Brooklyn, NY – Undercover Investigation Reveals Questionable Tactics at NYPD’s 81st Precinct

Brooklyn, NY – Police supervisors in Brooklyn’s 81st Precinct in the Bedford-Stuyvesant area actively participated in crime statistics manipulation, victim intimidation and, ultimately, retaliation against an officer who spoke out, according to the first story of a three-part series in the Village Voice.

The newspaper obtained hundreds of hours of conversations secretly recorded by a rank-and-file officer that present an unprecedented portrait of life within the New York Police Department.

“This is a rare, unrestricted look inside the NYPD,” said Tony Ortega, editor-in-chief of the Village Voice. “An 8-year veteran of the force was concerned about how his precinct was serving its community, so he took the extraordinary step of recording virtually every conversation he had for 15 months and then came to us with the tapes. Our reporter, Graham Rayman, put in months of reporting to back up the tapes and write a compelling, ultimately damning view of life in the 81st Precinct.”

The tapes reveal that precinct superiors threatened street cops who did not make their quotas of arrests and stop-and-frisks, while directing them not to take robbery reports in order to manipulate crime statistics. The tapes also refer to command officers calling crime victims directly to intimidate them about their complaints.

The Village Voice obtained the tapes from Adrian Schoolcraft, an 8-year veteran of the NYPD. Schoolcraft made recordings over a period of 15 months from July 2008 to September 2009, capturing roll calls, and meetings with supervisors and internal investigations units. Schoolcraft gave the tapes to the Voice out of frustration that his attempts to report questionable activities went largely ignored within the NYPD. Schoolcraft claims he was subjected to retaliation by precinct and borough superiors after he complained.

Schoolcraft first made headlines in February, when the Daily News reported that he was speaking out about manipulation of crime reports at the 81st. His complaints, the Daily News wrote, had sparked an investigation that had put even the precinct’s commander, Deputy Inspector Steven Mauriello, under suspicion. Those stories, however, gave no indication that Schoolcraft was also in possession of the remarkable audiotapes.

The Voice has released portions of the tapes in batches on their website. The three-part series, written by staff writer Rayman, will cover several issues, including a profile of Schoolcraft.

To hear the audio click here