As though stories of Sky Watch towers dominating the Shea Stadium lot scene weren’t interesting enough, the NY Times dropped some more knowledge about the towers:

Originally designed for deer hunters in Georgia, the towers have been used by the military and police departments across the country over the last decade.

We had no idea the towers had been around so long, or that they could be used for shooting people like animals.

Photo by Ruth Fremson/The New York Times

Welcome everybody’s favorite NYPD watch tower back to Crown Heights. Sky Watch is now posted up on the corner of Nostrand Ave and Prospect Place. A word of caution: If you decide to be neighborly and drop off a housewarming gift, don’t rack it from the Key Foods across the street. Sky Watch doesn’t take too kindly to anybody stealing fruit baskets on its watch.

How does New York Magazine compile a list of violence surrounding New York MCs and not list the shooting death of the Notorious B.I.G? Fabolous gets shot in the leg outside P. Diddy’s restaurant, Justin’s, and Amos Barshad writes:

And he thus entered the illustrious pantheon of New York MCs to get caught up with violence and cops. Join us for a stroll down memory lane, won’t you?

An excited crowd firing off celebratory shots at a Nas show is listed, while the murder of Brooklyn’s Finest isn’t even mentioned? Even more ridiculous: Puff Daddy’s incident in 1999 is characterized as “the mother of all New York rap-meets-gun tales, and still the one to top.” It was pretty epic the way Puffy tried bribing his bodyguard before letting Shyne go to jail for ten years. NY Magazine’s list is really a ramble down short term memory lane. Can we really start forgetting anything that happened 10 years ago?

Notorious BIG photo from Diverse Images.

“You need a little clarity? Check the similarity!” The NYPD is using extraordinary means to maintain control at Carroll Street and Troy Avenue in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. The apparatus in question is Sky Watch, a “mobile platform for surveillance, assessment, and response.” According to one officer, the watch tower has been effective at reducing crime since it was installed in May 2006. While the Sky Watch would seem to be useful in confined environments, like prisons and special events, we think a six month installation on city streets simply pushes crime to nearby blocks. However, we did catch the contraption in action.

After this show, we totally expected Chewbacca to pop out of this AT-ST knock off.