Several NYPD international outposts created to fight terrorism after 9/11 closing after mounting tax troubles
The NYPD has been forced to close three of its highly-touted foreign outposts — launched after Sept. 11 as a bulwark against terrorism — because of tax troubles, The Post has learned.
And retired Detective Michael Catlin claims he was the canary in the coal mine at the NYPD’s Toronto bureau in a new notice of claim for a $5 million lawsuit against the department filed last week.
In 2011, Catlin, 52, jumped at the chance to take a prestigious post in the NYPD’s International Liaison Program after 10 years on the job.
He would move abroad, and work with local law enforcement on international crime and terrorism cases.
NYPD officers in the program work with foreign departments to detect potential problems NYC could face, solve current international crimes and extradite prisoners who are captured abroad.
It is funded by private donations to the NYPD Police Foundation.
But the Toronto job he was assigned turned into a nightmare that left him on the verge of bankruptcy because the NYPD failed to negotiate with the Canadians over taxes — or pay them — and he wasn’t alone, he claims.
“They closed Singapore, Montreal and Toronto,” Catlin told The Post. “They told us, ‘We can’t have any more liability.’”
The NYPD recently announced it was opening two new bureaus in Tucson, Ariz., and Bogota, Colombia, to help address the migrant crisis and the flow of drugs and guns pouring through the southern US border bound for the Big Apple.
The department is now dealing with tax issues in Colombia, Catlin said.
“I’ve paid a half million dollars out of pocket,” Catlin, who begrudgingly retired last week because his bureau was closing, said of his income taxes in Canada. “And the Canadian IRS is saying I owe another $250,000.”
Catlin, who joined the department in 2001, said in the beginning most of his focus with the Toronto police was on terrorism, finding trends in the neighboring country that might have repercussions for the Big Apple.
“Back then, it was all about ISIS,” he said. “”They had a lot of Canadians being drawn in by the message and traveling to that part of the world.”
About five years in, Catlin met and married a Toronto cop and the two had a son, Oliver.
He thought the NYPD had an agreement with Canada for his personal income taxes.
But in 2020, his wife’s accountant told her he should be paying.
He got a lawyer to investigate.
He said he was never given instructions by the NYPD to pay Canadian taxes.
“I got nervous when a lawyer said ‘You can be prosecuted for this,’” he recalled. “I certainly don’t want to get prosecuted for tax evasion. I’m not Al Capone.”
He was paying U.S. income taxes — New York state and city included — the entire time.
He said he was never told to make up the difference between US and Canadian taxes.
Socialist Canada’s combined federal and provincial tax rate is sky high — between 20.05% and 53.53%.
He immediately reached out to the NYPD.
His boss told him, “Well you put yourself on the radar” by getting married and drawing attention to his taxpayer status.
“I was like ‘Are you asking me to commit tax evasion more quietly? Because that’s not what the rules are and we’re supposed to follow the rules,” he recalled.
Catlin paid the Canadian IRS $100,000 out of his own NYPD deferred-compensation retirement fund.
Since then, he’s been paying between $30,000 and $50,000 a year for taxes. Last year, he had to take out a loan for the tab.
“I’m literally broke,” he said. “If they come after me for the $250,000, I have to declare bankruptcy.”
Making matters worse, he found out that the NYPD was footing the tax bill for the NYPD rep in Singapore – the post he had originally sought.
“Nobody did the research before sending anybody up here,” he said. “Not the guy before me. Not the guy before him. So, you know, people flew under the radar. I just happened to be the unlucky son of a bitch that had to deal with the problem they created.”
He retired on May 16 after 23 years on the job.
His lawyer John Scola said the NYPD “demands loyalty from their employees at all times but rarely reciprocates when their employees are in need.”
The NYPD said that there is “no systemic issue with the NYPD’s foreign liaison program” but that it no longer has officers “posted in Montreal, Toronto or Singapore.” The NYPD is moving ahead with posts in Bogota, Colombia, and Tucson, Arizona.
“We are addressing this ONE issue in Toronto, Canada and we have proactively suspended our Montreal post while we work to resolve any and all tax issues,” the statement, which was posted on X on Saturday, reads. “We do not want to diminish the impact this is having on one of our former members but there are no other foreign posts in teh liaison program that are experiencing this issue.”
