find a picture a police badge with the number covered by masking tape - what cops have been known to do to avoid identification when they engage in illegal behavior in uniform.

And there are other encitements to bad cop behavior, including what I sincerely hope is an out-of-context quote from Mayor Bloomberg that "you can't fire someone for things they do outside the office." It's not hard to translate what that one means in its cop rant context: "If you're not on duty and you find one of those Transportation Alternatives people, give him a thorough tuneup."

So what is Mayor Bloomberg doing about physical threats of violence against civilians who have committed no crime? Or about investigating “nonexistent” police quotas that encourage cops to improperly ticket other peoples' cars and make improper arrests?

Why, exactly what he appears to have done about documented (sometimes with license plates photographs) illegal parking by city employees.

Nothing.

P.S. I haven’t been to the news stands yet, but someone called to say that this week’s issue of New York Magazine evidently diss-es one of the two New York Mayors Who Would Be President (the other is Rudy You-Know-Who) by calling attention to Bloomberg inadequacy in managing his job.

More on this topic after the article makes it to the web next week, so you can refer to it yourself. Also to come one of these weeks: What most of America doesn’t know about Giuliani.