New York Police Department

Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani on Thursday angrily denied reported Justice Department findings that a division of the New York Police Department engaged in racial profiling while conducting an aggressive campaign of street searches. The inquiry by federal prosecutors began after the 1999 shooting death of Amadou Diallo, an unarmed African immigrant killed by four members of the Police Department's elite Street Crime Unit.

I do not envy those who desire to break in to writing fiction about cops. Although private-eye novels are enough on the commercial downswing that it's high time for a proper revival of the subgenre, police procedurals are in the midst of a mass media glut. Think I'm exaggerating? The television series "Law & Order" got canceled just as a new spinoff, "Law & Order: Los Angeles," debuted on the airwaves last fall. Michael Connelly's new book, "The Fifth Witness," brings back his legal-eagle hero Mickey Haller (recently portrayed by Matthew McConaughey in the film version of "The Lincoln Lawyer")

Los Angeles city and police officials who attended a two-day seminar this week on New York City's crime-fighting efforts said Thursday that they were impressed with the law enforcement tactics being employed in the Big Apple. "It's incredible," said LAPD Deputy Chief David Gascon. "I'm stunned by what they've done. We walked around Manhattan and there were no homeless, no panhandlers and no prostitutes. The place was very clean."

New York remains a prime target for terrorists nearly 10 years after the attack on the World Trade Center, but the New York Police Department is constantly refining its efforts against terrorism and has thwarted a dozen plots against the city since Sept. 11, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said Tuesday. FOR THE RECORD: NYPD: In the Jan. 19 Section A, an article about the New York Police Department incorrectly said that the nonprofit Police Foundation raises $100 million a year to support NYPD programs.

Calls for action in the death of Amadou Diallo increased Saturday as the Justice Department continued reviews of New York City police practices as well as the case of four New York policemen who shot him. Police officers, Muslims and even President Clinton weighed in over the weekend on the case of the West African immigrant killed in a hail of gunfire by police who say they mistakenly thought he pulled a gun on them.

Some police departments seem never to shed certain problems. And for once we are not talking about the Los Angeles Police Department. Instead, let's head 3,000 miles eastward. You're looking at the New York Police Department, and you're wondering if things there ever really change. More than two decades ago, a police officer named Frank Serpico became a national hero for exposing NYPD corruption.

New York remains a prime target for terrorists nearly 10 years after the attack on the World Trade Center, but the New York Police Department is constantly refining its efforts against terrorism and has thwarted a dozen plots against the city since Sept. 11, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said Tuesday. FOR THE RECORD: NYPD: In the Jan. 19 Section A, an article about the New York Police Department incorrectly said that the nonprofit Police Foundation raises $100 million a year to support NYPD programs.

I expected to see more gunshot wounds when I became a police surgeon for the NYPD three years ago. I had seen my first one as an intern decades earlier -- a suspect injured during a robbery had been brought into the emergency room -- and I still recalled the jagged, deep crater left by the bullet. The image had left its mark on me, not only by its appearance but also because it had been inflicted by another human being. I was braced for the sight of other such disturbing wounds, but I was surprised to find that many injuries resulted from trips, stumbles and mishaps that occurred off duty.

The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights found Friday that the New York Police Department widely uses improper racial profiling to stop and question blacks and Latinos, contributing to turbulent racial tensions that can escalate into "tragic and unnecessary" events like the police shooting of unarmed Amadou Diallo. New York Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani called the conclusion a "politicized report that bears no relation to reality."

Four decades ago, a gathering of world leaders here was a security nightmare. Cuban leader Fidel Castro stalked out of the Hotel Shelburne and threatened to sleep outdoors because his entourage couldn't pluck and cook chickens in their rooms. Soviet Premier Nikita S. Khrushchev banged his shoe on the table at the United Nations, stirring passions. And the presence of both men brought anti-Communist demonstrators into the streets.

I expected to see more gunshot wounds when I became a police surgeon for the NYPD three years ago. I had seen my first one as an intern decades earlier -- a suspect injured during a robbery had been brought into the emergency room -- and I still recalled the jagged, deep crater left by the bullet. The image had left its mark on me, not only by its appearance but also because it had been inflicted by another human being. I was braced for the sight of other such disturbing wounds, but I was surprised to find that many injuries resulted from trips, stumbles and mishaps that occurred off duty.

A Colorado man denied Tuesday that he was a central figure in a terrorism investigation that led to several police raids in New York. Najibullah Zazi told the Associated Press at his home outside Denver that he was driving a rental car on a visit to New York when he was stopped by authorities Thursday on the George Washington Bridge, which connects New York City and New Jersey. But he said that after officers searched the vehicle, he was allowed to leave and return to suburban Denver.

Now that New York City crime fighter William J. Bratton has been selected to head the Los Angeles Police Department, the question becomes: Can he do it here? In his 27-month reign as police commissioner in New York City, Bratton oversaw double-digit declines in crime; violent felonies fell by a third and homicides were cut in half. It was that record that made him one of the country's best-known chiefs and that helped him secure the top job at the LAPD.

In a case that has spawned angry protests and focused attention on alcohol abuse among police, the city fired three officers Friday accused of drinking with veteran officer Joseph Gray before he allegedly killed three family members as he drove to work drunk. Gray, 40, pleaded not guilty to manslaughter and was released on $250,000 bail. Assistant Dist. Atty. Joseph Petrosino labeled him an "irresponsible, reckless individual" and declared: "He has disgraced himself and the department."

A former New York City policeman pleaded guilty to charges of conspiring to rob businesses and drug dealers and plotting to kill a detective who once testified against him. Anthony Trotman, 35, faces at least 25 years in prison but could receive a more lenient sentence if he testifies against former partner Jamil Jordon and other defendants. Trotman admitted that he was among several bandits who stole $500,000 in merchandise from a Queens jewelry store in 1997.

Police misconduct remains an "incessant" problem in the United States, and the failure to wipe out abuse and brutality requires wholesale changes, such as giving citizens the right to sue renegade departments, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights concluded Friday. The commission, reviewing the progress and setbacks in police reforms of the last two decades, found that better policing often has come "at a terrible price" for minority communities, "which seem to bear the brunt of the abuse."

Now that New York City crime fighter William J. Bratton has been selected to head the Los Angeles Police Department, the question becomes: Can he do it here? In his 27-month reign as police commissioner in New York City, Bratton oversaw double-digit declines in crime; violent felonies fell by a third and homicides were cut in half. It was that record that made him one of the country's best-known chiefs and that helped him secure the top job at the LAPD.

In a case rife with racial tensions, a prosecutor on Wednesday asserted that four white New York City police officers acted recklessly and with depraved indifference when they killed an unarmed West African immigrant in a barrage of gunfire. "We will prove by the number of shots fired at very close range," said Assistant Dist. Atty. Eric Warner, "that these four defendants intended to kill" Amadou Diallo. The 22-year-old street vendor was shot to death last February in the vestibule of his home.

Two decorated New York police detectives along with a retired officer were arrested Wednesday on conspiracy charges alleging they were cocaine and heroin couriers for a Colombia-supplied drug ring, authorities said. Detectives Willie Parson and Steve Fuller, both 43, and retired police officer Philip Moog, 55, were arrested by the FBI and ordered held without bail. The detectives denied the charges through their attorneys.

Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani on Thursday angrily denied reported Justice Department findings that a division of the New York Police Department engaged in racial profiling while conducting an aggressive campaign of street searches. The inquiry by federal prosecutors began after the 1999 shooting death of Amadou Diallo, an unarmed African immigrant killed by four members of the Police Department's elite Street Crime Unit.