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Category: Police

  • How to Stop the Drug Wars

    Long before the Simpsons did it, my brother started quoting ideas from the Economistjust to sound smart. I’ll be damned if quoting from them doesn’tmake him sound smarter!

    If you don’t read the Economist, you should. It’s notan economics journal. Just get over the name. It’s a world newspaper. But a magazine. And British. Like Timeand Newsweek. But for smart folk.

    The Economistis generally a bit too economically conservative for my tastes, but that’s OK. It’s still good. The Economistis good news reporting. It’s what educated people read. And its got great high-brow fluff sections! Plus a killer obit.

    I mention this not because I have a stake, but because the Economisthas a bunch of stories this week about the war on drugs. They’re against it.

    To be honest, I haven’t actually read yet the articles yet. I just got the issue in the mail today and a helpful heads-up in a comment.

    But without having read it, I can pretty much guarantee that it’s informative, interesting, and, more often than not, right. That’s because it’s the Economist.

  • Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight!

    Chicago Police Superintendent Jody Weiss is in contempt of court for not releasing the names of officers who have a least five citizen complaints filed against them since 2000. The story in the Sun Times.

    And 7 Chicago officer broke rules by letting a 14-year-old to get a radio and go on patrol with a two-year veteran. The story in the Tribune.

  • Now Hiring $14.99/hour

    Be a prison guard at the Eden Detention Center in Texas and work for the private (publicly traded) for-profit Correction Corporation of America. Get paid $14.99/hour (about $30K/year). Must be willing to work all shifts. GED and valid driver’s license required.

    According to their website:

    CCA houses approximately 75,000 offenders and detainees in more than 60 facilities, 44 of which are company-owned, with a total bed capacity of more than 80,000. CCA currently partners with all three federal corrections agencies (The Federal Bureau of Prisons, the U.S. Marshals Service and Immigration and Customs Enforcement), nearly half of all states and more than a dozen local municipalities.

  • $99,000

    Texas spends almost $99,000 per year for each incarcerated juvenile.

  • Reentry

    Reentry is the fancy word for getting out of jail or prison and back into the real world. It’s a big problem.

    Would you hire a felon?

    Here’s a good story in the Times.

  • I Want My McNuggets!

    Or I’ll call 911.

  • Strip Searches

    No longer allowed in Nassau County, Long Island, NY.

    Judge Leonard D. Wexler found that the Fourth Amendment prohibits jail officials from performing such searches on every person sent to the jail, particularly those arrested on a misdemeanor or minor charge like a traffic violation, and those who cannot be reasonably suspected of carrying a concealed weapon or drugs.

    I still say they’re OK for Baltimore City. The courts may disagree.

  • Drug Bust Oscars

    Peter Hermann has a nice article giving Academy Awards for drug busts.

    So, if we’re handing out Academy Awards for cocaine seizures, Bealefeld’s Oscar might read “Best director for a drug bust,” while Clark’s might read “Best supporting director for a drug bust.”
    …
    It is a sad reminder that the drugs keep pouring in despite year after year of “record seizures.” Wouldn’t be nice to see Bealefeld standing in front of an empty pallet declaring victory in the drug war?

  • 1 in 27

    One in twenty-seven Maryland adults are current in the correction system. Twenty-seven percent of those are behind bars. This is, sad to say, about par for the national average.

    In Maryland, it costs $86 per day to lock a person up.

  • Cameras and Crime

    Here’s an article in the New York Timesabout the (weak) link between security cameras and crime prevention.