US News

DC’S APPLE COP-OUT

No good deed goes unpunished — at least when it comes to federal money for crime-fighting.

New York has been squeezed out of any of the $1 billion economic-stimulus money to help cities avoid laying off cops.

The reason?

We are not worthy, the Justice Department declared.

The department figures the most deserving cities are facing serious budgetary problems and fighting high crime rates.

New York has a low crime rate, big police force and stable budget, the feds reasoned.

New York “should not be penalized for its success,” fumed Rep. Peter King (R-LI) last night.

It would be laughable if it weren’t so serious, other officials said.

“To punish our Police Department because they have driven down crime with fewer resources shows the backwards incentive system that is sometimes at work in Washington,” Mayor Bloomberg said.

“Denying that funding because New Yorkers have already dug into their pockets to maintain our city’s sound fiscal stewardship and pay for our exceptional policing doesn’t make sense.”

Commissioner Ray Kelly was equally irate.

“After two successful terrorist attacks at the heart of the nation’s financial center, there should be substantial and continuing federal support for the NYPD in its counterterrorism and conventional crime-fighting missions,” he said.

“We shouldn’t be penalized for succeeding on both counts, and mainly on our own dime, over the last 7½ years.”

In precincts around the city, cops were fuming.

“If New York City is not getting any, there’s something wrong with how they’re divvying up the stimulus package — absolutely,” said one detective.

“He’s not George Bush,” the detective said of President Obama.

“But he apparently doesn’t think much of New York City.”

Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-Queens/Brooklyn) said he’d fight it out.

“I’ve been in contact with the Justice Department and will demand a thorough explanation of why New York City and three other cities [Seattle, Houston and Pittsburgh] have been left out in the cold,” he said.

“It is disturbing that the largest city in the country will not get this vital funding to keep our crime levels down.”

Not that New York hasn’t had its differences with DC in the past.

In 2006, the Bush administration thumbed its nose at the Big Apple and sparked an uproar when it slashed homeland-security money for the city.

About 7,000 state and local agencies applied for aid under the COPS program, which is part of the $787 billion stimulus package passed earlier this year. Only about 1,000 were approved.

david.seifman@nypost.com