"Prey" for the city

They're reunited -- and it must feel so bad for the petty thugs, the bad apple cops, the shysters and all others who now may get sucked into the journalistic polar vortex that is Barbara Laker and Wendy Ruderman. The dynamic duo mark their return to Daily News action today with another Pulitzer-worthy package -- this time talking on cash-grabbing lowlifes who prey on the city's infirm and its mentally challenged. Read the beginning of their "Perfect Prey" package and I guarantee you'll read the rest:

WHEN THE cop first laid eyes on Sakinah Robinson last August, he thought she was dead.

Her wrists and ankles were tightly bound to the four corners of a soiled bed. Except for a urine-soaked adult diaper, she was naked.

Sgt. William McNamee saw raw burn marks on her right shoulder, cuts, bruises and burns of varying sizes and shades on her face, chest, abdomen and legs. Her emaciated body was etched with wounds. She lay motionless, her head tilted to the side; her eyes open, but vacant.

The cop moved closer. "Hi," she said, startling him.

I've written so many times in the past that what Ruderman and Laker do reaffirms the value of local, in-depth, thoroughly reported investigative journalism that I'm not sure what else there is to say. Certainly other recent cases of high-quality local reporting at traditional newsrooms -- most notably the Chris Christie coverage by the Bergen Record (and beat reporters at the Wall Street Journal) -- has people talking about how we need to preserve this, and that is a very good thing.