4 ms·

How a City Agency Stockpiled Arms to Fight White-Collar Crime

49 points by danso 8y ago

nevillemartin 8y ago
Horrifying. A shining example of Parkinson's Law, and the absurd nature of how forfeiture money is gathered and spent with little to no oversight. New York City government resembles a fiefdom more and more by day.
saagarjha 8y ago
> The agency is charged with investigating waste, corruption and mismanagement in city government, where it has traditionally focused, in large measure, on white-collar crime. It seems like they should have been investigating themselves ;) But on a more serious note, the article doesn’t actually place numbers on the amount spent, saying that only a portion of the civil forfeiture money went to arms. I’m curious to know how much that was.
- boomboomsubban 8y ago
  >Spending for guns, ammunition, bulletproof vests, gym equipment, a firearms training simulator, radios, night vision gear and ceremonial uniforms totaled more than $1.3 million, according to the agency. A little more than just arms, but most of it was related to arming the agency.
MrMorden 8y ago
NY needs a state version of the federal Anti-Deficiency Act. (As do most other states.)
hirundo 8y ago
> The agency is charged with investigating waste, corruption and mismanagement in city government, where it has traditionally focused, in large measure, on white-collar crime. Apparently they investigated waste and mismanagement and learned to apply those techniques themselves. But where is the corruption? > He spent $45,000 in federal forfeiture money to acquire a small arsenal of Glock handguns. Ah, there it is. Waste and mismanagement corruptly funded by legally stolen money shredding the fourth amendment. Maybe the problem is that the name "Department of Investigation" doesn't have something like "Prevention" in its name, so its mission is unclear to its employees. As philosopher George Costanza once said, "I've got to plead ignorance on this because if anyone had said anything to me at all when I first started here that that sort of thing was frowned upon..."
gweinberg 8y ago
I was disappointed that there really wasn't a "how".
joe_the_user 8y ago
So the agency stockpiled arms neither for the purposes of fighting crime nor for any drug-dealing or nefarious state-overthrow activity but effectively as a kind of entertainment or a sort of fantasy that they'd be acting like the cops they saw on TV. And here, it may seem strange but is actually logical that the thinking of real cops who don't shoot it out everyday seems to be driven by the images of TV cops who do. This book is relevant here. https://www.amazon.com/Rise-Warrior-Cop-Militarization-Americas/dp/1610394577 https://www.amazon.com/Rise-Warrior-Cop-Militarization-Ameri...
Justin_K 8y ago
Did I miss it or where is this agencies arrest / conviction record showing justification for all this spending?
- boomboomsubban 8y ago
  The money coming from forfeitures means there is little oversight in how it is being spent.
so_tired 8y ago
In other news, 50% of start-ups use micro-services and docker to implement a simple web backend So i guess YMMV ...
- saghm 8y ago
  I think there's a pretty noticeable difference between docker/microservices and actual weaponry.
heyjudy 8y ago
"What's a gun doing in your trousers?" "It's for protection." "Protection from what? Zee Germans?" Also: https://outline.com/RBrG7p https://outline.com/RBrG7p

49 points by danso 8y ago

Horrifying. A shining example of Parkinson's Law, and the absurd nature of how forfeiture money is gathered and spent with little to no oversight. New York City government resembles a fiefdom more and more by day.

saagarjha 8y ago

> The agency is charged with investigating waste, corruption and mismanagement in city government, where it has traditionally focused, in large measure, on white-collar crime. It seems like they should have been investigating themselves ;) But on a more serious note, the article doesn’t actually place numbers on the amount spent, saying that only a portion of the civil forfeiture money went to arms. I’m curious to know how much that was.

boomboomsubban 8y ago
>Spending for guns, ammunition, bulletproof vests, gym equipment, a firearms training simulator, radios, night vision gear and ceremonial uniforms totaled more than $1.3 million, according to the agency. A little more than just arms, but most of it was related to arming the agency.

MrMorden 8y ago

NY needs a state version of the federal Anti-Deficiency Act. (As do most other states.)

hirundo 8y ago

> The agency is charged with investigating waste, corruption and mismanagement in city government, where it has traditionally focused, in large measure, on white-collar crime. Apparently they investigated waste and mismanagement and learned to apply those techniques themselves. But where is the corruption? > He spent $45,000 in federal forfeiture money to acquire a small arsenal of Glock handguns. Ah, there it is. Waste and mismanagement corruptly funded by legally stolen money shredding the fourth amendment. Maybe the problem is that the name "Department of Investigation" doesn't have something like "Prevention" in its name, so its mission is unclear to its employees. As philosopher George Costanza once said, "I've got to plead ignorance on this because if anyone had said anything to me at all when I first started here that that sort of thing was frowned upon..."

gweinberg 8y ago

I was disappointed that there really wasn't a "how".

joe_the_user 8y ago

So the agency stockpiled arms neither for the purposes of fighting crime nor for any drug-dealing or nefarious state-overthrow activity but effectively as a kind of entertainment or a sort of fantasy that they'd be acting like the cops they saw on TV. And here, it may seem strange but is actually logical that the thinking of real cops who don't shoot it out everyday seems to be driven by the images of TV cops who do. This book is relevant here. https://www.amazon.com/Rise-Warrior-Cop-Militarization-Americas/dp/1610394577 https://www.amazon.com/Rise-Warrior-Cop-Militarization-Ameri...

Justin_K 8y ago

Did I miss it or where is this agencies arrest / conviction record showing justification for all this spending?

boomboomsubban 8y ago
The money coming from forfeitures means there is little oversight in how it is being spent.

so_tired 8y ago

In other news, 50% of start-ups use micro-services and docker to implement a simple web backend So i guess YMMV ...

saghm 8y ago
I think there's a pretty noticeable difference between docker/microservices and actual weaponry.

heyjudy 8y ago

"What's a gun doing in your trousers?" "It's for protection." "Protection from what? Zee Germans?" Also: https://outline.com/RBrG7p https://outline.com/RBrG7p