I have advocated that all drug defendants demand jury trials. It’s a constitutional right. It would end the war on drugs.
That is kind of sort happening on a small scale. Here’s the story in the Sun. Our system of justice is broken.
Author: Moskos
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Crime or no Crime?
Peter Hermann of the Baltimore Sun has an interesting article about discharges… that is, shots fired but nobody hit. No harm, no foul.
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Back on Leonard Lopate Monday
Apparently I’m going to be on the radio again Monday. But this time I can actually listen to what I say. It’s a rerun.
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Mass cops protest
Why not have road construction flagmen be cops? Yes, it’s a bit of a scam. But police have to make overtime some way. And better to pay a cop than pay a union private construction employee.Without this overtime, I wonder if arrests will increase.
Read about it in the Boston Herald.
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Wrongfully Convicted Cop Freed
From John Kass and the Chicago Tribune:
What bothers the Mettes—and just about every other cop—is that there were no protests on Mike’s behalf. Liberal university professors didn’t write angry op-ed pieces demanding justice. The crowd that fights wrongful convictions wasn’t interested, either, perhaps because Mike wasn’t some violent gangbanger with a rap sheet as long as his leg.
He didn’t have a rap sheet. Mike was a good cop, and he was ignored.
But soon, he’ll be coming home.
The whole story is here. -
Mexico’s war on drugs
When we last visited Mexico, tens of thousands were protesting violence resulting from drug prohibition.
Now Mexican President Felipe Calderón has proposed decriminalized possession of small quantities of cocaine, marijuana, heroin, and methamphetamine to those who agree to undergo drug treatment. This is similar to a bill he proposed two years ago. But that bill died after intense pressure (ie: foreign meddling) from the U.S.
Here’s the story in the New York Times.
“The Mexican attorney general’s office has said that it is so overwhelmed with prosecuting organized crime that it cannot handle the large number of small-time drug cases.”“United States officials have heaped praise on Mr. Calderón for his crackdown on Mexico’s drug cartels. Since taking office in December 2006, he has sent some 30,000 troops into eight states and cities in an attempt to quell drug violence. But the violence has only increased. Almost 3,000 people have been killed in drug violence this year.”
“Responding to Mr. Calderón’s plan, American officials said Thursday that United States policy opposed the legalization of even small amounts of drugs. “It rewards the drug traffickers and doesn’t make children’s lives safer,” said an American official, who asked not to be identified.”
The problem with decriminalizing drug possession is it doesn’t get at the harms of drug prohibition. The violence comes from dealers. Not users.And addicts area problem. It helps to have the power of arrest sometimes to keep them in line.
Still, there is the advantage of not wasting courts and prisons dealing with drug users.
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Drugs in Afghanistan
Seems like the brother of Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai is a heroin kingpin operating under U.S.-tolerated immunity.
I’m shocked. Shocked.
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60-day supply of weed
In Washington state, it’s officially 24 ounces and 15 plants. That’s a lot of marijuana.
In Holland, by the way, you’re only allowed to have 6 plants. And a “coffee shop,” the place that legally sellsmarijuana, is only supposed to hold 16 ounces at any given times (but for practical reasons, that limit is often ignored).
Here’s the article in the Seattle Times about what is now the legal limits for a “60-day supply of medical marijuana.”
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Lieutenant in Taser incident commits suicide
I just heard on the radio that Lieutenant Pigott, the lieutenant who, one week ago, ordered the man on the awning in Brooklyn to be Tased, shot himself. That’s very sad.
The lieutenant, I believe in good faith, made a bad decision that violated departmental rules. Allpolice officers violate departmental rules. I know I did. And not always in good faith. But I was lucky; nobody died.
Mr. Morales should not have been tased. But had I been in the same situation, it was a decision I very likely could have made. Mr. Morales, a crazed 35-year-old man, died.
After 21 years on the force, the lieutenant’s life came crashing down. He caused a man’s death. He was stripped of his badge and gun. He was demoted from a specialized unit he loved to a desk job in motor pool. His future, as he probably saw it, consisted of lawsuits, disgrace, and no end in sight. The NYPD threw him under a bus.
On Wednesday, the Morales family held a wake. Lieutenant Pigott apologized for what happened, saying he was “truly sorry.”
On Wednesday night, the eve of Lieutenant Pigott’s 46th birthday, he gained access to another officer’s gun and shot himself. He leaves a wife and three children.
It’s very sad.
There’s more in Newsdayand the New York Times.
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Five stabbed in my neighborhood is news
But six shot in Harlem isn’t. Interesting.
And a paragraph in the New York Times.
And I swear, I have an alibi! And I don’t have a car.