Cop admits breaking rules

A COP WHO once won admiration for taking the sergeants exam while braving cancer has admitted he falsified time records to visit his ailing mother’s bedside when he was supposed to be at work.

Officer Fady Azmy on Tuesday pleaded guilty to departmental charges of fudging time records to make it look like he was working when he was actually visiting his sick mom, as well as another relative, a cousin who was dying in a New Jersey hospital.

“I got carried away, thinking I had too much freedom,” Azmy said regarding the time he stole between June and October 2016. “My mom, she had a few heart surgeries, and me and my sister took turns visiting her in the hospital.”

The NYPD learned the nine-year veteran was conducting personal business on company time when he showed up late for work one day, claiming he’d gotten into a fight with a cab driver, members of the NYPD’s Department Advocate Office said.

As his superiors investigated, they learned the time he said the dispute began was off — by several hours.

Probing further, detectives discovered that Azmy, who was working as a detective in the NYPD’s Intelligence Division, where he translated Arabic and monitored social media for potential terror threats, had not swiped into the building at times when he claimed he was working.

Prosecutors for the department advocate said Azmy had ditched work on 27 occasions for more than 40 total hours.

On one date, Azmy admitted, he left in the middle of his shift and drove to New Jersey to visit his cousin.

“Someone called me and said to get my mom and go to the hospital because my cousin, who had terminal cancer, only had four hours to live,” Azmy testified at his mitigation hearing Tuesday. “I stormed out of the office and grabbed my mom at a church service across the river and went to the hospital. (The relative) passed away a few hours later.”

Prosecutors said Azmy never informed a superior of his plans or took “lost time” that day.

Because of the nature of their work, detectives in the Intelligence Division are allowed to make their own hours, as long as they put in 81/2 hours a shift. Detectives are required to enter their hours in a special activity log.

Investigators found Azmy hadn’t swiped into the building during the times he had put into the log, officials said. They had also learned he put in for overtime on days he hadn’t completed a full shift, officials said.

Azmy (photo) admitted to the charges, hoping that a department judge will recommend he forfeit 15 vacation days instead of the 25 that are the usual penalty.

Since the charges were filed, Azmy has been downgraded from detective to police officer — and was forbidden from becoming a sergeant, even though he passed the exam while fighting cancer.

“I had three surgeries before I took the sergeants exam,” Azmy said. “But I passed the test.

“I just want to get everything back on track,” he added.

When Azmy’s sentence is determined, it won’t be publicly released by the NYPD. The department continues to cite Section 50-a of the state Civil Rights Law, which it says prevents the public disclosure of personnel records of uniformed officers. Azmy would have to waive the rule before his sentence could become public.