>> thank you. thank you for coming. i appreciated. i have been covering the police department for almost 20 years. this is a crazy story. the book is about a police officers secretly recording his police commanders ordering various types of misconduct. the backdrop is the nypd crime-fighting strategy. this is a strategy where statistics show used to identify crime of spots and officers are said to respond to the sauce months.

the strategy, a sharp crime drop in the city of the last 20 years but it had some witnesses that became more and more apparent as time went on. that sort of numbers oriented strategy had some problems because it inspired the commanders to, but the way to make crime look better without actually -- ways to make room look like it was going down without actually doing the work, manipulating the statistics. the degree of crime, lasorda's level should. these zero things the better parent. my journey to the story began in

march of 2010 when i and a cryptic e-mail from the police officer. just one paragraph with an audio file attached to it. it was a sergeant telling the police officers not to take crime reports under certain circumstances, not to take robber reports of the serb circumstances. and that was amazing to me because the analyst talked about reporters. just to have a commander actually saying that on tape was amazing. now was intrigued. those expecting deal of brooklyn or queens and he was in this tiny little town in upstate new york north of albany. a joke there. the town was kind of rundown. kind of a town that used to manufacture leather products, but a lot of the factories of closed.

there were living in a nondescript rundown park complex with his father. a one-bedroom apartment. and knocked on the door. they let me in. that it not know what to expect. he was this huge jack, but the is soft-spoken and reticent. is of like you could have walked through wall. his father on the other hand, much smaller guy but very loud, or with the most talkative person of government. before long we ended up talking about the jfk assassination and various conspiracy theories. adrian and i had to go and to stop talking. gone on for like 25 minutes. sutter and cavallas bedroom was

completely and decorated, a computer in the dusk. and said, how must it to have? his vocal about 1200 hours. for reporter this is a big deal. so it turned out that he had been recording secretly in his precinct for two years. and the only way to do this is because the digital recording technology had guns supplied, he had bought two or three of them. more of them was a latch recorder. look like a normal watch except it had a microphone,. the of the one he put a shirt pocket award. turned out the beginning of the tort and turned it off at the end of the store. and then of course he could cut

-- pick out certain things that heat or interested. but a lot of them was just street chatter. it was not really useful. but he did give me was the roll-call, the meetings of the beginning of each store where police commanders tell the officers what to focus on for that to. so he gave me 117 roll calls. so now i had a day to day record of exactly what the officers are being ordered to do. you can really get a sense of what the priorities were in the precinct. and the main priority was getting numbers. absolutely obsessed with getting numbers, with getting higher stop and frisks and lower car numbers. there was this constant drum beat every day in a roll calls.

get more summons, give more summons, to the point where the officers really had no discretion and all. there was a quota that was the main thing. and this again is product of com start. it started in the early 90's under commissioner bratton. it was successful, but as time went on it became larger and harder to drive crime down by the same percentages in the beginning. so at the same time success for precinct commanders meant promotion. so those two things combine to create an incredible incentive for police commanders to come up with innovative ways to make numbers look better. sizzle of the things it would do

, director summons. cubs had the discretion to sell your of the warning. so a drinking from texas. his death was a police officer. he was an outsider. his backdrop and a bridge of a jamaican of the south bronx paribas from the outside. he did not really have any ties to. he had been in the navy.

he worked for motorola on software chips. he moved back to new york because his mother is sick. she was very sick. she said to him, and for the police department, police recruiting and. she said, one that you applied to be a police officer. he said, i don't want to do that she finally convinced him. he took the test and he did very well. they called him immediately in the found herself standing there in the police academy. and for the first couple of years it went along with the program. the first thing you do is police officer is go into something called impacter your sent to a crime, high crime precincts as a rookie and just have eight months and are told to write tickets. and you're not really given a lot of supervision. because their rookie officer the confine you for everything. there's -- the iraqis are

basically obligated to do exactly what their toll rose to get fired. so after that he went to the 801st precinct in both style which coincidentally is the precinct where frank serpico started his career, if anyone receive that is can he was the central figure in a major corruption uncovered a major corruption and the police department nearly 70's. so those first couple of years he went along with the program, revised quotas. they called in the hammer. six-foot two, 230 pounds. and as time went on he became discontented, disenchanted with this constant "the pressure. he started objecting. he's one of those people who likes to read letters.

he's rejecting the amount of overtime. of course that did not go anywhere and was pretty much ignored, but it gives you a sense of who he was. this is outrageous. there were a couple of other things to complain the not. his first precinct commanders actually tolerate. he was smart and trying to do his job. but he left. his commander came in. very much a contest that cmdr. he was interested in numbers. it wasn't community policing. it was about getting the numbers a year and immediately became a target. there were looking at the

spreadsheets. you know, the list marksman's him. i was out there doing my job. to seeing what is happening in responding to it. a wonderful exchange between the executive officer in the precinct and adrian over these two conflicting theories of policing. adrian's theory is, going to respond to the karzai sea in the misconduct s.c., but i'm not going to get a number just for the sake of numbers. they executive officer is saying, you're going to get the numbers are as we will find a way to get rid of you. so they identified him as a problem and started squeezing

him. by squeezing him, bin, started giving them assignments, but modify posted on of the most dangerous areas of the precincts by himself for night shift. in a shift is 332-1130. three shifts in a typical day. they would send him out of the precinct to stand on the corner in midtown manhattan. one of the big problems is that the numbers are way down and at the same time cops are getting pulled out of precincts mostly in the outer boroughs and put into a high tourist areas like midtown manhattan, police headquarters, city hall. and the effect of that, you can see why they're doing it, to make sure nothing happens to embarrass the city, but the effect of it is that the outer borough precincts are often

wildly short staffed. at one. there was only one car for half a percent. so he starts objecting, this are squeezing him, giving him bad assignments. he stars taping because he is concerned. he wants to build evidence of what is going on and protect itself. he does this thing. his father is a driving force. you will see it in the book. behind-the-scenes haggling among he thinks if you build evidence for the tape-recorded he will be able to protect and self. and really interesting.

this will pour a sturgeon says this is a man and wherever one is walking around smiling and being happy. this is but stay where real partly as a warrant. that's the perception. the perception of the community is that committee can imagine what the relationship is. there is another. he's talking with another officer who is telling a story about how the precinct commander downgraded this one particular crime. a gatt report a stolen car. the precinct commander responded to the scene, which is unusual in telling.

that's unheard of. that's something that would never happen unless it was a major crime. a routine stolen car report. he is talking joy and says, have you been in prison and all? and gallegus, yak, when i was young and did a couple years. the precinct commander says, well, maybe, so your car mean that he was getting paid back. that report ended up not being taken. there's an example of a guy try to report a crime and it ended up just going into the circular file. another incident where the woman had had her cellphone rob on the subway. a commander responded again. children, what you want me to do about it? in the act and give back. your manager of your home?

sub report also never got taken. you know, these are not homicide's. these are routine low-level incidents. but those of the kinds of incidents the cops response to most. if it's happening like that in one precinct its logical to guess that it is happening in other precincts. there is a roll call where the commander comes and cod is wonderful long speeches about how important it was to keep the numbers down. this time he's talking to school captain about his own numbers. in a meeting with china to pressure the school captain. adduces these numbers, the chief will go through the roof, has said will come through the top. wilson avenue is the burro headquarters.

so the significance there is that here you have achieved in the new york city police department, over 30,000 officers, or about one officer and one of the ten precincts, the numbers of one officer and one of the ten precincts the overseas which gives you a sense of just how crazy this number driven strategy gun. it was now -- only about 30 achieves an apartment. word about one of 30,000 officers and the number of traffic tickets. and then there are a lot of great little kind of quotes, what is like to be a patrol officer, lowliest of fall. a sergeant to says, listen, if you're watching a dead as apartment on said in his chair, watches tv, or eat his food.

here is another. he is a document of the officers or defacing the precinct with graffiti. so he finally decides that he can't go anywhere inside the precinct. he goes to this investigative unit called the quality assurance division with allegations and documentation of refusal of crimes and cops refusing to take crime reports. they sit for two hours and promised to invest it. after that adrian starts getting calls from the internal affairs bureau at the precinct. the internal affairs bureau is leaving messages for him at the present which is kind of like

telling the precinct commander he is trying to investigate was going on. is a huge breached. to this day and not sure why you did. three weeks after you went to the investigators, halloween 2009, he is feeling intimidated by one of his lieutenants because his lieutenant has found is no. but. he had been keeping notes. so the tennant takes the book, copies it comment comes out and starts walking around in a threatening manner. he goes home an hour early. i'm sick. when he gets home because internal affairs and makes a complaint. and they beautifully ticket, but it is clear that nothing will happen. that night -- in the meantime there is some kind of controversy.

so that night they get his house basically they send the emergency services which is a heavily armed s.w.a.t. unit in the police department. a deputy chief this say listen to, you left early, you have to come back. in the is kind of stubborn. you're in my apartment. they get in this apartment. about the size of this platform. you can imagine, of them heavy-duty. this tiny space. it's kind of intimidating. he says, as stubborn esses, not going. so the chief comes in and gets angry. you're not going. you're refusing an order from the a deputy chief?

and he says, no, not going. all of sudden he becomes in the dp. gdp is department acronym for a merciless mr. person basically saying he is crazy. you basically can take into the hospital, forced them to go a hospital. so there is no crime. this label them crazy. he basically said surrendered his civil rights. he refuses to deal with them. if iran on the floor. they put a foot in his chest. their rough amount. in the book the so sequence is in there in much more detail. it basically strap him down. this make hospital psychiatric their work.

he recorded all sang. it is completely unjustified. he is basically called robb. he does not raise his voice until the point where they tackle and ventura off the bed. and he is basically in control. look, if you guys want me to come back, i won't. you can discipline me for leaving work early. but there would not let it go this is where it all kind of comes together. why would they do that? they knew he had gone to investigate and have this evidence. while the persian so hard? if i go home from work early,

pushed the ball every was taken off to the sideboard. and so is sitting in a site or watching tv for a woman accused repeatedly force itself did his watching tv in all the sudden greg kelly comes on, but please commissioners on who has a morning show on fox. he's talking about beating a parking ticket sitting in a site or for no reason because internal affairs. he can't get anyone. no one listens.

the oversight agency, all of the oversight is he's ignored this whole thing. the civil rights violation. it is enough to make you cynical about the whole process. he finally gets out answers talking to a press a little bit. larry and his father folia to the small apartment in upstate new york. the apartment starts sending people outside the city of their to bang on the door to get them to come out. open the door. he knocks 186 times in the door.

is pending in the door. come out. we want to talk to you. so then department says that despite suvs basically doing surveillance. so you have this hilarious thing. is to surveillance suvs. just remember, there is no crime being committed. this sitting there surveiling a guy, a little bit eccentric. in the meantime, the videotaping everything to a recording in. these are lieutenants and sergeants making over $000,000 a year sitting there all day. one of the notices light from

possible fish tank is been turned on. subject appear to be wearing a white t-shirt and what appeared to be gray sweat pants. that was the best they could do. so eventually the police realized that it was not trying to cooperate. the kind of back off. that took two months. and then the other thing they did after that was conducted this investigation and did everything they could to discredit him including when they tried to apply for food stamps that blocked his application because the city was still technically a police

officer that produce the internal reports hesitate to as the entire incident documented. these internal affairs reports, they reject it's amazing. but the one thing that was going in his favor was the quality assurance division unit that he went to derail the chevy was telling the truth. he was right. they checked out everyone of the cases. there are able to substantiate everyone of them. the report was completed in june

of 2010. the department put it into a safe and locked it. it did not see the light of day and would not if they had not been able to get it pterosaurs 18 months after was finished. during that time i've been asking for this report. the department of saying we know what to talk about. the report is not time. i kept adding stonewall it confirmed a lot of what you're saying. it got to the oversight agency. nothing he had left to do was to for three years, to half years he filed a lawsuit in 2010 and august. basically i go into that. that's interesting also about

the strategy that the city to a in this case. what happened with a.j. the incredible stress and tension that comes when you're trying to fight to be this of those guys. they don't have any money. basically fighting against a $4 billion law enforcement agency with a limited legal resources with the conventional prominent law enforcement individual, billionaire mere word about their legacies. giving a completely different narrative to the last eight years in the police department's . i said -- but just want to mention, hadrian's work is said -- it's been significant. not in terms of him getting

people indicted. .. who went through very similar thing in a broad. until was one of these guys who grew up in washington heights during a period when washington heights dangerous neighborhood

was able to get through that have become enough as they are announced on his career crash on the shoals of this number driven strategy. he got circa stopping young black and hispanic. he objected to that of the squeezing, just like they squeezed him. as a detective first grade harold fernandez who injured to go. i'll just tell you the story. but i get arrested for a knife point, attempted knifepoint trip five. he says in the interview room and looks up to us as he done this before, haven't you? the guys that got eventually chosen the location. it turns out you don't fix previous attempted knifepoint rape, but they have all been classified as misdemeanors that affects that kranz was never

notified. the precinct commander at the time wanted so badly to keep his numbers down that very serious crimes were downgraded to misdemeanors and dust, a rapist was able to work with impunity for a month and he attacked. i talked to each one of the terms. she said that for the next three years after that, she would never -- he could never ask for the hallway or an elevator. she actually left the city in the senate will time out. so that's kind of the real world effect of this downgrading of crimes and refusing to take report. that's all i have. does anyone have any questions? yes, sir. adding a mock

[inaudible] [inaudible] [inaudible] [inaudible]

[inaudible] >> the question as, how do you deal with -- how do you report corruption that, you know, as a civilian. document everything. most people don't. most people have an experience with the police. [inaudible] >> all right, sir. thank you. document everything. most people don't document if you have an account with the police, get a report number. get a receipt. right of the names of the

officers you are dealing with. let's talk about it after. it's a very compact you're asking. [inaudible] >> the question is, why the agent had trouble with his lawyers and where is he now? well, it's in the book. they fired lawrenceburg. they didn't feel he was aggressive enough. let me just kind of put this in context for everyone. schoolcraft their difficult for everyone to deal with. i don't know if anyone has been in tighter about jeffrey wike

and from the tobacco industry. jeffrey wike camp is not an easy guy to deal with. the schoolcraft surrender a enormous amount pressure. there's no cut further east disability from texas. you know, so they wanted norms are to be more aggressive than they fired him in a fire two of the layers he's working with. and then there were some more conflict with the next batch. i think now they have a nice message on, who i think they are going to stick with. i think they've learned their lessons about firing lawyers that it delays your case. that's one of the reasons we haven't had a trial yet. this thing is going to go on for another year at least. yes, sir. >> what happened to agence schoolcraft job? >> a tree and is unique.

he has been suspended without pay for over 31st of 2009. once he refused to report to work, the department could have fired him in five days, but they decided not to. you can guess why they didn't fire him. it would have looked bad. it would look like they're retaliating. c. is just one. [inaudible] >> ahaz hearing right, yes. the department does not -- [inaudible] >> yes, i am getting to that commissary. he has hearing right. the department has the option of whether or not to use them. he doesn't have -- you can't force the hearing. they control the system. yes, sir -- yes, ma'am.

[inaudible] you mentioned getting a report from the police department. you can call them, they will come out and not give you a report. you can't prove anything if they don't give you a report. so i am just concerned. i got an impression from the newspaper that he just got none of the police academy when he was put in the site were i not only been a police officer for a few years. i have to know, how long was he an office click >> he started in 2002. he was an officer for six years. yes, ma'am. [inaudible]

[inaudible] [inaudible] the question is does this kind of happen? i've never come across a case like this, with all of these different factors. yeah, it's a big department and there's a lot of politics. one thing is it's not a monolithic entity. i've come to learn it is more of a series of actions that are waiting desperately to rise,

investors actions to arrive in the department. so there's a lot of politics in terms of transfers, promotions, assignments. people retaliate against each other, so it happens. yes, ma'am. [inaudible] >> yeah. yeah, sure. have i received any negative feedback for writing the story? yeah. there's a bulletin board called the rant. it is just composed of police officers, retired police officers. i call it to create chorus in the book. it gives you a chance, back in roman times, if your army likes you, the liberal democrats to shield. that is but the rent is good a

skunk eyed rat at the village voice has their agenda. but there is also a lot of positives that. you know, a lot of police officers wrote to me or called me and says this is right on the money. this is an thing we are with. yes, sir. i diamox iv imac's >> yes the department sent a fax at the beginning of the sequence, which was in november. november 2009. they sent a fax to the johnstown police department and set a new go knock on his door. so that was a first visit.

john tom basically took a backseat and let them do it. if they wanted to, they could have as happened in the muslim case. one of the jersey law enforcement agent he said you can't do that here. that didn't happen in this case. johnstown just let go. n.y.p.d., and now? they can do whatever they want. yes, sir. [inaudible] >> all right, okay. you have to raise a stink about it on the spot. you can't let it go. you have to fail on a supervisor. depends whether you on the street and demand records the names and follow up. that's really all you can do.

no one knows they exist. so very few civilians actually end up there. it's called the quality assurance division. it's a bold street in brooklyn. it is a small unit and that is their job is to audit. [inaudible] >> you can go to court, sure. any other questions? >> i just want to know what your hope was. [inaudible] i was just telling a story about another oversight fee. it's called the commission to combat police corruption. the schema was in the early 90s about cops running truck dealers. mayor giuliani created this organization through an executive order and made a big deal out of it and bad this

agency is going to stop corruption. and then he proceeded to leave it for the rest of his term. bloomberg ended up -- it still exists. it has a budget of less than a million dollars and it's completely ineffective at our. i [inaudible] to answer your question, if onset has the teeth and the funding, it could be affected. politics in the city -- the mayonnaise police department to show good numbers, to show it going down. so there is an inherent conflict here between those two agendas. yes, ma'am. i [inaudible]

[inaudible] >> the major seven. rape, robbery, murder, grand larceny and great larceny auto. [inaudible] >> yeah. the question is, what is it -- the police commander is encouragingdowngrading of major crimes and also encouraging arrests were smaller crimes. that's it backley what they are doing. there's something called ac simon, which you know what it