Officer Cronin, not alone in his disgrace. Photo: NYPD

The copycat crime spree is coming from inside the department. For the third time since last Thursday, a New York City police officer has been charged with drinking and shooting — and that’s in addition to the three additional DWIs local cops collected within 27 hours last week. It’s almost like this job drives a person to get wasted (and then, occasionally, fire a weapon at an innocent bystander).

The latest incident, breaking the all-male trend (which included an officer shooting his partner in the wrist after a bunch of beers), comes courtesy of Sgt. Wanda Anthony, who fired at a car while off-duty in New Jersey around 3:30 a.m. on Wednesday.

The tabloids have two slightly different version of events, neither better than the other. The New York Post:

The Staten Island cop, who has a tattoo of an AK-47, was wasted at the time and was coming home from a date with a man when his wife stormed out of the house and confronted her, sources said. During the argument, she pulled out her service weapon and fired, hitting the car, the sources said. No one was injured.

And the Daily News:

[…] outside a strip club in Somerset County, N.J., NYPD Sgt. Wanda Anthony, assigned to the 122nd Precinct in Staten Island, fired at least one round at a former boyfriend and his new squeeze, law enforcement sources said. No one was hit. Anthony, who fled in a car, was pulled over and charged with driving while intoxicated following the 3 a.m. incident by the Watchung Police Dept.

That came just hours after an even worse incident in Westchester, as reported yesterday. More details do not explain much, but NYPD Officer Brendan Cronin apparently fired 13 shots, hitting a random man in his car six times, for apparently no reason:

Cronin was so drunk, he did not even remember firing his weapon, the sources said. “We have not been able to find any link between the two persons,” said Pelham Police Chief Joseph Benefico. “We have nothing to link either party to each other — no road rage, nothing.”

Then the officer reportedly pointed his 9mm at the police who chased him down after the shooting.

“We’re very concerned with a number of reports,” Police Commissioner Bill Bratton said. “I, personally, am very disturbed about the number of incidents in recent weeks that are part of a longer-term problem of inappropriate use of alcohol by members of our department.” The rest of us should probably be more concerned with our immediate safety.