More than a hundred retired New York Police Department captains and higher-ranking officers said in a survey that the intense pressure to produce annual crime reductions led some supervisors and precinct commanders to manipulate crime statistics, according to two criminologists studying the department.

The retired members of the force reported that they were aware over the years of instances of “ethically inappropriate” changes to complaints of crimes in the seven categories measured by the department’s signature CompStat program, according to a summary of the results of the survey and interviews with the researchers who conducted it.

The totals for those seven so-called major index crimes are provided to the F.B.I., whose reports on crime trends have been used by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and his predecessor, Rudolph W. Giuliani, to favorably compare New York to other cities and to portray it as a profoundly safer place, an assessment that the summary does not contradict.

In interviews with the criminologists, other retired senior officers cited examples of what the researchers believe was a periodic practice among some precinct commanders and supervisors: checking eBay, other Web sites, catalogs or other sources to find prices for items that had been reported stolen that were lower than the value provided by the crime victim. They would then use the lower values to reduce reported grand larcenies — felony thefts valued at more than $1,000, which are recorded as index crimes under CompStat — to misdemeanors, which are not, the researchers said.

Others also said that precinct commanders or aides they dispatched sometimes went to crime scenes to persuade victims not to file complaints or to urge them to change their accounts in ways that could result in the downgrading of offenses to lesser crimes, the researchers said.

Retired Officers Raise Questions on Crime Data in The New York Times

Added to an institutional culture which specifically rewards certain behaviors (arrests made towards the end of a shift, or on days which will require court appearances on scheduled days off tend to generate more overtime payments than other arrests) – it’s not a good recipe for effective law enforcement.

Chunky - missing as of February 10th

Chunky, missing as of last night from 226 Sixth Avenue, Brooklyn – or more precisely, the back yards on the block bounded by Fifth and Sixth Avenues, and Carroll and President Streets. Kathryn Drummer, with whom he normally resides, is very eager to have him back. Please report finding or sighting to her at kadrummer at gmail dot com – or by telephone on (917)   364-6752 (mobile) or on   (718) 636-8976.

Via the “Lost” page of FIDO Brooklyn.

The City’s Office of Emergency Management emails:

Emergency personnel are on the scene of an unstable antenna near Church Avenue and East 10th Street in Brooklyn. Church Avenue is closed to traffic between East 10th Street and Stratford Road.

(courtesy of the super-useful Notify NYC)

We’ve gotten reports of regular interference with wireless devices (portable phones, Wi-Fi, etc.). They’ve tended to be in fairly close proximity to the antenna mast, which is operated for the car service in the same building. Has anyone else nearby experienced what may be RF (Radio Frequency) interference? If so – the best time to ask for the antennae to be repaired/recalibrated may be now, while the tower is being fixed.

• Backpacks
• Camp kitchen equipment
• Clothing (for men, women, and children)
• Food
• Hydration gear
• Tents, shelter and sleeping bags

That’s not all – they’ve also got experienced people leading guided trips – and if that weren’t enough – they’ve got a reputation for food “gourmet backcountry meals” on the trail that you’d want to eat even without the preceding and intervening hikes.

From the announcement of It’s A Wonderful Tenth:

“It’s a Wonderful Life” is “It’s a Wonderful 10th.” this year, as Rich Timperio, drag racer become art impresario, celebrates the tenth anniversary of his New Year’s Extravaganza at Sideshow Gallery, the spiritual nexus of the New York City art world. It’s a multi-media show of hundreds of artists, living and dead, veterans and rookies, warriors and adepts, but all hard hitters with great aim and the lightest touch. Timperio chooses the artists based on the seriousness of the endeavor, not on any fixed approach. He asks each one to bring a work that characterizes a unique vision, then orchestrates the whole into a singing symphony. Ken Butler’s musical instruments as works of art and the birds that evolve into cutouts flying free of the paintings of the ex-war correspondent Henrietta Mantooth might stand as emblems for the whole, uncaged, but beautifully composed production. The visual music and spirit of camaraderie among artists and art lovers gathering to celebrate the birth of a year that art does make new will sweep you up the instant you pass through the doorway in the graffiti covered wall.

Weinstein and Holtzman

Weinstein & Holtzman is the apparently tiny storefront hidden, at 29 Park Row, in the middle of all of the various storefronts of J&R Music World.

Tel: (212) 233-4651 • Fax: (212) 571-5301 • Website: www.212hardware.com • E-mail: info@212hardware.com

We’ve been customers of Brooke’s Appliances for years. Open Tuesday through Sunday (closed Mondays, for anyone having trouble working that through), they don’t sell anything they wouldn’t recommend, and we’ve been happy with everything we’ve bought from them. Big companies and big distributors tend to discriminate against small neighborhood retailers – so their stock doesn’t include every brand. But everything they do sell is reliable. They’re located at 387 7th Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11215, tel. (718) 832-0055. Charlie Lucchese, one of the twins who run the store, tells me that they currently have Sodastream seltzer-water-makers on sale – just in time for New Year’s Eve.

A Brooklyn social worker described as “the picture of health” was slain at his neighborhood gym in a feud over exercise equipment.

Douglas Smith, 50, was knifed and clobbered with a hammer by a pair of muscleheads who attacked him as he worked out at his East Flatbush health club.

Smith died Sunday morning at Kings County Hospital, a day after he was jumped inside the Church Avenue Fitness Club, cops said yesterday.”He was a gentle giant,” Smith’s heartbroken father, Castello Smith, 77, said last night.

The father said he learned of his son’s death from police yesterday afternoon. “I wish I could have been with him [at the hospital]. At least he would have been able to hear my voice. I would have said, ‘Dougie, this is your daddy,’” the elder Smith said.

An argument between Smith, a bodybuilding buff standing more than 6 feet tall, and a younger, scrawnier club member preceded the fatal attack, witnesses said.

Clubgoers said the dispute was over who claimed first dibs on a Nautilus elliptical machine. The club member quarreling with Smith summoned two pals to the gym for backup, witnesses said.

“They came from outside and attacked him with a hammer and a knife,” Pat St. Charles, 37, a trainer at the club, told the Daily News.

Witnesses said Smith was exercising on the elliptical machine when the duo ambushed him from behind, stabbing him three times in the back and walloping him in the head with a hammer.

The following suggests, alas, that long-standing NYPD habits in handling crime scenes haven’t changed:

The only signs remaining of the attack yesterday were Smith’s workout gloves and Gatorade bottle – left on the machine he had been using.

We’ll try to get NYPD and Kings County District Attorney comment for an update.

Thanks to Tom  Reilly of the Reilly International Group for the tip.

My wife’s Mac – written off as dead by another well-known and reputable (and usually pretty good) Apple repair place – working like new. David’s tower – the same. So – if you have an ailing Apple – Mike’s seems the place to go.

They’re located at 120 West 20th Street between 6th & 7th Avenue in Manhattan.

Bram Lambrecht’s LEGO keychain – and some other cool stuff – can be seen at BLDesign.org