Police

L.A. Police Shift Discipline Away From Automatic Punishments

I had no idea that any department could be so stupid to have a system of “automatic punishment.” “In a series of changes this year, direct supervisors are being encouraged to forgo suspensions of officers who they believe will change their behavior – or just made a one-time mistake – and instead opt for written warnings.” “Police officials believe the…

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Police departments don’t enforce immigration laws

Good. “Despite a nationwide clamor against illegal immigration, only 55 of more than 18,000 police and law enforcement agencies across the country have signed agreements to coordinate with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.” The whole story is here.

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In our nation’s capital…

“My one beef with law enforcement in general is I hate the top-down approach, that only people with rank can think.” I think I’vesaid that before. But that quote is from D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier. “Lanier wants to convert the department from a conventional military-style hierarchical culture into one driven from the bottom up. That means accountability and leadership…

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Crab Pictures

I added some pictures to my previous post about the crab feast.

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There used to be city here

It’s sad to think about cities being abandonded. I hate to make the Eastern District stand for everything that’s bad. It’s bad in East Baltimore. But it’s also bad in St. Louis, East St Louis, Detroit, Gary, Camden, Newark, the west side of Chicago. The list goes on and on. Just two generation ago, this area was packed full with…

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More Eastern Pictures

Thanks to Konrad for taking (and bringing me!) these. There aren’t too many streets with pretty trees. Alas, the trees don’t stop bullets. But the streets with trees tend to be less abandoned.

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The Eastern Today

Here are pictures from the Eastern District today. I keep thinking that the Eastern hasn’t changed since I left. But of course it has. On one hand, Hopkins took over a bunch of it. On the other, I’m sure it’s even more abandoned than ever. The population dropped 30% between 1990 and 2000. There’s no reason to think that trend…

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Durham and Eager: Stylish? Clean?

2008:I just got this pic of the corner from Durham and Eager in the Eastern. I love the new PR campaign: “My New East Side is Stylish.” “Clean.” “Innovative.” “United.” “Exciting.” “The Future.” “Family.” I hope it works. It looked nothing like this when I was there. In 2000 the corner looked like the picture below, which is of Eager…

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CUNY Podcast

Enjoy CUNY radio’s podcast interview of me. “Book Beat.” What a good name for a show that features a book about police. (CUNY, pronounced Quny, stands for the City University of New York, of which John Jay College is a part)