Police

B.S.

There’s a story in many New York City papers today about accusations that 5 members of the NYPD stuck something up a guy’s ass ala Louima. Google any NY paper for the details. I’d just like to go on record as saying, “Bullshit. It ain’t true.” Do I know? No. You’ll just have to trust me on this one. Complete…

Continue Reading

Police

Budget cutting? Take a hatchet to the war on drugs

Joe Conason has a good piece in Salon about the war on drugs. Want to cut waste and abuse? How about starting with the $50 billion we spend every year on the war on drugs. And why aren’t either McCain or Obama talking it?

Police

Shot cops and turnstile jumping

There’s more about that here. Also interesting (if it weren’t, would I post it?). “Officers Seeking Fare Evaders Often Find Worse Crimes.” And here’s a first hand account of the shooting from the L.T.

Police

Another Isolated Incident

“It’s not that SWAT tactics are always wrong. It’s that they’re frighteningly too often the first resort with the police departments that have them.” That’s from The Agitator. It’s worth reading.

Police

2 Officers Shot in Subway Station

The New York Times reports. The Queensbridge Homes are not too far from where I live. A man who was being arrested for using a student MetroCard on Tuesday evening struggled with two plainclothes police officers in a Queens subway station and then shot them with the gun of one of the officers, the police said. The gunman was then…

Continue Reading

Police

Taser use draws fire from Amnesty International

The Boston Heraldreports: The stunning rise in Taser use has drawn the fire of the local Amnesty International chapter, which says Tasers were supposed to be a non-lethal alternative to gunfire. “Now it seems clear that police departments are using Tasers not as an alternative to lethal force but to get compliance.” Amnesty International says that since 2001, 320 people…

Continue Reading

Police

Courthouse Confessions

Evidently I’m going to meet Steven Hirsch on Thursday at the Non-Motivational Speakers Series. His blog, Courthouse Confessions, is fascinating. Too much for me to read right now…. There’s an interview with him here.

Police

Cop in the Classroom

Gelf Magazine has an excellent interview with me in advance of me being part of the Non-Motivational Speakers Series this coming Thursday. It’s always a little scary to read what you said. Because sometimes you didn’t say it. Other times you did say it, but it’s not what you meant. In this case, I said it, I meant it, and…

Continue Reading

Police

War on Drugs in Mexico

Drug Killings Haunt Mexican Schoolchildren See the New York Times for the whole terrible story.