Maybe you don’t stay up at night thinking about cell phones in prison. And maybe you shouldn’t. But think about it for a moment… we can’t keep cell phones out of the hands of prisoners. Somehow I think that’s significant. The story by Dan Kane in the News & Observer.
Year: 2008
CSI: Real World
I wish more people would realize that the real world is not like TV. Problems in the Detroit crime lab.
Less overtime = More murder?
Messing with police overtime is like messing with a dog’s food. You better makes sure it doesn’t come back to bite you. “It’s like our heroin,” one cop says in Cop in the Hood, “it’s just something we need.” The root of the problem is that half the department is assigned to patrol, chasing radio calls. So when it comes…
More on the Greek riots
The BBC has a good story about the Greek culture of “No.” And also goes into something I should have explained, namely why November 17 is a day of protest and why students are key: : On 17 November 1973, tanks of the then six-year-old [American supported] military dictatorship burst through the iron railings to suppress a student uprising against…
Worse than the average Greek riot
Greek police shot and killed a 15-year-old boy in Athens Saturday night after a confrontation between police and a group of people. There have been some pretty big riots ever since. Here’s the latest from English-language version or Kathimerini. And the New York Timeshas a storyand slide show. The fact that there were copycat riots in other cities means this…
Oops
“Massachusetts Chief Charged Over Event Where Boy Killed Self With Uzi.” The story by Michael Levenson from the Boston Globe. I kind of feel sorry for the Chief. It’s interesting the father wasn’t charged. Not that I think charging him would accomplish anything. It’s just that I can’t imagine the same courtesy going out to somebody from, shall we say,…
Lax gun laws? More killings.
There’s a shocker. The story’s by Cheryl Thompson in the Washington Post.
Broken Windows in the Economist
I got issues with this piecefrom the normally stellar Economist.I just happened to have lunch yesterday with George Kelling. He has issues, too. For one thing, Broken Windows is not Zero Tolerance.
From Vermont
I just received this interesting email from the po-po in Vermont (oh, I chuckle at my own wit… because somehow I imagine police in Vermont don’t get called “po-po” much). Professor, Love reading your web site. I like your perspectives on these issues you write about. I was just reading your articles on “Balancing Security and Liberty” and “Buckle-Up or…
Desk Duty
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…