It's so hard to tell where NYPD Blue ends and real life begins. New York's top cop, police commissioner Ray Kelly, told the City Council yesterday that the police department will eliminate 1,000 unfilled job slots next year, mostly because, well, nobody wants them. Frankly, we wouldn't be lining up to get shot at for pennies either (maybe for nickels), but Kelly's lackluster recruiting efforts can't be blamed on meager pay alone. All that pimping, drugging, porning, and manslaughtering his people have been up to this year probably hasn't helped much. Largely overshadowed by the ongoing trial of three detectives in the Sean Bell shooting, a string of cop misdeeds so far this year has dealt the NYPD a number of badly timed black eyes. Some of the underpublicized lowlights:

Drugs:
Jan. 22: Rampant corruption within the Brooklyn South Narcotics division sidelines twenty cops accused of taking sex, drugs, and cash from informants and junkies. [NYDN]

Assault:
Feb. 28: A female NYPD officer is caught on tape assaulting a woman at a Bronx baby shower. [WCBS]

Sex Crimes:
Jan. 31: NYPD detective Wayne Taylor is arrested for prostituting a 13-year-old girl he kept prisoner in his home. [WCBS]
Feb. 28: Retired NYPD officer Matthew Fanning, who used the screen name "Gunrunlover" while collecting child porn and arranging for sex with minors online, is arrested after a monthlong investigation. [NYDN]
Mar. 5: Former NYPD cop Kevin Green gets ten years in prison on child-porn charges. [1010-WINS]

DUIs and Hit-and-runs
Mar. 14: Former rookie Danielle Baymack gets a year in the clink for killing a fellow NYPD rookie while driving drunk in 2006. [1010-WINS]
Mar. 17: Two cops driving without sirens or lights kill a pedestrian in Brooklyn. Despite Kelly's statement that the cops hadn't been speeding, witnesses we spoke to said the car's speed was so great that it lost its bumper on impact and took half a block to stop. [SI Advance]
Mar. 18: An NYPD lieutenant is forced to retire as part of his plea deal in a 2005 Queens hit-and-run. [Newsday]

General Idiocy
Mar. 19: A cop is put on desk duty for failing to invoice a gun and sending photos of himself flashing gang symbols to his brother in jail. [NYDN]