In the New York Times, Christine Hauser writes a very good article about “desk duty” in the NYPD. “An officer… spent more than 18 months watching surveillance video while authorities investigated an accusation that he had struck a suspect. [He] was eventually cleared of the charge.” In Baltimore they call getting mired in the department discipline process “jackpotting” because it’s…
Month: November 2008
“A real treat”
The latest issue of Drug War Chronicle has an excellent reviewof Cop in the Hood. “As revelatory as it is sometimes disturbing…. Engaging, even riveting”
Mexico Under Seige
The LA Times has a series on Mexico’s War on Drugs.
St. Louis: Coulda Been a Contender
I’m back from St. Louis. Despite growing up in nearby Chicago, I had never been to St. Louis. In my mind, I was thinking the Baltimore of Midwest: Faded industrial glory, local pride, and the answer to one of my own favorite personal trivia questions: What city of a certain size (at least a couple hundred thousand? or perhaps with…
Good Taser Use
I’ve said that Tasers are overused and too often lethal. But here is a perfect use–as an alternative to lethal force. Well done, BPD. The Baltimore Sunreports: Baltimore police use Taser to subdue armed woman November 17, 2008 Baltimore police used a Taser last night to disable a woman who was wielding a handgun in front of a house in…
Gone fishing…
In the morning I’m off to Chicago for a memorial for my father at Northwestern University. Then on Friday to St. Louis for the annual American Society of Criminology Conference (and dude, do theyknow how to party…) I’ll be back next week…
Let junkies be junkies
Very interesting article by Vince Beiser of Miller-McCune about drug policy in Vancouver (thanks, Louise). It is also fair and balanced. From the article: Canada’s third-largest city has embarked on a radical experiment: Over the last several years, it has overhauled its police and social services practices to re-frame drug use as primarily a public health issue, not a criminal…
Cops and Nurses
I’m not the first to point out that cops and nurses have a lot in common. This is from a nurse/midwife: I was reading your book today on the train and thinking about cops and nurses. I was a one-woman nurse academy for the last year and it’s such a maddening process. I had to teach new nurses: 1) the…
Public Defenders in Revolt
“Public defenders’ offices in at least seven states are refusing to take on new cases or have sued to limit them, citing overwhelming workloads that they say undermine the constitutional right to counsel for the poor.” Read the whole story here.
From the Brass
Colonel (Ret.) Margaret Patton is the highest ranking woman in the Baltimore City Police Department. Back in 2000, when I was a cop, she was in charge of the Northern District. I don’t think we ever met, but I knew her by reputation, and it was good. A few months ago, when I was having an exchange with retired police…