NYPD Academy Vandalized Days after Recruits' Graduation

NEW YORK — It sounds like the Police Academy might have blown a basic rule of Policing 101 — namely, always make sure you have a backup security camera operating. A recent incident there might have the Blue feeling, well, a bit red-faced.

A state-of-the-art facility that houses the New York City Police Academy was vandalized overnight less than two days after a graduation ceremony for New York Police Department recruits, a source told The New York Daily News. What’s more, there doesn’t appear to be any surveillance video of the incident.

Police confirmed Saturday that earlier in the day at 3:55 a.m., red paint was discovered sprayed around outside the building’s entrance on 28th Ave. in College Point, Queens.

In photos provided to the Daily News, bright red spray paint can be seen sloppily spattered all over concrete tiles and metal pillars leading up to the academy’s entrance, in what appears to be a haphazard manner. It doesn’t appear that any actual words were graffitied, though. An American flag also lies crumpled in a heap on the pavement in front.

In fact, some daredevil might even have brazenly rappelled down the building’s signature entrance archway: One photo shows a rope — with a carabiner clip still attached — dangling off the structure’s front, crossing over the “L” in the backlit block letters that read “NEW YORK CITY POLICE ACADEMY” on the entrance.

By Saturday afternoon, most of the red paint had been power-washed away, but some small remnants of it could still be seen clinging to the edges of tiles at the entrance plaza. There was still water left on the ground from the cleaning. And across the street, workers could be seen using a bucket lift to install a video camera on a utility pole.

Coincidentally, surveillance cameras on the 32-acre campus were out of order, according to the source, because of upgrades and were unable to record video of anyone responsible before they disappeared into the night.

Thursday morning, more than 580 new police recruits gathered at Madison Square Garden for their graduation ceremony. However, several NYPD, school safety and traffic enforcement students are still currently attending classes at the Queens facility, sources said.

A 24-hour security team is stationed on the Police Academy campus seven days a week, according to sources.

According to police, the investigation is ongoing.

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