NYPD counter-terrorism spent millions saving Pineapple the dog this year.

How does NYPD counterterrorism spend the millions in its budget these days?

“Be careful, it’s ruff out there!” — Pineapple.

Between 2010 and 2020, the operating budget of the NYPD Counter-terrorism units grew by 8 percent, or 93 million, outpacing budget growth for transit, school safety and detective units.

What the hell do they do all day?

Let’s look at their Twitter.

The last post is from July 29th, celebrating former deputy commissioner for intelligence and counterterrorism, and current CNN talking head, John Miller on the occasion of his retirement. “Commissioner, we thank you for your service and wish you all the best!!”

Other posts from the summer include a shout-out to the Puerto Rican day parade and that cop who chased a burglar down on his horse in midtown Manhattan. There are remembrances of officers killed on the job: a Tallahassee officer who died when a suspect in a police chase. A Mississippi officer fatally shot responding to a domestic violence call. A sergeant who lost an eye disarming an explosive device in 1976.

In May, they apparently rescued a dog named Pineapple after a bike accident.

“Pineapple is one lucky dog! She was run over by a bicyclist after running away from her day care. Thankfully CRC officers were able to rescue her and now she’s safe at home with only minor scratches and a story to tell!!”

I’m really happy for Pineapple and her hoomans, but it doesn’t seem like a heavily armed anti-terrorism force with detectives embedded in 13 countries including Israel, the UAE, and Singapore, and a key player in the federal joint terrorism task force, is the most efficient way to save doggie care runaways?

Look. Maybe they’re too busy thwarting serious terror plots to update their Twitter. Let’s go to former director John Miller’s testimony. No, not the testimony where he claimed the counterterrorism units never spied on Muslims in New York (jeez, they didn’t even do that?), but testimony from 2017 where he decried the Trump administration’s proposed budget cuts to the counterterrorism units.

Miller:

    We have prevented 30 plots targeting New York City, but we 
have also had 3 plots, including the truck attack that you 
referenced, Mr. Chairman, in your opening statement, which 
injured 12 people, killing 8; the attempted suicide bombing on 
the Times Square subway station; as well as the Chelsea 
bombing. Each one of these was inspired by a designated foreign 
terrorist organization largely through the use of internet 
propaganda.

Thwarted 30 terror plots. Really! I did exactly 30 pushups today and also walked precisely 30 minutes (the nerd joke here is the 6 month rule: most significant events occur 6 months prior to witness testimony, because 6 months is the standard unit for human recall of events that occurred, say, 5.3 months ago).

Anyway, even back when New York City was arguably a terrorist target, the agency vastly overstated the number of thwarted plots. In 2012, Justin Elliott reported on how Michael Bloomberg and Ray Kelly fudged the numbers:

As Mayor Michael Bloomberg said in March: "We have the best police department in the world and I think they show that every single day and we have stopped 14 attacks since 9/11 fortunately without anybody dying."

Is it true?

In a word, no.

A review of the list shows a much more complicated reality — that the 14 figure overstates both the number of serious, developed terrorist plots against New York and exaggerates the NYPD's role in stopping attacks.

The list includes two and perhaps three clear-cut terrorist plots, including a failed attempt to bomb Times Square by a Pakistani-American in 2010 that the NYPD did not stop.

Of the 11 other cases, there are three in which government informants played a significant or dominant role (by, for example, providing money and fake bombs to future defendants); four cases whose credibility or seriousness has been questioned by law enforcement officials, including episodes in which skeptical federal officials declined to bring charges; and another four cases in which an idea for a plot was abandoned or not pursued beyond discussion.

In addition, the NYPD itself does not appear to have played a major role in breaking up most of the alleged plots on the list. In several cases, it played no role at all.

The plots Miller cites … the most recent, in Chelsea, occurred 6 years ago. If I recall, the bomb didn’t result in fatalities, not because of anything the NYPD did but because street scammers cased the suitcase and put it back in a way that incapacitated the bomb.

But it’s the “defund crowd” that’s ridiculous, right?