From The Broken-Windows Theory Of Policing To The Faux Western-Facade Theory Of Policing . . .

As John Wayne once said, “Talk low, talk slow and don’t say too much”:

The NYPD is making an unusual move to ensure no one notices a decline in the number of cops on the streets — decking out the vehicles used by traffic-enforcement agents, auxiliary police and school-safety agents so they look like regular cruisers.

The move will be phased in slowly with the special units — who have typically used cars painted dark blue — to be given the white cars that are taken out of use from the main fleet.

The only difference will be in the decals affixed to the sides of the vehicles that indicate which unit they are from.

“This is to make this look like there are more cops on the street,” said a law-enforcement official familiar with the decision.

In all, there are about 100 cars used by the auxiliary wing of the department and 200 used by each of the school-safety and traffic-enforcement divisions.

It’s Official . . .

. . . the bad old days have officially returned:

The economy made me do it.

That’s the excuse a brazen Queens burglar gave his victim while robbing her of $100 in a knifepoint home invasion, police say.

. . .

Michael Green, 47, delivered the inventive cop-out after pushing his way into Anne Heidt’s apartment in the former Edgemere Houses around 2:15 p.m. Sunday, cops said.

“Sorry — it’s the economy,” Green said as he held a knife to the 56-year-old woman’s throat, authorities reported.

Green, who lives in an apartment in the same housing project, grabbed the woman from behind and threatened her with the knife, before making off with the contents of her wallet and a wad of cash, authorities said.

Then again . . .

Green also bragged in court about his ability to beat lie-detector tests, and about how he milked defense lawyers for $6,000 and a trip to Vegas.

Where Have You Gone, Don Carlo?

Remnants of the Gambino crime family have been reduced to shaking down hot dog vendors:

Three men — two of them Gambino crime-family associates — have been charged with shaking down a Bronx hot-dog vendor and beating him, cops said yesterday.

The men — also suspected of torching his truck — allegedly demanded $200 a week in “protection” money from the vendor and attacked him when he refused to pay.

Reputed Gambino associates Robert “Bobby Fingers” Francella, 49, and Patrick Lombardo, 47, along with Gregory Monzeglio, 44, met with the victim several times in a restaurant.

When they couldn’t collect, they beat him with a hammer on Aug. 14, and assaulted him again on Sept. 8, cops said. The vendor suffered cuts and lacerations.

The truck, parked in a vacant lot near the restaurant, was burned on Sept. 28.

See What Happens When You Don’t Follow “The Rules”?

You attract the wrong kind of guys:

Cops say a New Jersey man wooed a 30-year-old woman from New Dorp Beach online, but then, after she paid for lunch at the end of their date, stole her credit card.

Jared W. Winans, 28, of Old Tappan, is accused of using the card to make about $100 in purchases in New Jersey and Massachusetts.

The ill-fated date started on May 21, and ended at about 12:30 p.m. the next day at the Applebee’s restaurant in New Dorp, according to court papers.

She paid the check, though it’s unclear if the two ever went on a second date, a law enforcement source said.

A few days later, the woman noticed her credit card missing, and filed a report. The investigation led to Winans, who made several small purchases a day after the date, the source said.

The NYPD’s Internal Affairs Bureau got involved not long after, the source said, because Winans puffed up his dating résumé by falsely claiming to be a cop.

$13.5 Million A Year

What are you going to do, make me pay? Why yes, yes they will:

Fare-evaders who brazenly board buses without paying would be targeted in a crackdown being developed by transit and police brass, officials said Tuesday.

Approximately 130,000 riders a week board buses without dipping MetroCards, or plunking change into fare boxes, according to new transit data, suggesting the cash-strapped agency is losing millions of dollars annually.

“We’ve identified the worst routes, including the worst bus stops or hot spots,” said Joseph Smith, NYC Transit vice president in charge of buses.

Smith said he hoped the crackdown would start in a week or two. An NYPD spokesman, however, said Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly has yet to sign off on a final plan. The two sides are in talks about how the Metropolitan Transportation Authority could defray costs.

Fare-beaters enter via rear bus doors that are opened by exiting passengers or by helpful riders on board. Some simply saunter past the driver and fare box up front. To reduce the risk of being assaulted, drivers are instructed not to confront or accost fare-beaters.

Above-ground fare-beating is most prevalent on 10 routes in Brooklyn and the Bronx, according to NYC Transit. The worst is the B46 in Brooklyn where drivers have reported “theft of service” at a rate of about 4,000 a week. The route runs the length of the borough, between Williamsburg and Marine Park, through Crown Heights, Bedford-Stuyvesant and East Flatbush and Flatlands.

Smith wouldn’t speculate on why some routes have rampant fare evasion while others have none. But the agency now has a better understanding of where evasion is taking place, officials said.