The New York Times reports. The Queensbridge Homes are not too far from where I live. A man who was being arrested for using a student MetroCard on Tuesday evening struggled with two plainclothes police officers in a Queens subway station and then shot them with the gun of one of the officers, the police said. The gunman was then…
Month: October 2008
Taser use draws fire from Amnesty International
The Boston Heraldreports: The stunning rise in Taser use has drawn the fire of the local Amnesty International chapter, which says Tasers were supposed to be a non-lethal alternative to gunfire. “Now it seems clear that police departments are using Tasers not as an alternative to lethal force but to get compliance.” Amnesty International says that since 2001, 320 people…
Courthouse Confessions
Evidently I’m going to meet Steven Hirsch on Thursday at the Non-Motivational Speakers Series. His blog, Courthouse Confessions, is fascinating. Too much for me to read right now…. There’s an interview with him here.
Cop in the Classroom
Gelf Magazine has an excellent interview with me in advance of me being part of the Non-Motivational Speakers Series this coming Thursday. It’s always a little scary to read what you said. Because sometimes you didn’t say it. Other times you did say it, but it’s not what you meant. In this case, I said it, I meant it, and…
War on Drugs in Mexico
Drug Killings Haunt Mexican Schoolchildren See the New York Times for the whole terrible story.
Are drugs evil?
This is taken from the comments of a previous post. Your comparison of a drug dealer to anyone who sells cigarettes and booze is interesting. I believe that even with the huge tobacco lobby at work, most tobacco products will be illegal within twenty years, and rightfully so. Booze is a different story because it is well tolerated by many…
Abandon your child
Something strange is happening in Nebraska. From the LA Times: Nebraska’s safe-haven law is unlike similar laws in that it allows anyone, not just a parent, to drop off a child, of any age, at any state-licensed hospital without fear of prosecution for abandonment. The law doesn’t absolve anyone of charges such as abuse or neglect. But the fascinating part…
Justifiable homicides rise
The story in USA Today by Kevin Johnson.
New Yorkers:
Mark your calenders for next Thursday, October 23. I’ll be entertaining the crowd with discussions about policing, the war on drugs, and Cop in the Hood. All this at the wonderfully titled “Non-Motivational Speakers Series.” Tell your friends. Best yet, this event is at a bar. No, none of that stuffy academic pretension (no pipes or tweed jackets with arm…
More on guns and Florida crime
‘Guns are everywhere,’ Orlando police chief says A surge in murder and gunfire locally since the end of the federal assault-weapons ban in 2004. […] Florida law makes it easy for any adult without a criminal record to buy a gun. Yet many legally purchased guns end up being used by criminals. The state routinely turns up in law-enforcement surveys…