The Urban Speed Trap

More confirmation that cops have quotas:

Transit cops in the Bronx are hiding out in secret rooms at subway stations near Yankee Stadium to catch more fare-beaters and scofflaws, police sources told the Daily News.

The peekaboo policing has led to a string of arrests — and allegations by disgruntled cops that their commanding officer has imposed an illegal ticket-writing quota.

In a recent directive to cops in Transit District 11, NYPD Capt. Johnny Cardona admonished some officers for not writing enough tickets and told them they would not get overtime money unless they handed out more summonses.

“We had a few personnel in certain squads that did not perform to standard,” Cardona wrote in the April 18 memo obtained by The News. “So, effective immediately, those individuals will not be authorized programmatic overtime.”

. . .

PBA officials have argued that police supervisors have imposed quotas in some fashion all across the city — charges that NYPD brass have strongly denied.

However, a cop assigned to Transit District 11 said officers in subways hide out in unmarked transit offices, janitor closets and bathrooms — peering out doors and windows to catch turnstile jumpers and other scofflaws.

“I’ve done it myself,” the cop said. “It’s pretty easy. Nine out of 10 of them don’t run.”

Preventing the crimes before they happen is not encouraged, the cop said.

“We could stand out there and prevent it, but then no one would jump the turnstile,” he said. “If you want to get your numbers, you have to catch them in the act.”

Previously on “Don’t They Have Anything Better To Do?”: We Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Quotas — We Have Productivity Goals For That!; Abolish The Quota System! Now!; No Ticket Quotas, Eh?

The U.N. Is Putting All Of Us In Danger

Another drunk diplomat beats a potential DWI arrest . . . at 8 a.m.! And for this they get free parking:

Abdelmajid Amrani Nadjar, an official at the Moroccan Mission to the United Nations, flunked a sobriety test when cops pulled him over for swerving through traffic at E. 46th St. and First Ave. at 8 a.m.

“I was a little bit drunk,” Nadjar, 37, told the Daily News. “I shouldn’t have taken my car while I was in that state.”

Nadjar said he was out with friends well into the wee hours and drank as many as five vodka drinks before climbing into his silver Honda Civic.

. . .

Nadjar, a mid-ranking diplomat, was released from the local precinct when cops confirmed his immunity status. He was ticketed for driving while intoxicated, reckless driving and failure to signal when changing lanes.

Nadjar, a Muslim, said he should not have been drinking because his religion forbids it.

The mission’s protocol chief called the incident a “mistake.”

Eminent Domain Curtailed; This Great Nation’s Way Of Life Imperiled

When in doubt, pander:

Still on the warpath to protect eminent domain, Mayor Bloomberg warned yesterday that the construction industry would collapse if Congress makes it harder for cities and states to seize private property.

“The construction workers of this country should start heading to Washington and stop this terrible piece of legislation,” the mayor said on his WABC radio show.

That Would Be Suspicious

The Post reports that the Greenpoint Terminal Market blaze was, according to eyewitnesses, definitely arson:

The raging inferno that ripped through a historic Brooklyn warehouse complex yesterday was immediately labeled suspicious — and eyewitnesses told cops they saw a man pouring a flammable liquid on an adjacent rooftop amid the blaze.

The possible arson at the former Greenpoint Terminal Market was the second blaze in as many years to be labeled suspicious in a building owned by developer Joshua Guttman, authorities said.

Witness Sean Vegezzi told The Post that he and some pals ran to the former terminal with their cameras at around 10 a.m. after hearing about the blaze and scurried up to one of the buildings’ rooftops to take photos.

There, he said, they spotted a man pouring what looked like flammable motor oil into an elevator shaft.

“I said, ‘Hey, what are you doing?’ And he started running down the catwalk,” said Vegezzi, 16.

The teen said that moments earlier, they had seen the same man stuffing sticks and brush into a drainage pipe along the side of the building.

“He didn’t light it, but it looked like he was going to until me and my friends approached him,” he said.

Vegezzi described the man as slim, middle-aged, with graying hair and wearing a beige T-shirt and khakis.

He said that as he and his pals were reporting what they saw to the cops, a man who identified himself as Guttman approached the group.

Vegezzi said the man kept repeating, “It’s not one of my guys, it’s not one of my guys,” before adding to cops, “You’d better catch this guy.”

No Toussaint, No Peace! No Contract . . . Uh, What Contract?

TWU Local 100 president Roger Toussaint goes to jail:

Ever-defiant transit-union chief Roger Toussaint yesterday staged an over-the-top surrender to authorities to begin his brief jail stint at The Tombs — walking across the Brooklyn Bridge surrounded by hundreds of supporters screaming, “No Toussaint, no peace!”

“I would do 30 years before surrendering!” the bleary-eyed president of the Transport Workers Union shouted to a cheering crowd of about 500 in Brooklyn before embarking with the throngs across the bridge to Manhattan.

. . .

He finally showed up outside court in downtown Manhattan at around 7 p.m., with activist Al Sharpton on one arm and teachers union President Randi Weingarten on the other.

Sporting a red union T-shirt with a black TWU jacket, the embattled labor leader bellowed to the crowd — many of whom weren’t even from his 33,000-strong union:

“I stand here because a judge found me guilty of contempt. I have contempt for employers who have kept us down. This is an attack on all working people of this city.”

The union guru then turned to his closest advisers for an emotional hug and said quietly, “All right, I’m ready,” before heading up the steps of the court building at 100 Centre St.

A scuffle briefly broke out between cops and the wife of city Councilman Charles Barron as the crowd jostled around, watching Toussaint being ushered up the steps into the building, one witness said.

“I told him I’d pray for him . . . and I’ll visit him in jail,” said a recording secretary for the union afterward.