Although it is unknown if Mayor Michael Bloomberg will veto the bill, the City Council has enough votes to override any challenge from the Mayor. The bill, sponsored by Bronx Council Member Fernando Cabrera, calls for new maps which will allow users to search for crime statistics on monthly and yearly levels as well as by address, zip code, and police precinct.

The law requires the NYPD to supply monthly criminal data to the Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications (DOITT), which will manage the maps. Currently the only crime data available comes from an incomplete series of PDFs, which only display crime stats at the precinct level.

The measure gained momentum after it emerged from journalists at Bronx newspaper the Norwood News that police officers in New York's 52nd Precinct had stopped supplying crime statistics. For several years, journalists had to file Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) requests to obtain the stats, which delayed investigations and stories by many months or were sometimes outright ignored.

Public Advocate and mayoral hopeful Bill de Blasio recently published a new “Transparency Report Card,” and the NYPD was one of only two agencies (the New York City Housing Authority being the other) to receive a dubious failing grade.

According to the report, the NYPD ignored nearly a third of FOIL requests last year. Council Member Gale Brewer, who ignited New York's transparency movement last year with her open data law, told the New York World that the NYPD is one of the last remaining closed-off agencies in the city, and that this bill would help alleviate that issue.

“The NYPD does need to be pushed,” Brewer said. “I’m a big believer in community input on crime solving. If you don’t know where crimes are, it’s hard to be helpful.”

Can't wait to see a map filled with Stop and Frisk icons.

Not smart. (Photo: Hashgram)

There are limits on how much your social media presence should reflect your personal brand. For starters: It’s probably best not to brag about your highly illegal drug-dealing activities. On Friday, the NYPD announced it had arrested 41 alleged gang members after one of their higher ranking kingpins, Adrian Rivera, boasted online about his expansive door-to-door cocaine-dealing service.

Police began their investigation two years ago, when undercover officers began purchasing cocaine from Rivera. The only identifying information they had was his nickname, “Ace.” So, the force began trawling the Internet for his Facebook and Instagram accounts, where they discovered pictures of him living the high life of partying with strippers and flashing gang symbols.

That trove of information led to his identity and the revelation that he was part of a sprawling cocaine delivery business that has sold more than $1 million worth of blow since the probe began. Police said the operation was controlled by three gangs: Money Boyz, Blocc Boyz, and the Stack Gang, operating out of three housing complexes in the Lower East Side. Detectives also confiscated heroin, large quantities of cash, a Mercedes Benz sedan, Rolex watches, heroine, and meth.

The New York Daily News said the gang’s network involved a dozen livery cab drivers who delivered the blow—usually priced at $80 a gram—to a diverse clientele ranging from investment bankers to college students.

Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance Jr. noted in the indictment that there’s nothing you can’t get delivered in this city:

“As this indictment reveals, residents of Manhattan today can get nearly everything delivered to their doorstep — from dinner to dry cleaning, and even cocaine,” he said.

We're just getting lazy at this point.

(Photo: Hashgram)

Leave it to the NYPD to make an Android phone useful for more than countless Snapchats. More than 400 smartphones have been distributed to officers since last summer as part of a pilot program to make it easier for them to access police data on-the-go, reports the New York Times.

Despite the fact the phones can’t make or receive calls, it can quickly access a trove of helpful information, like arrest records and surveillance video from nearby buildings. The phones are a better alternative for the officers who currently have to use their slow-loading in-car computers or communicate with dispatchers to find similar information.

The phones' instant access to detailed data provides a fuller picture of the suspect at hand thus making it harder for criminals to lie, said Officer Tom Donaldson to the Times:

“I tell them, ‘I’m going to see your picture,’ ” the officer said. “They don’t realize we have this technology. They can’t tell me a lie because I know everything.”

Imagine how cocky he is at trivia night.

A "sandwich." (Photo: Hashgram)

Gangs may soon join teens in the “totally over Facebook” collective. The NYPD announced yesterday that it has arrested 63 members from three East Harlem gangs, after they left a trail of evidence boasting about their exploints online.

Authorities said the members—all men, 16 to 25—are responsible for 30 non-fatal shootings in the neighborhood since 2009. When using Facebook to plan their hits, they often used slang words. For example, guns were identified as “biscuit” or “clickety,” while ammunition were often labeled as “sea shellz" and "gas."

A gang member would post a status update saying they needed “electricity for the 2 and 5 train" if their .25-caliber pistol was low on ammo. They also bestowed East Harlem with the quaint nickname of “New Iraq.”

NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly credited his troops' social media surveillance with stopping the violence:

'Social media remains a double-edged sword in our crime fighting strategies. It is used by crew members to brag about past crimes, taunt rivals, and incite violence,' he said.  'On the other hand, we use social media to document past crimes and intercept new ones being talked about openly by crew members on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.'

Imagine how low crime stats could dip if the NYPD gets Facebook Home.

Gone. (Photo: Flickr)

Leaving iPads, iPhones, and other expensive iDevices in unattended vehicles is like presenting robbers with a big bow and note exclaiming “Please have me!” So, in an effort to crack down on a rash of car burglaries plaguing parts of Brooklyn, the police are going to shame you.

Officers are canvassing the yuppie enclaves like Cobble Hill and Carroll Gardens to search for exposed electronics in parked vehicles, then taking pictures to send to their aloof owners. The police will then send drivers a stern warning regarding their dim-witted actions by using the car’s license plate to locate their address.

Captain Jeffrey Schiff told the New York Post that the automobile creepshots are intended to thwart thieves from ruining your Angry Birds high score. Also, it will make the neighborhoods safer.

"We're trying to think outside the box," said Mr. Schiff, who announced the educational operation at a community council meeting last night. "The whole idea is to prevent the crime from happening in the first place."

No word on whether the creepshots will apply to non-smartphones, since thieves don't really want those anyway.

(Screencap: YouTube)

Yesterday a video of a 56-year-old woman being brutally mugged in the F train station in Brooklyn's Borough Park neighborhood went viral. The video shows a woman descending the stairs into the station before she is pushed up against a door and hit and kicked. The assailant then empties her purse, grabs some items and chases after her through the station. Though the crime occurred on March 9th, the NYPD released the video with the hopes that viewers would be able to help them ID the perp.

Internet sleuths immediately hopped on the case. Commenters at Daily Intel and Gawker used the police's description--a 20-something, 150 pound man in a hoodie with "'Alpha Phi Delta,' on the front and 'Stugotz' with the number 27 on the back"--to track down the man's Facebook page. His publicly available photos showed that his fraternity pledge name appeared to be "Stugotz" and that he wore a purple bracelet similar to the one seen in the video. Soon, commenters took to his Facebook page to accuse him of the crime.

Now, Gawker reports that the man commenters had identified, 21-year-old Aidan Folan, has been arrested and charged with robbery and assault. Score one for Kinja?

Shut it down. (Photo: Flickr)

Police Commissioner Ray Kelly has laid down the law on what his 35,000-strong force can post on social media networks like Facebook and Twitter.

According to a memo obtained by the New York Daily News, Mr. Kelly handed down the iron-fisted rules in a three page announcement declaring that neighborhood precincts can no longer create new profiles on social media platforms. He also told cops that they could no longer “disclose or allude” to their rank and must stop from posting pictures of themselves in their uniforms unless they’re at an official ceremony.

“Members of the service utilizing personal social media sites are to exercise good judgement and demonstrate the same degree of professionalism expected of them while performing their official duties,” the order reads as scooped by the NYDN.

The NYPD is well aware of just how damning online evidence can be. The department has made a recent push into social media surveillance, regularly using it to tamp down on illicit gun activity in Brooklyn. Recently, however, Mr. Kelly's officers have been the one caught red-handed on social networks. A rash of stories have exposed staffers as bigots for spewing vitriolic comments on Twitter and Facebook.

Back in August, 17 officers faced discipline for posting racially charged comments regarding participants at the 2011 West Indian American Day Parade by referring to them as “savages” and “animals.”

A police training expert labeled Mr. Kelly’s rules as “unauthorized censorship” to the Daily News, but we like to think of it as a necessary evil.

(Photo: NYPD via Gothamist)

There are eight million stories in the naked city, and this is one of them: Gothamist reports that the police are currently on the lookout for the man in the photo to the left. He stands (or rather leans) accused of stealing a laptop from 420 West 118th Street (i.e., Columbia's School of International and Public Affairs) earlier this month, in the middle of the afternoon.

According to the NYPD, "The suspect removed the victims bag which contained a laptop and fled the scene." As you can see, he made his escape on a pair of crutches.

We trust that when the man is spotted, NYPD officers will immediately give chase on their Segways.

Photo: Digital Trends

As Mayor Michael Bloomberg loves to tell anyone who will listen, New York is one of the safest cities in the U.S., baring little resemblance to the city's dangerous streets of 1980's and 90's. But that doesn't mean there aren't some problem areas. One of the biggest involves Apple acolytes who can't seem to hold on to their devices. Last December, Mr. Bloomberg blamed an uptick in major crime on iPhone theft.

Now the New York Police Department is going a step further to protect and serve the Apple-loving hordes out there by forming a team of police officers dedicated to tracking down stolen Apple products. Priorities!

According to the New York Post, the NYPD will coordinate with Apple to track stolen iPhones and iPads. The police will pass the stolen device’s tracking number, known as an International Mobile Station Equipment Identity, to Apple, which can track a device even when the data carrier has changed or the device has been wiped. The partnership has led the NYPD as far away as the Dominican Republic to arrest a suspected thief in Santo Domingo.

"We’re looking for ways to find individuals who have stolen Apple products and return the products to their original owners,” said NYPD spokesman Paul Browne to the Post. “It is being done to learn the pattern who is stealing.”

All these resources marshalled because you can't keep your damn hands off your Apple device on the street? We're starting to understand the Android rage.

IDK? (Photo: Inquisitr)

Here's the thing about building a massive platform for social interaction: You don't just get the high school graduation pics and the wedding announcements. You get all ugly stuff, too. Hence the threat reportedly made this weekend against one of the NYPD's more digitally savvy cops.

The New York Post broke the news this weekend that someone had stopped by the 73rd Precinct's Facebook page and left a detailed threat against commanding officer Joseph Gulotta. The post, which was promptly taken down, described both Mr. Gulotta's car and the hours he works--not exactly the sort of information you want bandied about the Internet, even if you don't make many enemies in the course of your daily life.

The Post suggests the call for violence against Mr. Gulotta was prompted by the precinct's aggressive trawling of Facebook as a way of rooting out possible gang members, which Daily News covered just last week. Yeah, using Facebook to threaten a cop might be the only thing less wise than betraying signs of one's gang affiliations on Facebook.

It doesn't seem the would-be desperado got very far, though. The Daily News reports that a 19-year-old with 13 prior arrests has already turned himself in (though his lawyer says he's innocent and denies he actually put out a hit). Nor does it seem the original threat got much traction:  "While cops feared the post might prompt a brazen criminal to try to murder Gulotta, it did not appear to generate much of an online stir."

It's never the posts you think are gonna go viral that actually do.