Submitted by Jeff Baird, Jan 7, 2007 15:12

Well lets just go back in time the year is 1992 and then Mayor David Dinkins, signs an Executive order creating "The City Of New York Commission to Investigate Corruption within the New York City Police Department" better known as the "Mollen Commission". Corruption wise things were going very, very badly for the NYPD. The Dirty Thirty, The Morgue Boys, The Mechanic just to name a few. To refresh the memories for those who would like to forget here is a little snippet of the Commissions findings of fact: "As important as the possible extent of brutality," noted the commission's report, "is the extent of brutality tolerance we found throughout the Department.... [T]his tolerance, or willful blindness, extends to supervisors as well. This is because many supervisors share the perception that nothing is really wrong with a bit of unnecessary force and because they believe that this is the only way to fight crime today. "Internal review was equally corrupted. The Internal Affairs Division was not helpful in identifying problems, and removed especially sensitive cases and placed them in a "tickler file," making each problem appear an aberration. Despite many officers' criminal behavior, their personnel files repeatedly showed that they had "met standards," and they thus avoided scrutiny altogether. Officers who were caught lying were not disciplined and were taught by supervisors how to present false testimony in court. . This is were the Déjà vu comes in. The Police Commissioner back then was no other than Raymond Kelly and supporting cast. And though Commissioner Kelly eventually was forced to acknowledge how bad things were nothing really changed. Its January ,2007 and there is an uncanny feeling RAND is yet another Mollen Commission, whose recommendations will also fall by the wayside. Do you feel it? Detective Jeff Baird (retired NYPD)

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