BDx13 - 2-17-2005 at 06:18 PM
What legitamate news agency uses the phrase "put the kibosh on"?
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http://nypost.com/news/regionalnews/40604.htm
IPODDY-POOPER THUGS ATTACKING SCHOOLKIDS
By DAVID ANDREATTA and MURRAY WEISS
EXCLUSIVE
City students have become victims of a rash of vicious iPod muggings and a spike in larcenies at schools.
One South Brooklyn transit officer, who asked not to be identified, said his district has seen a near doubling of student iPod robberies on the
subways in recent months.
Just last week, he said, a James Madison HS student took 44 stitches after being stabbed for his iPod on a Q train. At least three students at
Stuyvesant HS in Manhattan recently reported getting jumped outside their school for iPods.
Inside schools, grand larcenies shot up 41 percent during the first two months of school over the same period last year, according to the mayor's
management report released last week. Petit larceny jumped 16 percent.
Concerned with the crimes, South Brooklyn transit cops last week distributed fliers offering to engrave students' iPods and cellphones with ID numbers
beginning today at John Dewey HS in Sheepshead Bay.
But police brass late yesterday put the kibosh on the initiative, which they had hoped to
expand citywide, upon being told by the city Department of Education that the items are banned in schools because they're considered distracting.
"We don't want it to be misinterpreted as encouraging bringing banned items to school," said NYPD spokesman Paul Brown.
Education spokesman Keith Kalb said the program was worthwhile, but held firm that the noisemakers are off limits on school grounds.
When asked if the department could make an exception, he noted that the agency only learned of the police plan yesterday through inquiries from The
Post.
"We would certainly support a police effort to etch anything after school or at other times," Kalb said. "Kids should not bring cellphones or iPods to
school."
Police said the white iPod headphones, which seem to be pumping tunes into the ears of every other youngster on the street these days, are alerting
would-be thieves to the presence of the tiny but big-bucks music players.
The machines start at $299 and can hold more than 10,000 songs ? a collection that can take years to accumulate.
Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum said the spikes in larcenies were cause for concern and accused Mayor Bloomberg of ignoring the problem.
"Things have gotten so bad that the NYPD has taken it upon itself to fight crime where the Department of Education isn't," she said.
Police said that students interested in engraving their iPods or other valuable items could visit a transit district office and have them etched.
The Bloomberg administration has crowed about its school safety record. But the spikes in larcenies and in disorderly conduct, which rose 36 percent,
stand out in an otherwise positive cross-section of school crime data.
Gotbaum charged the city with focusing all its attention on the 17 most dangerous schools at the expense of others.
"The mayor needs to find a more effective way to make our schools safer," Gotbaum said.
crazyfists28 - 2-17-2005 at 06:59 PM
i need to go get an ipod still...
MyOwnWay - 2-17-2005 at 08:22 PM
Go ahead crazyfists, go get an Ipod. I'll meet you after school by the monkey bars. HA!
For real though, if its not one thing, its the next big thing. I remember kids were getting crazy over air jordans back in my school days.
crazyfists28 - 2-17-2005 at 09:12 PM
im not scared, i tuck my ipod WAY into my pants so nobody will go near!!! trespassers beware
JUICE MAYNE MSHC - 2-18-2005 at 01:42 AM
I would definitely have no problem stabbing someone who would try to rob me of my iPod. The single coolest thing I own. It never leaves my
possession ever.
GabeTexasGAMC - 2-18-2005 at 02:08 AM
when you come to laredo that shit is mone nigga. Im gonna stab yo ass white boy.
SAAAAARS - 2-18-2005 at 02:09 AM
i really want an ipod. i don't save up money though and if i did, i wouldn't be able to validate spending it on an ipod. i might use my tax return,
even though i wanted that to go towards posi numbers. but what the hell, posi numbers isn't until the end of summer...