It's like a scene out of "Law and Order" – except the actors are real cops; they're just wearing fake uniforms.
Geared to send the message that Mayor Michael Bloomberg is tough on crime, the new campaign ad features Hizzoner talking up real-life cops whose badges and squad car identify them as officers of the NYPD's 27th Precinct, according to The New York Daily News.
Here's the thing: There is no 27th precinct – unless you count the fake one on the hit crime series.
The actors in the ad are indeed real cops even though they're not wearing official uniforms, Jill Hazelbaker, a Bloomberg spokeswoman, said. City workers and property aren't permitted to be used for political means, so the campaign borrowed fake uniforms and a patrol car to get its message out. The off-duty officers volunteered to participate in the spot, Hazelbaker told the Daily News.
A spokeswoman for Democrat William Thompson, who is running against Bloomberg in the race, says the mayor's latest ad is as much a joke as his politics.
"The make-believe police precinct in Bloomberg's ad fits perfectly with his five-borough plan and policies," Anne Fenton told the Daily News. "All fantasies."
Just because the 27th precinct isn't real, however, doesn't mean Bloomberg hasn't been there. He played himself in two 2004 episodes of "Law and Order," according to the Daily News. If you want to go back and watch his performances, the episodes are called "Paradigm" and "Nowhere Man."
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Today, the New York 10-13 Association, which represents more than 11,000 retired city cops, will announce it's throwing its support behind the incumbent mayor.
Last week, Bloomberg launched two new 30-second ads touting his job improving math and reading test scores and high-school graduation rates in the city's public schools. To circumvent the no-using-public-property-for-campaign-purposes rule, the ads were shot at Xaverian High School, a private Catholic school in Bay Ridge.
