Adrian Schoolcraft (c. 1975- ) was a New York police officer in the 81st Precinct, which covers Bedford-Stuyvesant, a poor, black part of Brooklyn with a high crime rate. From June 2008 to October 2009, he secretly recorded everything that was said with a small tape recorder while he was on duty. Now he is taking the police to court.
Police officers were told how many people to stop and search, how many tickets to write, how many arrests to make every month. This led police officers to stop and search or arrest people or write them up for no good reason – or for little things like not wearing a seat belt or talking on a mobile phone while driving.
Meanwhile serious crime was not taken seriously. When people called to report that they had been robbed, beaten or raped, the police would try to talk them out of it. They would find excuses not to take the report or, when they did, they would downgrade the seriousness of the crime. Rape, for example, would become trespassing. Serial rapists on the loose make the police look bad, but not serial trespassers.
Schoolcraft thought his duty was to protect people, not to “get his numbers up”. His numbers were terrible. Since he feared being fired and since his commanding officer was breaking the law, he recorded everything and kept careful notes to build a case.
When he had a solid case he went to Internal Affairs, which handles such things.
Then one night a few weeks later Deputy Inspector Steven Mauriello, his commanding officer, who is the police chief for Bed-Stuy, and Deputy Chief Michael Marino, the police chief for all of northern Brooklyn, arrive at his door with a dozen policemen. They tear his place apart.
Schoolcraft refuses to go with them – he says he is sick. The paramedic checks him out and says his blood pressure is sky high. When Schoolcraft refuses to go to the hospital, as is his right, Marino says he is EPD – an “emotionally disturbed person”. They throw him to the ground, beat him up and handcuff him. Marino steps on his face with his boot and tells him it does not have to be like this.
And then Schoolcraft disappears.
His father calls the police, Internal Affairs, the FBI. No one knows where he is. Then he started calling the hospitals. After six days he finds his son at last in a mental ward in Queens, where the police had put him. His father gets him out.
After that Schoolcraft went to live at his father’s house hundreds of miles away. Despite the distance, New York police officers have appeared at his door ten times so far. They pound on his door and shout at him but he does not answer.
He went to the press. The Village Voice listened to his tapes and printed the story. The police denied it. People in Bed-Stuy protested it. Mauriello and Marino were moved to another part of the city.
See also:
I don’t know what it’s like to live in NYC, so I don’t have really have much to relate to on this. I don’t quite understand it, but I’ve come to find that police and people in general in areas with lower concentrations of POC are less racist, or maybe it just seems that way due to lesser frequency of interaction with POC. What stuck out to me in that story, is the Paramedics’ involvement. As an EMS worker I’ve grown to dislike cops a lot more than I thought possible, and I expect a lot more of a fellow EMT. Certainly it’s well within his rights as a patient to refuse treatment and transport, but any EMT with a conscience can observe how wrong that scene was and should have corroborated his story. Of course altered mental status often requires police intervention, and even when it’s necessary EMT’s can relate their blatant overreactions, i.e. tazing a psych patient because he keeps pushing away the non-rebreather you’re attempting to put on his face. Granted, it’s possible the medic was completely ignored, but if I saw this with my own eyes on scene I’m quite certain I would end up in cuffs as well.
I’d like to think this sort of thing only happens either in big cities (cesspools) and rural shantytowns (also cesspools), or in Martin Scorsese films.
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This is just so out there but I’m not all that surprised which is sad
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I’m not surprised. This is certainly not limited to NYC and, from what I’ve heard, an international problem. Many coppers seek the way of lowest resistance in “daily business”. Isn’t that the norm for many jobs in general? It seems that there are always a few motivated ones that do the work for others beyond their own.
Btw, the UK has way over 1000 unsolved murder cases – with a homicide rate per capita 5 times smaller than the USA. It makes me wonder if the British killers are really that smart or if the police is that incompetent…
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I typed my name inconsistently with my previous posts. It’s me, Femi. No puppet socks here… 😉
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It’s tough when you are a whistle blower.
I have a hard time imagining why anyone would do it.
Can’t be totally for the good of the people…it take years for anything to be done about it.
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How many times we been told that the Blue Wall is no more? Well, it still is.
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This is really weird. I was just listen to the “This American Life” podcast and Ira Glass was interviewing this guy…next think you know, Im at Abagond’s reading this…
According to his TAL interview he is suing the NYPD for about $50 dollars. This story was very disturbing. It was bad enough they were taking people to lock down for “trespassing” (ie sitting on your brother’s porch) and written citations for “drinking alcohol” (aka Kool-aid) on the side walk but they let a serial rapist go! This guy raped something like 8-9 woman and all the victims were talked out of reporting ot had the charges downgraded.
One man had his car stolen and the police asked him if he had ever been to jail(irrelivent). The victum said yes, he did 8 years when he was younger. The offfircer then asked him “Do you think karma stole your car” and refused to file a report.
Bedstuy NYPD is out of order!
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Of course altered mental status often requires police intervention, and even when it’s necessary EMT’s can relate their blatant overreactions
This is true but if you listen to the recording Schoolcraft sounds perfectly coherent. Its the Police Chief and other officers that are yelling at him and talking crazy.
Check out the This America Life podcast…its episode #414 Right to Remain Silent
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LOL I meant $50 million dollars…left of a few zeros
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Holy sh* I would leave the city if I could! Schoolcraft showed a lot of courage. A lot! I’ll have to look further into this story. I’m really interested in what was going on institutionally for something like this to happen.
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Law enforcement is bullshit. I’m not surprised very serious crimes are ignored and downplayed.
Poor Schoolcraft. Is he really still MIA?
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Not surprised at all… and it is a shame to feel that way!
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@ Y
LOL. I thought that sounds a little off. hahah.
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I have a lot of respect for legitimate whistle blowers. God bless Schoolcraft. I hope the court finds in his favor.
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Solid article…though I’d argue that talking on your phone while driving is not a “little thing.”
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Adrian,
I heard your story on this American Life recently. I admire the calm you showed when they came to your house and I love the fact that you had a second tape recorder running. It took a lot of balls to do what you did and I wish you the best of luck in your case against the NYPD. Keep up the good fight!
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“One man had his car stolen and the police asked him if he had ever been to jail(irrelevant). The victim said yes, he did 8 years when he was younger. The officer then asked him “Do you think karma stole your car” and refused to file a report. ”
Karma – what is it and is real? I hear people regularly speak of karma but still do the same things to each other.
If karma exists how does it work?
Because if it does exist what will be the fate of white people in general and military officers like the one from this quote in particular?
Stories like this arouse a desire for vengeance but justice deters me.
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Just reading this made me recall my experience in NYC. I was robbed at knifepoint taking the subway from the Bronx to change in Manhattan after work (still daytime in July) and I stopped by the police desk in Grand Central Station subway station – they would not even take my report. They said it would be pointless to file a report. I thought, HUH?
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