The mighty flex-cuff… Anybody know when they first appeared? I do not. And I just get a query from MOMA asking me them and I’ll be damned, I have no idea. I’d like to know the answer. I write to you with the hope that you might help with our research. We are featuring Flexicuffs and Bite/Spit Masks (the plastic…
A stun grenade exploded in a baby’s face. According to the BBC: The Swat officers had used a stun grenade, called a flash bang, as they entered the residence. The device, which creates bright bursts of light and noise to temporarily disorient its targets, landed in 19-month-old Bounkham “Bou Bou” Phonesavanh’s playpen, where it burned the child’s face and created…
I was just spell checking Thomas Frazier’s last name for something I’m writing and learned, though the wonders of google, that Frazier is now running the Oakland Police Department. And he’s running it in a way I’ve never heard of: The former Baltimore police commissioner, who rose up the ranks in San Jose, is accountable only to the federal judge…
The good people over at How-to-Become-a-Police-Officer.com have just informed me that by some fancy measures they use, I have the second most popular law enforcement blog. How ’bout that? I wouldn’t complete trust that list since it doesn’t include Second City Cop which is quite good and has many more readers, judging from the number of comments. But hey, who…
Nice article by Garrett Epps in The Atlantic about Bond v. United States, prosecutorial overreach, and rare victory for the 10th Amendment: There’s an established rule of construction called the avoidance doctrine: If there are two ways of reading a statute, and one way would cause a serious constitutional problem, a court should read it the other way. That’s what…
…By putting rookie officers with more veteran officers. This should have been a no-brainer years ago. Partnering dumb with dumber — both right out of the police academy, both sometimes clueless white boys from Long Island — was never a brilliant idea (though even then it did help reduce crime). Rookie cops faced with quota pressure who could not distinguish…
From Shorpy.com: Washington, D.C., 1932. “Metropolitan police officer on motorcycle.” Keeping the peace in the gashouse district. Harris & Ewing glass negative. Full size image.
The headline in the Daily News says “Cops talked to Elliot Rodger three times before Santa Barbara killing spree, didn’t know he owned guns” So what? What if police did know he had three legally purchased guns and ammo? How would have that changed anything. There was no crime. Anyone who wonders why cops didn’t do more doesn’t understand police.…