NEW THIS MORNING

NEW THIS MORNING     Mayor Michael Bloomberg has set up a super PAC through which he will spend between $10 and $15 million of his own money to support centrist candidates from both parties who he believes will solve the country's problems, the New York Times reports: http://nyti.ms/OINaCQ    An NYPD investigator testified that police can arrest someone for trespassing even if they never made it beyond the exterior lobby of an apartment building in a public housing complex, the Times reports: http://nyti.ms/VdfEZd   Councilman Dan Halloran, one of four Republicans on the City Council, has signed on to three of the four bills that comprise the Community Safety Act. Halloran--a former defense attorney and prosecutor, whose great-grandfather was an NYPD police chief--lends a measure of bipartisan credibility to the legislation, which has been vilified by law enforcement and elected officials as fiscally irresponsible and a liability for police officers in the field. The three bills that Halloran is supporting include Int. 799, which requires law enforcement officers to provide notice and proof of consent to search individuals, Int. 801, requiring officers to identify themselves to the public, and Int. 881, which would allow the city to set up an Inspector General's office to oversee the NYPD. Kevin Ryan, a spokesman for the councilman, said that Halloran, who is running for Congress, did not sign on to the bill that would prevent racial profiling because he wants to make sure it does not conflict with state laws. "The reason why he signed on to three of the four [bills] is because, while he's a Republican, he's independent thinking and he's a civil libertarian," said Ryan. "He's always been very pro-law enforcement, and was recently endorsed by the Fraternal Order of Police, the largest police organization in the country. He's been a prosecutor and a defense attorney, and his angle is to give police officers that are on the witness stand as much objective credibility as possible to make it easier for them to be successful."