Are NYPD Funds Best Spent Busting Underground Shows?

A commenter on the Market Hotel bust:

wah, a hipster party go broken up–at the intersection of bushwick and bed-stuy, where there is plenty of violent and drug-related crime that should be keeping the nypd busy. the police often (but not always, i know) look the other way at lesser crimes like, say, open containers or noise complaints so they can attend to relatively more pressing concerns.
with the nypd facing budget cuts and drastically reduced ranks, last night’s raid at market hotel begs the question: why were valuable and limited police resources used to break up a harmless, docile party, instead of addressing the serious crime that persists in the area–the kind that most taxpayers want their money spent on?

I think A. It’s easier for the police to target a large gathering of folks than drive around patrolling an area and B. there’s money in them thar raids. But yes, this is nothing new. I’m sure anyone who’s spent time in a town with a crime problem anywhere else in the country has seen the whole “cops unfairly targeting rich people drinking” headache persist for years.

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