NYPD CAN’T STOP LEAKS
Punishment threat fails to nix reveal
An internal NYPD video of police brass warning cops against leaking information to the media has been, you guessed it, leaked to the media.
On Monday, the Daily News acquired the video of NYPD Chief of Department Terence Monahan dressing down rankand-file cops, warning them against leaks.
“Anyone who leaks information, photos and videos to the media will be subject to the strongest possible discipline,” Monahan says in the video, which was put on the department intranet Friday. “I will personally see to it.”
In the video, Monahan mentions how surveillance video of a police shooting in the Bronx that left a cop hospitalized was circulated online within hours of the Feb. 8 clash.
The next day, surveillance videos of suspect Robert Williams opening fire at cops in the 41st Precinct stationhouse were put online even faster, Monahan said.
“It is unbelievable to me that someone would leak these videos, and yet they did,” Monahan says.
“These cops were shot, our brothers in blue. This was reckless. Sharing the video with friends, which was done dozens of times, would not help the search for a potential cop killer, and making it available online prematurely hinders an investigation.”
Although Williams was already in custody the leaked video “could have been detrimental to the prosecution of a violent criminal, one who tried to murder our cops,” Monahan says.
“Video from surveillance cameras is not reality TV and not entertainment. It’s a lack of common sense and violation of the Patrol Guide,” he adds.
Police Officers Brian Wilkens and Paul Brauer, both assigned to Manhattan’s Midtown South Precinct, were stripped of their shields and guns and placed on modified duty for
“accessing and disseminating” the stationhouse video.
Monahan promised more cops will be disciplined if leaks continue.
“The NYPD is known as one of the most professional police forces in the world. Protecting
our fellow officers should be your top priority,” he says in the video. “This will not be tolerated, and I am sure that many of you agree.”
But some cops didn’t agree.
Three days after being posted on the department’s intranet, which only NYPD employees are allowed to access, the video was recorded and shared outside the department.
The Daily News and other media outlets were secretly given copies of the warning in short order.
“The message in the video is the message we want to convey to NYPD officers,” Sgt. Jessica McRorie, an NYPD spokeswoman, said Tuesday.