Expect cops to go strictly by the book in New York

THE New York Police Department (NYPD) came under unwanted attention two weeks ago for the manner in which it dealt with a detective who went from hero to zero to hero again.

It all began when the off-duty detective came across a brawl and tried to stop it. But someone from the group opened fire. He shot back, hitting the gunman, who turned out to have a criminal past, in the leg and arm.

But the detective was later removed from duty and stripped of his gun because a breathalyser test – required following the 2006 Sean Bell case where police shot at the unarmed bridegroom – found his alcohol level at 0.09, above the legal limit of 0.08.

A public outcry ensued. Even mayor Michael R. Bloomberg backed the detective, while others wondered what an off-duty cop was supposed to do in a situation such as this. Damned if you do and damned if you don’t, as they say.

Eventually, the detective was reinstated and praised by the police chief for his courage and outstanding job.

On a more mundane level, New York police officers have done quite a remarkable job, with few a disgrace to their badge. However, transplanted Malaysians here, who have all kinds of stories to share about them, often find the cops too strict for their liking.

Businessman Danny Lye told of the time he kept circling around the block looking for a parking spot when he spotted a man inside his car apparently about to drive off.

Thinking he was about to get lucky, Lye waited for the space, at the street parking near a busy Queens neighbourhood.

But for what seemed a long minute, the other car stayed put. As an exasperated Lye decided to drive off someone tapped on his window. It was a policeman, who promptly handed him a US$115 (RM370) summons for “double parking”.

Lye tried explaining, then pleading. But the answer from the officer each time was: “Tell that to the judge.”

No talk of cash “incentive”?

“Don’t even think about it!” Lye almost shouted.

“You may just find yourself thrown to the ground and handcuffed.”

One waiter related an occasion when he rushed out of the restaurant to hand over a pre-ordered lunch to a customer who had called in earlier.

“It was less than a minute,” Johnny Ang said. Still, the customer was booked for stopping his car at a “No Standing” area, which means no parking, not even with the driver sitting inside and the engine running.

Another time, a food supplier got a summons for throwing a cigarette stub to the ground after enjoying a smoke outside the restaurant.

“He was plain unlucky,” Ang laughed.

A friend, Michelle Choo, discovered that her art of persuasion, honed through years in journalism and later the insurance business, did her no good in dealing with the NYPD.

She parked at a space meant for unloading goods for “just two minutes”, she maintained, “to rush into a clinic to hand over some documents.”

When she saw a police officer issuing a ticket, she yelled: “Stop! I’m coming.” Too late. A US$95 (RM310) fine came her way, still.

“That’s how it is here. They don’t negotiate with you, they don’t listen to you,” she said.

The local talk is that police officers are all gung-ho because they have to meet a quota of summonses over a given time.

“That’s not true,” said Paul Browne, NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Public Information.

“Police officers are expected to do their job.” Otherwise, they would need to write a report to their supervisor, he added.

Such zero tolerance for crime, even so-called minor ones like graffiti, is to send out the message that serious offenders will be in even bigger trouble.

Take, for example, subway passengers who try to evade paying the fare.

“We focus on this, too, because if a person sneaks into the subway, there is a chance he has an intention to commit crime, maybe to rob other passengers,” Browne said.

Likewise, policemen would help enforce the rule that forbids people from walking between subway cars, often for the person’s own safety, but which “also happens to be a technique used by robbers to check out passengers in other cars,” Browne said.

“We have undercover cops on the subway to look out for people like that.”

Unfortunate is the passenger who dozes off or is intoxicated, because he or she is a target for robbers, he said.

Browne said one out of five policemen in the 36,800-strong force was foreign-born, from about 50 countries as far flung as Albania, China, Thailand, Iran and Yemen.

“It is a very diverse department, representing a very diverse society,” he said.

Many of these officers speak more than one language.

“We don’t want people to be discouraged from reporting a crime because they are not native English speakers,” said Browne.

A policeman's starting annual salary is US$35,881 (RM117,000); entry requirement is 60 college credits with a minimum 2.0 Grade Point Average. (New York magazine quoted police commissioner Ray Kelly as saying “people don’t join the police force to become rich, but this is the most expensive city in North America.”)

Browne explained also that the cops, if they were forced to open fire, would shoot to stop the person posing a danger in that situation.

“No officers shoot to wound; that’s only in the movies. Police officers are trained to shoot around here,” he said gesturing to his chest area.

An FBI report showed that New York remained the safest big city in the United States last year, with 2,432 crimes per 100,000 people.

This was the lowest crime index rate among the country’s 10 largest cities. The highest? Dallas.

His safety tip for everyone? Safeguard your possessions and be alert to your surroundings – criminals look out for people who are not paying attention.

Hollywood just keeps them enticed and entertained

TWIN births, the messy divorce of an ex-supermodel and Material Mom’s supposed affair; the past week saw headlines made in tabloid heaven for a public consumed by celebrity fervour.

It is a daily American pastime – perhaps even an obsession – that has spawned a global fascination as well.

Why not? This is the home of Hollywood, the dream machine that gave the world breathless stories, true and false, and personalities from Brangelina to Britney.

People, the weekly celebrity magazine, has a circulation of 3.6 million. Time averages about 3.3 million while the country’s top-selling newspaper USA Today is just about 2.5 million.

The past week had been such an intoxicating time that one tabloid called it “gossip glory days” for all the salivating stories about the A-List of show-business.

Even CNN loves a good gossip. Lara Logan, a CBS journalist once stationed in Iraq, was a Sunday morning topic last week on the cable network which discussed how she became tabloid fodder when she got pregnant with somebody else’s child even as her own divorce was not finalised yet.

Time and again, newspapers such as the New York Post get complaints from readers who questioned its choice of putting, say, Lindsay Lohan on the front page when the country is at war in Iraq and Afghanistan and soldiers are dying.

It is the perennial chicken-and-egg question.

Celebrity sells, surely, because of the ready and willing market. Even aging, fading stars are still seen on TV here, appearing for advertisements promoting everything from beds to real estate. Think Lindsay Wagner (The Bionic Woman) and Erik Estrada (CHiPs).

This being the Paris Hilton generation, pseudo-celebrities are also aplenty here through their reality shows that are a staple nowadays on American TV.

TMZ.com, a major celebrity gossip site, gained enough traction to have its own show.

Show-business is big money, indeed. Radio host Ryan Seacrest earns about US$12mil (RM38.8mil) a year, by Forbes' estimates. Late-night TV show host Jay Leno gets US$25mil (RM80.9mil).

The Hollywood Walk of Fame in Los Angeles is often crowded with not just tourists but people dressed up as Superman, SpongeBob, Batman, Catwoman and Spiderman – all eager to pose for pictures for a tip.

Last year, Los Angeles received 2.7 million foreign tourists, making it the second-most popular city among international visitors, after New York.

Los Angeles, indeed, is a movie-making town producing an assembly line of movies, TV shows and the likes.

In the morning, the TV series Heroes was shooting an episode outside a Carl’s Jr in downtown LA. Later that evening, a beer commercial was being made nearby.

Seeing stars, or perhaps even stalking them, is fair game here. Maps detailing where celebrities live are sold at US$2 (RM6.50).

Even scientology here is known officially as the “Church of Scientology Celebrity Centre”.

Tour guides such as John M. take delight in offering morsels of gossip to his entourage.

“Ben Stiller has a reputation of not being very nice to the public,” he said.

“You can see all the high walls around his house,” he added, as he drove a group of visitors around Beverly Hills.

To the gawkers, he advised: “Keep a look out on who’s jogging or driving past you.”

And, according to him, “the Range Rover is the number-one car among celebrities.”

Tours are aplenty for the curious or morbid. Discover where American sweetheart Shirley Temple grew up! See the hotel where Janis Joplin died!

One company promises its customers the “Hollywood Movie Star Experience” for that behind-the-scenes feel.

A two-hour “movie stars’ homes” package, meanwhile, will take visitors to “over 40 magnificent houses of the rich, famous and infamous,” according to the leaflet. “You may very well see more glitz and glamour than some will ever see in a lifetime!” it promises.

Sound enticing enough, no?

John M., for instance, would point out houses belonging to Carmen Electra, Will Farrell, Orlando Bloom and Quentin Tarantino, among others. He knows the prices of these posh homes, too.

True blue fans don’t just want to know where they live, as the paparazzi in them would want to know where the stars eat and where they come out to play.

“That’s Il Sole over there. It’s Jennifer Aniston’s favourite,” he said, referring to the restaurant on Sunset Boulevard. He also marked out Ketchup, an eatery partly owned by Ashton Kutcher.

Also on Sunset Boulevard is another celebrity hangout, which is the Beverly Hills Hotel, or “Hotel California to the Eagles,” John M. said.

One evening, just outside Kodak Theatre, there was a stall selling Barack Obama t-shirts for US$10 (RM32). One of the messages on the T-shirt says “No more drama, vote Obama”.

An understatement surely, especially so in a state whose governor is a former movie star. Moreover, “Governator” Arnold Schwarzenegger is a Republican while his wife supports the Democrats. That itself is enough to juice up the stories.

In La-La Land, the drama must go on. Every day.

Zamruni – A man of many interests

GOLF is the name of the game for diplomats, right?

Not so for M. Zamruni Khalid, the new Consul-General in New York. He looked almost pained when a staff member suggested over lunch last Thursday that he came for a golf event that weekend.

“Maybe, one day, you will develop a passion for it,” someone said.

Zamruni nodded somewhat but his face told a different story.

(For the record, he turned up at the driving range and quite enjoyed himself.)

The new boss at the Consulate-General of Malaysia has other interests for his spare time. He prefers books and museums, the latter probably the result of having spent almost five years in France.

It was also in Paris where he laboured over his thesis for a Masters in Comparative Politics that he wrote entirely in French.

“I remember asking myself ‘why am I subjecting myself to this? It was tough,” Zamruni said, laughing.

But he has always liked languages and now the French-speaking Zamruni is deciding whether to pick up Arabic or Spanish.

Growing up in Kuala Terengganu the middle child among nine offspring, he loved geography and often devoured his father’s encyclopaedias.

“I memorised the flags of other countries and their capital cities. I can identify the flags of all UN nations,” he said.

Likewise, he knows the currencies as well. Guatemala? Quetzal, he said.

Asked about his boyhood days, he paused for quite a while. “Memories?” he repeated, thinking long and hard. “My childhood is so ordinary,” he grinned.

As a kid, he was never naughty but always studious and shy. Almost a geek, if you must.

Zamruni, who earned an accounting degree from Purdue University, Indiana, spent a year in the then Arthur Andersen in Kuala Lumpur after graduating before beginning his “national service”.

His 14 years with the Foreign Affairs Ministry has seen him posted to Hanoi (1996-2000) and Paris (2000-2002).

“Hanoi was very dynamic. It was just opening up when I first got there. No cinema for English movies, no fast food, no bookstores. I felt lonely and isolated during the first few months,” he said of his posting as a second secretary.

Throughout his stint, he saw the city grew with bigger streets, more traffic lights and motorcycles replacing bicycles on the road.

“There were some occasions when we slaughtered chickens and cows ourselves,” he said, when asked about halal food.

Zamruni paid tribute to Malaysia’s ambassador to Vietnam then, Datuk Cheah Sam Kip, for being his guiding light. “I really learned a lot from him.”

The senior guy taught the young man what to do, whom to meet, etc, upon arriving in a country. “Datuk Cheah laid the foundation for me, letting me gather the bricks and build the bridge,” he recalled.

In France where he was also second secretary; he recounted a meeting with then president Jacques Chirac whom he described as a gentleman (“he would kiss a lady’s hand”) and an admirer of Asian culture.

“All of us were wearing Baju Melayu and samping when we were at the presidential palace. You could tell that he really admired it.”

It is a different ball game now for Zamruni since he assumed the New York posting on June 16, his highest promotion so far.

As the Consul-General, his task is to look after Malaysian interests and student welfare, besides providing the usual consular services such as issuance of passports and visas, and registration of births and marriages. Malaysia has 20 consulates abroad.

“Prior to this, I have always dealt with multilateral issues. So, being sent here is itself a challenge for me. I would need to deal more on the human side now, meeting people and to be close to the Malaysian community and to provide services for them,” he said.

He already has a list of organisations that he wanted to meet.

Zamruni loves being in the Foreign Service. “The work is never a routine. You are always doing different things.”

The downside is the frequent uprooting. “Each posting is usually about three years. You get to know people and by the time you have cultivated friendships, it is time to leave. A bit disruptive, but that’s life.”

At 40, Zamruni is still a bachelor. Not for long, though, as he is engaged to a teacher whom he met two years ago. The couple will be married next year.

Besides reading “serious stuff”, he likes novels such as Gabriel García Márquez’ One Hundred Years of Solitude and The Kite Runner by Afghan author Khaled Hosseini.

Zamruni, who listens to oldies from the 50s (P. Ramlee, Saloma, Normadiah), is keen to explore the theatre and museums here. “Is Mamma Mia really good?” he asked of the Broadway play.

Golf, clearly, isn’t the only game in town.

Gay city parades as America celebrates with Pride

THEIR lean, rippling bodies glistened with sweat under the summer sky. Bare-chested in the tightest of briefs, the men danced on the street and blew kisses to the crowd.

The music was loud, but louder still were the sexy bustiers, wigs and feathers in all hues, which made quite a fashion statement. Drag queens reigned the day, surely.

“Slap & Tickle,” one banner said.

Yes, it was the 39th annual New York City LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) Pride March in Manhattan last Sunday.

“Have a nice gay!” greeted one poster.

“Slap & Tickle”, meanwhile, was to promote an off-Broadway play “on how drugs, politics and HIV have changed the landscape for gay men” in the United States.

Parade participants ranged from the weekly newspaper Gay City News to the LGBT alumni, faculty, staff and students of Cornell University.

“Queer and Proud Every Day,” according to marchers from the College of Staten Island.

Among the VIPs who marched in the parade were Christine C. Quinn, New York City Council Speaker, the first openly gay person elected to the post.

One woman carried a sign proclaiming love for her gay son.

Mementos such as key chains and bead necklaces were tossed to the crowd, who reached out with eager hands. Rainbow flags and balloons added colour to the passing floats.

Amidst the gaiety, a message was sent out to the next US commander-in-chief through a banner strung across a parading van with sketches of Barack Obama and John McCain.

The community wants a national strategy to end AIDS, and the plan to be drawn up by the new president within his first 100 days in office.

But perhaps there is more reason for gays to celebrate in New York now. While the state does not allow homosexuals to marry, its state agencies were directed, in May, to recognise same-sex marriages that took place outside of New York.

Massachusetts and California are the only two states that permit gay couples to be legally wed. Others such as New Jersey, New Hampshire, Connecticut and Vermont allow what they term as civil unions.

News reports showed that almost 11,000 gay couples have tied the knot in Massachusetts since the state legalised such marriages in 2004. Most of them who walked down the aisle were lesbians.

California began recognising gay marriages about three weeks ago.

Local newspapers such as The San Diego Union-Tribune front-paged the landmark event for several days.

Its headline “Just Married” said it all on June 18, a day after what the newspaper described was “a sense of history” when 230 marriage licences were issued to same-sex couples.

A news report carried interviews with churches which hold on to the belief that marriage is sacred, and strictly between a man and a woman.

The gay community there then reportedly began compiling names of priests willing to bless homosexual couples.

Comedienne Ellen DeGeneres is also among those planning to get hitched, now that California has lifted the ban on gay marriages.

“I’m seeing someone now. If we want to get married one day, we’ll go to California to do it, or probably somewhere in Europe,” said Patty Caki, a make-up artist with a local TV station in New York City.

A native New Yorker, he observed that things had improved for the gay community here.

“Sometimes, people still see you differently although I personally have not had any unpleasant experiences,” said Caki.

Hate crimes persist, though. He cited the 2006 assault of gay singer Kevin Aviance by a group of youths, who also screamed anti-gay slurs at him.

“And, the only reason the attack made the news was because Aviance was quite a celebrity,” said Caki, who came to watch the Pride march on Fifth Avenue, wearing a knee-length dress and full make-up.

“I love the parade. It’s fun, it’s expressive,” he said.

Really, what’s not to revel about the parade? As New York Post put it, “marchers represented an array of sexual subcultures from ... butch-femme lesbians to big hairy men flaunting their paunches”.