KELLY CURBS 'GAY' STINGS BY LARRY CELONA

New York Post - 03/09/2009

Following accusations that vice cops were making dubious arrests of gay men at pornography shops, the NYPD has decided that similar investigations will now have to be approved by the department's higher-ups, sources told ThePost.

Police Commissioner Ray Kelly called the head of the department's OrganizedCrime Control Bureau, which oversees the vice squad, and others to PoliceHeadquarters after protests outside Mayor Bloomberg's home over the arrests.

Protesters said undercover vice-squad cops were flirting with customers inManhattan shops and offering to have sex for money - which the activistssaid amounted to entrapment. The department had said it was not targeting gay men but was ratherconducting a nuisance-abatement operation in response to neighborcomplaints.

As a result of the talks, it was decided that all such operations would haveto be cleared by OCCB head Chief Anthony Izzo, the sources said.