Clearly something wrong happened because an innocent man was killed,” Peter Moskos, author of Cop in the Hood, and a professor at New York’s John Jay College of Criminal Justice, told TIME. “But that’s not what the system was testing. They were testing if there was reasonable doubt. I think the verdict is fair, but it doesn’t address that this…
Category: Police
3 Detectives in Bell Shooting Acquitted
You heard it here first in my March 6 post. My gut knows the police did something wrong because Sean Bell is dead. But what should a reasonable police officer have done? I don’t know. I never had to shoot my gun on duty. My gun was never the only thing between me and an SUV trying to kill me.…
“Hard” versus “soft” drugs
The Dutch make an interesting and useful distinction between “hard” and “soft” drugs. When a Amsterdam police officer says, “I think drugs should be illegal and dealers should go to prison,” they’re almost assuredly talking about “hard” drugs like crack and heroin. Marijuana and hashish are considered “soft” drugs and were decriminalized in 1976. The result is that “coffee shops”…
A genuine “good guy”
Initially my presence was greeted with skepticism, especially from supervisors who believed, probably accurately, that nothing good could come from my writing. One lieutenant told me: “Moskos, I like you. But I don’t want anything to do with your book. I don’t want to be in it. I don’t want my name in it. I don’t want any part of…
Officer Down
It’s horrible anytime a police officer dies. It’s particularly horrible when it’s at the hands of another police officer. If the Baltimore Sun is correct, the officer who died had 44 years on. I didn’t know any officer had 44 years on. My condolences to the officer’s family.
From the Economist
This is from the Economist: Thursday I’M STANDING on a street lined with boarded-up shops—a popular haven for drug-dealers. A police officer is frisking a suspect whose trousers are nearly around his knees. The policeman didn’t pull them down; that’s how the suspect wears them. A bit impractical, perhaps, if his line of work requires him to run away from…
A night of fieldwork in Amsterdam
I often wonder why anybody would prefer to crunch numbers than do fun qualitative research. I’m in Amsterdam right now. I made contact with and successfully gained access to my desired police station tonight (to make a long story short). I want to compare the attitude toward drugs of Baltimore and Amsterdam police officers. These attitudes are very different. Even…
Brave ethnographic confession from Cop in the Hood
Professor Corey J. Colyer of West Virginia University sent me the following email: Peter, This note is motivated by a remark you make about your methods in the first chapter of Cop in the Hood. It is rare (and therefore refreshing) to see an ethnographer admit that they failed to capture details in their notes. We get tired, overwhelmed, and…
Hate mail (2.4)
The latest from my conservative friend: Prof Moskos; Lets get real. Legalize drugs? Just look at alcohol. 21 years olds buy it give it to younger friends, who give it to even younger friends and now we have many 12 year old alcoholics in this country. Multiply that with narcotic addiction and see what the fabric of this country looks…
Hate mail (2.3)
I’m giving the sergeant a pseudonym, Sgt. Mark DeRosa. That’s not his real name. He is willing to use his real name and print his email. But I’d prefer to give him a pseudonym and not print his email. I wrote: Sgt. DeRosa, I also want you to know that I am and will continue to post our correspondence on…