FOuL LaG AIR
Cops tie up airport radio with raunchy rap song
IT WAS ONE HECK of a wakeup call.
A New York state trooper inexplicably transmitted a raunchy rap song over Port Authority police radios at LaGuardia Airport, angering PAPD officers and sparking two investigations, the Daily News has learned.
More than 50 PAPD cops and state troopers were subjected to the 1996 underground rap song “Put It In Your Mouth” by Akinyele (photo) for roughly a minute on Sept. 8, sources said.
The song about oral sex tied up everyone’s radios, blocking actual emergency calls, a law enforcement source said.
One report about the incident said the transmission broadcast “vulgar” lyrics and had “tied up radio transmissions for all PAPD officers, causing a safety issue,” the source said.
Female Port Authority police officers were among those forced to listen to the song’s denigrating lyrics, according to Paul Nunziato, president of the Port Authority Police Benevolent Association.
“A trooper jeopardizing trooper safety on their frequency would be a serious problem,” Nunziato said. “But, for Governor Cuomo to deploy troopers at Port Authority facilities and force the Port Authority to grant them access to PAPD radio frequencies while they disregard basic radio discipline, jeopardizing the lives of the public and my members, is inexcusable.”
The Port Authority investigated the blue broadcast and traced the transmission back to a PAPD radio that was signed out to a state trooper for the day, the source said.
The findings were handed over to the New York State Police, but it was not immediately disclosed if the trooper had been disciplined.
The trooper reportedly told investigators that he transmitted the rap song by accident — but critics aren’t buying it.
“Whoever did it, they must have held the walkie talkie right up to the speaker,” the source said. “It sounded intentional.”
A State Police spokesman was investigating the claim Thursday.
Roughly 100 state troopers — who critics have nicknamed “the purple army” because of the color of their ties — have been deployed at both JFK and LaGuardia airports as added protection since five people were killed during a Jan. 6 shooting at Florida’s Fort Lauderdale—Hollywood International Airport.
As they patrol the same areas and try to find ways to work together, troopers and Port Authority cops have allegedly butted heads on several occasions.
On April 7, supervisors were called in when two troopers walked into a federally restricted area at JFK and refused to leave.
On March 31, a trooper grabbed a livery cab driver soliciting fares at LaGuardia Airport, but let the hack go when he realized he couldn’t hand the arrest off to Port Authority cops, sources said.