CAN SOMEONE PLEASE PARSE THIS SENTENCE FOR ME?

"In 2010, New York City saw 206,874 radio calls involving reports of weapons, only 33 times, down 30 percent from the previous year."

I FEEL LIKE THERE WAS A MISPLACED EDIT IN THERE SOMEWHERE.

Yup. It's been fixed.

One of the key reasons I am a Smith supporter is because of what he says about shifting the police mindset so they solve problems instead of creating them. Police creating problems is much of what we saw in yesterday's May Day protests. There were many opportunities to do better, but instead they managed to make things worse by their own actions (my girlfriend was personally attacked by a bike cop and almost arrested for taking pictures of another person who was being arrested simply for being in the street). This is a recurring pattern in the bureau and though I know Smith, by his own admission, "can't turn around the global economy", I have faith that he can make some change in the police bureau. As police union president Daryl Turner told Denis last week, "We're looking for a candidate who will be a leader and at least listen." Listening is where leading starts. Smith has proven he can do that more that Charlie, and certainly more than Eileen. Even not having read their endorsement because I haven't been out to find a paper copy today and it's not posted online yet, I'm baffled that the Merc has chosen to endorse Hales in spite of this.

This is what I suspect you'll get from a Smith administration--thoughtful, thorough, responsive and direct--and it's one of the reasons I support him. Thanks to the Merc for providing a substantive dialogue.

So Denis, tell us again why you endorsed Charlie Hales???