NEW YORK (Sputnik) — The New York City Police Department (NYPD) has spent thousands of dollars on steak dinners, hallucinogenic mushrooms and jet skis, according to a report by the local news website DNAinfo.com on Monday.
“The department purchases gift certificates from various restaurants and gives them to officers as part of a citywide employee appreciation program that rewards civil servants for good work,” NYPD spokesperson Stephen Davis told DNAinfo.com.
Moreover, putting a whole new spin on mushroom sauce, the NYPD also spent more than $13,000 on psilocybin, a chemical compound in hallucinogenic mushrooms, as well as MDMA, a common chemical found in ecstasy, according to the report.
The NYPD explained the reason for the purchases was to provide comparison samples for labs.
“When examining a suspected illegal substance, it is necessary to have a verified comparison sample to validate the analysis,” Davis said.
Other purchases included $13,584 for eight “McGruff the Crime Dog” costumes, $69,000 on industrial-grade shoeshine machines and $93,000 on jet skis, according to the report.
