I have just received word over the virtual transom (as of yet still unconfirmed word [update: now confirmed]) that this morning the grand jury decided notto bring criminal charges against the officers who killed Jonathan Ayers. I would have loved to have heard the facts as they were presented because knowing what I do know, the police-involved shooting seems very…
Category: Police
Here’s a no brainer: Clean needles
Clean needles save lives. Clean needles make policing less dangerous because 1) it limits the spread of HIV and and hepatitis, and 2) which would you prefer to get stuck with? So logically, police are big supports of clean needles and needle exchange (oh, wait, I just made that last part up). There have been countless studies on the matter.…
Handcuffed man gets tased, dies
Despite my strong opposition to the taser as a compliance tool (I much prefer old-fashioned force), this is a tricky case becausethe guy was handcuffed. He got squirrelly and started fighting. [Hey, once I was rolling on the ground with a handcuffed man. What could I do? He already had his hands tied behind his back and I still couldn’t…
Murder is Good
Sgt T sent me this, related to the previous post: “Metro Atlanta may get a little bloodier. Call it a sign of success.” They use a bastard version the same retarded thought process here in the states. Early last year the head fed in Atlanta was crowing about how their success in the war on drugs was driving up street…
“The rising death toll is a sign the drug gangs are weakening”
Of coooourse. Washington says the rising death toll is a sign the drug gangs are weakening under President Calderon’s military crackdown, which has seen some 49,000 extra troops deploy across Mexico. You see the rising death toll in Mexico is always a sign that the drug gangs are weakening because, well, when the gangs are weak, they lash and kill…
Five years in jail before trial
And then you’re found not-guilty. After being behind bars for five years. Now granted, as the guy’s lawyer says, “Ikoli was carrying an unloaded gun” and “there’s an awful lot to not like about what he did.” But he was not guilty of murder and acquitted by a jury. His friend, who he was with, plead guilty at the start…
Cops shoot bad guys with guns
Mostly I just like the headline. But as usual, Peter Hermann has interesting things to say. Particularly about suspended sentences. That’s the crazy concept where you do a crime, get caught, get convicted, get sentenced, and then don’t serve time. Not even in theory. Guest, when was 15, he shot another youth in the head and pleaded guilty, but spent…
Really?
I’m not too hard to reach. But if you’re going to prank call me, please be sober enough so I can understand you! The only really strange thing is that the caller ID comes back as a not-in-service number: (212) 237-2546. I’m not quite certain how you do that… Here’s the transcription, best I figure out: Caller: [garbled] Please leave…
Prisons of Our Own Making
Crediting prisons and not mentioning police for the crime drop is a bit misguided, but there are still some very good points in Ross Douthat’s New York Times column.
Pay police more?
Stilgar, in a comment, raises some excellent questions: Claims about the quality of pay are irrelevant without context. Rather than shout past each other, it might be worthwhile to ask: 1. Based on the backgrounds of the cops you have worked with, would you say that many of them were well-paid in policing compared to what they could have made…