Sick days and line-of-duty injury. The Secretary of State for the Home Department has directed that, in future when a Police Constable is certified sick by the surgeon, from that day till he is again certified by the surgeon fit for duty, “a deduction of 1s. shall be made from his pay each day.” In certain cases, however, of wounds…
More on UC Davis Pepper Spray
You can watch the 45 minute version here. This may not be thedefinitive version, but if you care about this issue, you owe it to yourself to at least take 45 minutes from your busy life and watch a version of the whole thing. Some have said the cops are surrounded. That is after-the-fact rationalization (at best). Perhaps it was…
The war on drugs and your police career
There’s an article in the New York Times about officers who question the drug war… and get fired for it. LEAP, an organization I’ve been part of almost for almost nine years, is well featured. Hard to imagine a cop being fired for questioning the rationality of any other law. But the war on drugs has always been a bit…
In Defense of the Straight Baton
I think I’m fighting a lost cause here, but I still like the straight baton. Expandable batons are all the rage. But let me explain why I think the straight baton is better. When I was a cop, I had a 29-inch straight baton (think big stick or small baseball bat). I also trained with the expandable baton, which most…
Christie speaks some sense
I know as a liberal Democrat I’m not supposed to like Chris Christie. But I do admire that he speaks honestly. [I say the same about Ron Paul on war and drug policy, but Paul is a little too extreme on everything else, being a through-and-through libertarian.] I disagree with Christie on a lot of the issues, but the guy…
Evanston Decriminalizes Marijuana
Evanston, Illinois, is where I’m from. Getting caught with less than 10 grams of weed will not be an arrestable offense and won’t go on your criminal record. “It does not say that it’s okay to smoke pot, but it does say that they don’t have to live in fear of having a record follow them the rest of their…
“Beware of the Risen People”
In Dublin, these neighborhoods with their uniform rowhomes remind me of Baltimore. The grittiness of Dublin was a bit of a refreshing shock after the pastoral beauty of rural Hampshire. Even though I have nothing but nice things to say about the English, in Ireland I felt like I was back on home ground. From where I’m from (Chicago, Boston…)…
What day is it?
“I don’t think we have the right to Monday-morning quarterback the police,” said Bill O’Reilly of Fox News. OK. But can’t we at least Saturday-evening quarterbackthe police? See, the problem is that these police did notmake bad split-second decisions in the heat of the moment. Technically, tactically, and legally they did nothing wrong (which doesn’t make it right). (Of course…
Dumb-ass Training and the U.C. Davis Pepper Spray Incident:
I’m in Dublin. I love Ireland (though England was great, too). I received an email from the Washington Monthly (you may remember them as one of the first magazines to publish a Flogging piece) asking my opinion about the UC Davis pepper-spray incident. I hadn’t heard of it. But ignorance is not bliss. So now I’ve watched the video. I…
Right Wing Lies (V)
From the Washington Monthly(called out by them… not their lie): President Obama told business leaders at the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit that U.S. policymakers have been “a little bit lazy” when it comes to attracting businesses to American soil. Republicans have taken this line and said the president called Americans “lazy.” The GOP attack is an unambiguous lie. It’s…