Looks like I wasn’t the only one bothered by the picture I posted of New Orleans Mayor Nagin smiling and pointing an automatic weapon. Mayor criticizes use of photograph by Times-Picayune staff Wednesday February 13, 2008, 7:58 PM Editor’s note: Late Wednesday evening, the office of Mayor Ray Nagin released the following statement regarding a controversial photograph of the mayor…
Category: Police
More on IRBs
Fair warning: If you’re not interested in Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)–and there’s no reason you should be–you should probably just skip this whole post. Brief background: Federal regulations require IRB approval is required for all professors’ research on people. Since 1991 (I just learned this from Shrag’s blog), IRB approval was expanded to cover, among others things, participant-observation research (that’s…
Cops love toys
So much bothers me about this storyfeaturing this picture by Eliot Kamenitz of The New Orleans Times-Picayune The captain reads: Mayor Ray Nagin and NOPD Superintendent Warren Riley try out a pair of the NOPD’s new M-4 rifles Tuesday at the Superdome. Money from the state also provided 600 bullet-proof vests. The storybegins: New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin and Police…
I didn’t say that!
I am misquoted in today’s Baltimore Sun. This is the first time I’ve been quoted by a reporter and said, “no!” when reading my words. It particularly irks me to be misinterpreted in the Sun because police I know and like will read it and think I’ve sold out (I’m not quite sure to whom, I guess Hillary Clinton and…
Candid Camera and Why Waiters Make Good Cops
There’s a story in the Baltimore Sun about a police officer that got suspended over his conduct as shown on a YouTube video. You can’t skate in the Inner Harbor (why, I’m not sure). You can’t bike either (I got busted once for biking through an empty Inner Harbor at 6:45AM on my way to the police academy). These kids…
Outing the insiders
There’s a very interesting exchange on Slate.com between Sudhir Venkatesh and Alex Kotlowitz. These are two authors I respect deeply (and not just because Prof. Venkatesh was kind enough to offer to write a blurb for Cop in the Hood). Their letters discuss the role of researchers vis-à-vis their research subjects. You should read all four. I just finished reading…
How not to get my ass kicked by the police
Last night I was stopped by police. It was about 1AM on the coldest night of the year and I was biking back from work. I needed some groceries and passed an unfamiliar grocery store. I went up on the sidewalk to look inside, trying to decide if it was worth my while to buy some stuff or wait till…
“Unfortunate accident”?!
This was five years ago and more than an unfortunate accident, it was bad policing and a bad shooting: “Here you got two of the sweetest kids on the Earth going to the mall and having Slurpees, getting shot through the car window. It’s a mess. Yeah, I’m angry,” Harkum said from his Pasadena home. It goes down something like…
Read Chapter One
The book is at the printers, the press is excited, and I can offer you a sample from the book. Read Chapter One. Read it, like it, and then buy the book. Release date is May 1 but you can preorder from Amazon. What better way to celebrate May Day than to march under fluttering red banners for the workers…
Sean Bell shooting trial to stay in Queens
The latest delay in the trial of police officers for killing Sean Bell comes from defense lawyers. They wanted the trial moved out of Queens. This motion was denied. I don’t really have a position on the trial location. But this is still a big decision. It’s not going to be easy to convict the officers (and for good reason),…