A veteran NYPD officer, who survived a line-of-duty shooting, was fired from the department after he repeatedly tried to hit on vulnerable women during arrests, according to a newly released disciplinary finding.
According to the report obtained by New York Daily News, in 2018, Michael Kreiman tried to start a romantic relationship with a woman he arrested for grand larceny, flirted with a woman he believed to be domestic abuse victim and also asked a woman he thought was a drug-addicted prostitute a series of questions about her sex life, according to the NYPD report.
However, the domestic abuse victim and the prostitute were actually undercover officers conducting "integrity tests" as part of an Internal Affairs Bureau investigation. These are tests conducted to provoke a reaction from law enforcement officers in a typical police situation.
Kreiman Was a 20-Year-Old Veteran of the Force
Kreiman, a 20-year veteran of the force, was sacked in September. However, his firing became public just last week after the disciplinary findings were posted on the NYPD website. Assistant Deputy Commissioner of Trials Jeff Adler called Kreiman's actions a "serious breach of the public trust" in the report recommending the officer's dismissal.
Kreiman, 44, was in the police academy during the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, and was deployed to help with the aftermath. On April 26, 2002, just a few weeks after graduating from the academy, he was lauded as a "hero" after being shot in the stomach during a car-stripping arrest in Brooklyn.
Kreiman Used NYPD Computer to Make Unauthorized Searches
Over the past decade, Kreiman was repeatedly accused of violating NYPD rules, and nearly lost his job in 2015 when the department put him on "dismissal probation" after drug paraphernalia and hypodermic needles were found in his locker.
He was instructed in a letter "to avoid inappropriate personal relationships with civilians connected to law enforcement action" following several complaints. He still continued to exchange numbers and phone calls with a woman he arrested on Oct. 30, 2018 for grand larceny in hopes of sparking a romantic relationship with her, according to the report. He even met the woman once and talked with her as they drove around in his vehicle.
Shortly after that incident, investigators found that Kreiman failed the two Internal Affairs Bureau integrity tests as mentioned above. He also used an NYPD computer to make two unauthorized searches, and gave a misleading statement to internal investigators about whether he pursued relationships with any other women he arrested, investigators found.
"(Kreiman) has demonstrated that he does not possess the sound judgment necessary to continue as a member of the department," Adler wrote. "The public has a right to rely upon police officers to be the protectors of people, not to prey on their vulnerability."
