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  • Unfortunately, this is not The Onion

    So in Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s Maricopa County, Arizona, they send in a tank and the SWAT team to bust a guy — a guy with no history of owning weapons — for cockfighting. A scared neighbor said, “When the tank came in and pushed the wall over and you see what’s in there, and all it is, is a bunch of chickens.” The birds needed to be saved. So we killed them. 115 birds were “euthanized on the spot.” Isn’t that what we used to do in Vietnam?

    “We’re going to err on the side of caution. We’re going to make sure that we have the appropriate amount of force in case we do run into anything like [an armed suspect],” said Sgt. Jesse Spurgin. Wow. What a man. It’s amazing he can even take a leak without sh*tting his pants in fear.

    But such use of force has become standard operating procedure in policing much of our free republic (especially the parts where blacks and hispanics live).

    So what’s the icing on cake? The cherry on the sundae? The kicker? Guess who is riding in the tank (which I will christen the M.V. Chicken Killer)?

    None other than actor Steven Seagal. For real.

  • Harford Road police shooting

    Harford Road police shooting

    Detective Rice, the officer shot last week on Harford Road, evidently has had some medical setbacks. I wish him the best.

    What is it about the 2300 block of Harford?

    Here’s a picture from March, 2001, I took on the 2300 block of Harford. It’s the street memorial to Agent Cowdery.

  • Civil Forfeiture for a Quarter-Ounce of Weed

    So, if you have a quarter-ounce of weed in your home, should police be able to take all your possessions. That’s what can happen and has happened in Michigan. And the problem is getting worse in tight economic times.

    If you do think it is OK, why shouldn’t police be able to take your car when you speed, or better yet, a parking violation? Just what is it about drugs that makes the normal rules not apply?

    Radley Balko writes about it in Reason:

    Legal niceties are often the only distinction between civil asset forfeiture and a shakedown. [Moskos here: I’m against civil forfeiture. But every time I hear the term “legal niceties” I reach for my gun. Those “niceties” are the law. And that’s a pretty important distinction to make, at least for law enforcement.]
    …
    Informants are often drug dealers, who benefit from ratting on the competition, or addicts who tip off police in exchange for money, which they then use to purchase drugs. It is not at all uncommon for police to overlook an informant’s own drug activity.
    …
    Police likewise manufacture crimes when they set up drug deals. The routine deception and betrayal involved in befriending someone, asking him for a favor, and then punishing him for helping you out would be recognized as outrageous in almost any other context.
    …
    Even within the context of an unjust prohibition system, there are cops who do their jobs by the letter of the law. But we should not be surprised when some of the police officers we ask to enforce morally suspect laws day after day, year after year, eventually cross the line from actions that are unethical but legal to acts that are both unethical and illegal.

    [thanks to D.K.]

  • Daily Roundup

    Two interesting articles:
    1) Bring back the drunk tank.
    2) Chicago Fighting Police-Misconduct Lawsuits–and Winning.

  • 1 in 4 leave Detroit in past 10 years

    I bet Baltimore’s Eastern District is no different. Because I do know that between 1990 and 2000, the Eastern lost 30% of its population, can’t imagine the last 10 years were any better.

    Here’s a story about Detroit. I’ve still never been there.

  • Ken Jefferson for Jacksonville Sheriff

    Ken Jefferson for Jacksonville Sheriff

    Ken Jefferson of Jacksonville, Florida, that is. Now I’ve never met Ken Jefferson and I’ve never been to Jacksonville, but I did get this email from a professor at Florida State College at Jacksonville:

    I thought you might like this story from my class, an Intro to Communication Class. The context is students are presenting brief plans for change and asking the legislative body (the class) to debate its merits along the conventional problem, cause, solution logic path.

    A 17-year Navy veteran, African-American student from North Jacksonville (heavily black and where most crime takes place in Florida’s most dangerous city) relates how he was at the barbershop with the barbershop crowd and in walks Ken Jefferson, a 24-year veteran of the JSO (Jacksonville consolidated city & county governments 40 years ago) who was challenging the incumbent sheriff in Tuesday’s election.

    Now, I was already impressed that this guy was taking his campaign to the barbershop, and so was my student. But then he started explaining what Jefferson’s plan for change was in the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office: bringing back foot patrols.

    And so that was this guy’s plan, shifting money from vice and gambling investigation to fund foot patrols…. And the whole class (or at least the black/lower class folks) are nodding their heads saying yes that’s just what we need and then someone says “can we get them bicycles” and I just lost it….

    [And I loved] the beautiful moment of a man practicing what he’s preaching by promoting foot policing in the corner barbershop.

    I immediately donated $50 to his campaign. But it will do little to even the odds: Jefferson has raised $18,000 compared to the incumbent’s $203,000.

    I think the election is today. So all you Jacksonville readers (er… well, there’s at least one) get out there and vote for Jefferson!

    [Update: Jefferson lost, with 37% of the vote.]

  • Union Power

    Union Power

    From our local “International Association of Heat and Frost Insulators and Allied Workers,” comes the best union logo I’ve ever seen. From Astoria Ugly:

  • New York Police Station Architecture

    The other day my wife and I were walking down a street near we live and I stopped across the street from a handsome old brick building.


    View Larger Map

    “I bet that used to be the police station,” I said.

    “How do you know?”

    “I don’t know.”

    I didn’t know how I knew. But I knew. It just looked like an old police station–how police stations are supposed to look.

    And then I noticed the police shield in the brickwork between the 2nd and 3rd floor. It wasthe old police station.

    The Timeshas a story about beautiful old monuments to the “Wielders of the Club.” This actually isn’t one of them, but I’m still happy to have it around. Hanac, by the way, is the “Hellenic-American Neighborhood Action Committee.”

  • Regulated Vice

    Legalizing and regulated vice sure makes things easier and safer.

    Here’s the latest story, from the BBC, on such matters as prostitution in Amsterdam.

    The war on prostitution doesn’t affect society like the war on drugs does. But it’s just as crazy! Of course prostitution should be legal and regulated. Duh!

  • The cost for weed arrests just went up

    Last week I reported that marijuana arrests in New York City cost the city $75 million per year. In truth, that’s a pretty conservative estimate. One thing left out is the cost of actually testing the drugs people are arrested for. Now if somebody takes a quick plea, the drugs may never be tested. But with 50,000 marijuana arrests, there must be a lot of testing going on.

    But how much does it cost to test drugs? Good question. I’ve always wondered. Well in Nassau County (Eastern Long Island), it’s going to cost them up to $167 per test to clean up their crime lab mess. That’s through a private company. I would hope and assume that the NYPD does it in-house for cheaper.

    Still… 50,000 drug tests could cost most than $8,000,000. Just add that to the bill.