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Officers Taunted Again Over NYPD Radio Frequency

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- It has happened again – someone has used an NYPD radio channel to threaten officers and call them out on bogus calls.

As CBS2 Political Reporter Marcia Kramer reported, an NYPD manhunt was under way Monday evening for the culprit.

An unidentified captain at the Midtown South Precinct has received death threats, and officers are being taunted in a bizarre series of incidents that involve calls on the NYPD emergency radio channels. Sources said at least a dozen calls have been received over the last month – two of them just this past weekend.

Officials said they have done an inventory, and the culprit does not appear to be someone with a stolen police radio – but rather with a police radio frequency.

The latest calls included a radioed 10-13 call – police jargon for an officer in need of help. It sent officers scurrying.

"By calling in these threats, he's devoting a lot of police resources he's tying up all the frequencies, and he's causing police to respond at high rates of speed in an emergency manner to different locations all over the city, which puts the public at risk as well," said Roy Richter, President of the Captains Endowment Association.

Richter was also worried in particular about specific threats to a Midtown South captain that came over the police radio system on Saturday, July 30.

"South Duty captain to central. Remember you put me in jail? I'm out now and I'm coming to put a bullet in your head," the suspect says in a transmission issued that day.

"What he says is a terroristic threat against a police officer," Richter said. "It's unacceptable, it's horrible, and it's something that needs to be prosecuted and will be prosecuted."

Sources said the calls often tie up channels and prevent real emergency calls from going out. Over the weekend, police moved the suspect's call so they could handle regular business.

Officials said they will get the culprit.

"You're going to be arrested," Richter said. "We're going to find you."

Officials said it is difficult to hack into police radio frequencies. But nothing is impossible.

The calls over the weekend were broadcast over the Midtown South Precinct channel at 8 p.m. Saturday and 7:15 p.m. Sunday.

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