Here’s the story. Update (12:40am): Three of the officers have died, I just read. “On Saturday, people lingered at the scene of the traffic-stop shooting. About 20 bystanders taunted the police.” Update (Monday 1pm): The fourth officer has been declared brain dead.
Month: March 2009
Beyond Hope?
Michael East is a veteran police officer in Saginaw, Michigan. He’s also an excellent writer. He has a new book coming out. Beyond Hope? Saginaw, not that you’d know, is a pretty messed up place of rusted industry and abandonment. It’s lost about half its population. Even Habitat for Humanity is helping tear it down. Mike’s book is great. I…
A policeman’s job is only easy in a police state
So says Ramon “Mike” Vargas (Charlton Heston) in Orson Well’s 1958 “Touch of Evil” (thanks, Dave H.). Two Peoria, Illinois, police officers were arrested in relation to a police stomping. Here’s the story in the Peoria Journal Star. I worry about publicizing such things because they make people think such behavior is normal for police. It’s not. Such beat downs…
Police officer fired for neglect, cowardice after failing to shoot at gunman
Policing is one of the few jobs where “cowardice” can get you fired. Here’s a fascinating storyby Brendan McCarthy in the New Orleans Times-Picayune about a police officer fired for not shooting a gun man. They see a man standing about 50 feet away in the street, pointing a gun. Pop, pop. … He chose to hold his fire and…
Chicago Cop Votes “No Confidence” In Superintendent
It’s generally not good to bring a Police Chief from outside a department. A former FBI agent? That’s not really good enough to be in charge in New York or Chicago or L.A. The storyin the Tribune.
St. Louis Police Department no longer accepts lost items
Shame on the St. Louis Police Department! Of course people should be able to turn over lost items to the police. Maybe it’s just a minor gambit to get more money. I’ll cool with that. After all, it’s not like there’s no vacant space in St. Louis to hold things. Here’s the story by Heather Ratcliffe.
Unrelated
I don’t know what made me think of this website just now. I first saw it years ago and it just crossed my mind for some reason. It has nothing to do with police or Baltimore. This woman rode around the abandoned Chernobyl area with nothing but a motorcycle [Ed note: kind of sort of. See comments below], a camera,…
Eastern District Craziness
I have no special insight into this. I really don’t know what to make of it. My first thoughts are give the guy a break. The deputy major of the Baltimore Police Department’s Eastern District has been suspended pending an internal investigation into allegations that he failed to disclose a series of text messages he exchanged with a man sought…
Pay (most) Cops More
Port Authority of New York and Jersey is not a bad place to work. They run all the airports and most of the bridges. I got to say, I’m a little jealous that if I were a Port Authority Police Officer, I would be making $86,467 in base pay. Still, I wouldn’t switch back. Police officers do risk more than…
NYC pays $35 million for police-related lawsuits
I’ve always wondered and never knew how much police-related lawsuits cost the city. Last year it was $35 million for settlements related to NYPD action. That up 40% over the previous year. The headline in the Daily News calls the $35 million figure “staggering.” It doesn’t strike me as that high. $8 a resident or $1,000 per officer? I got…