Do I think Peter Liang wanted to kill Akai Gurley? No. Do I think Liang messed up so bad that he should be found criminally guilty of manslaughter and official misconduct for failing to help Mr. Gurley as he lay dying in a public housing stairwell? Yeah. But, as a side note, Liang is right about this: He felt unqualified…
Month: February 2016
It’s been a bad week for cops
Eight cops have been shot and killed this month. And February, 2016, ain’t even half over. Already, on my social media stream, I see my cop friends blaming Obama. Well, you must remember December, 2003 when seven cops were shot and killed? Republican George W Bush was president. August of that year? Nine cops were shot and killed. April? Ten…
Greek Americans book review
My third book, Greek Americans: Struggle and Success (3rd edition), is probably the one you don’t care about. But it’s not often you come across a 12-page book review. Hell, for all I know, maybe you do care.
Former LA Sheriff Baca Pleads Guilty
I don’t know much about LA county. The LA Sheriff’s Department has 18,000 employees and 9,100 sworn officers. And running a huge jail system ain’t easy. But Sheriff Baca and his cronies have been in trouble for a long while. His people tried to strong-arm an FBI agent investigating his department. Not cool. Perhaps we shouldn’t be electing top law…
RIP Derek Geer and Jason Goodding
Does all the talk about cops being too quick to shoot people “for no reason” have an effect? (A “Ferguson Effect”?) I don’t know. But it might have been in the back of the mind of 14-year police veteran Deputy Derek Geer. Just two days ago Geer tried to tase an armed 17-year-old boy. For his less-lethal efforts, Geer was…
“Justice 4 Whom”?!
Generally I couldn’t care less what Beyonce’s dancers think. But “Justice 4 Mario Woods” and a black power salute? Are you effing kidding me? Mario Woods was shot and killed by San Francisco police back in December. It was a good shooting. Christ almighty there are plenty of bad police shootings. Not this one. Woods doesn’t need justice. “Justice 4…
“They pursue not the truth”
In case you missed it (I did), here’s some good deep legal analysisfrom Page Croyder regarding the trial of the six Baltimore cops: They pursue not the truth, but in the words of Mosby, “justice for Freddie Gray.” And they will trample over the law, the evidence, their ethical responsibilities and real justice to get there. Croyder doesn’t like Mosby,…
Your Personal Ferguson Effect
There’s an interesting comment in a previous postwhere an officer describes what he calls “my personal Ferguson Effect.” Two similar cases. One cop shot and killed a non-compliant unarmed person. The other cop did not shoot a non compliant person and is now dead. The knowledge after the fact of whether the suspect had a gun or not is certainly…
Swamy Pete says…
Swamy Pete, the gypsy scryer, looks into his crystal ball. With eerie music in the background and an echoey voice, Swamie Pete makes a bold prediction: In the future, in fact tomorrow at exactly 19:00 hours eastern time, crime will not happen. The crystal ball says that for maybe three hours, somehow people will manage to have fewer problems. The…
Defining the Ferguson Effect
Denying the Ferguson Effect and any link between policing and crime has become almost a cottage industry in some circles. It’s sort of the liberal equivalent of conservatives denying climate change and, er, on the small chance it is changing, any link between global warming and human activity. Sure, the world may be warmer. But God works in mysterious ways.…