Representing my home borough of Queens (even though I’m not from here and the line I’m quoting is actually talking about Brooklyn). Click through to read the text.
(by Dustin Glick) And I fully agree that “Beer + Kielbasa = Happy”.
Copinthehood.com has moved to qualitypolicing.com
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Another Drug Submarine Found
This time in Colombia. 100 feet long. Homemade. It could carry 8 tones of cocaine. Here’s the story in the BBC. There’s video of it, too. I want one.
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Heroin overdoses soar in Boston
So says the Herald.
Heroin overdoses have killed five people in Boston so far this year, said Rita Nieves, Substance Abuse Services Bureau director at the Boston Public Health Commission. There were 21 local fatal heroin overdoses in all of 2010 and 16 in 2009, Nieves said.
By comparison, each month in the Netherlands there are fewer than 11 overdose deaths. And that’s for alldrugs (though I assume most are from heroin). The population of the Netherlands is 25 times Boston. You draw your own conclusion. Or maybe you just don’t care when junkies OD, and you just consider it collateral damage.
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DEA Does Good
I just wanted to write that headline… because I don’t think I ever has.
But I’ll some give credit where credit is due. From the New York Times.
A group of men agreed to assist the Taliban in a conspiracy to ship narcotics through West Africa to the United States and with the proceeds buy weapons for use against American forces in Afghanistan, federal prosecutors in Manhattan announced on Monday.
The charges stemmed from a sting operation run by the Drug Enforcement Administration, in which paid informants posed as representatives of the Taliban and discussed arrangements for the proposed drugs and weapons deals with the accused conspirators in meetings in West Africa and Eastern Europe.
…
“This alleged effort to arm and enrich the Taliban,” [US Attorney] Mr. Bharara said, “is the latest example of the dangers of an interconnected world in which terrorists and drug runners can link up across continents to harm Americans.”I’m against people seeing weapons to kill US soldiers. There. How’s that for a non-controversial statement?
Of course, and I guess it needs to be said once again: Drugs wouldn’t be supporting terrorists if these drugs were legal and regulated and taxed. It really is that simple. We can support terrorists and have drug prohibition; or we could legalize and regulate the drug trade and not give support to terrorists. That’s the choice we make. Personally, I’d pick the latter. Apparently, that makes me crazy.
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No-knock raids
This isn’t new news, but it’s worth re-mentioning: No-knock raids are “a tactic that has grown in use from 2,000 to 3,000 raids a year in the mid-1980s, to 70,000 to 80,000 annually.”
Maybe that doesn’t bother you at all. But it should.
A no-knock raid is when police simply bust down your door at 5AM in sort of police version of “shock and awe.”
A lot of “knock” raids are basically the same, but the “entry team” (which sounds almost as benign as some Walmart “greeting team”) will shout “police, open the door!” as the battering ram goes into its backswing.
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Leave no witnesses
Police in Arlington Heights say a 16-year-old boy arrested in January home burglary told them he poisoned the victims’ three goldfish because he “didn’t want to leave any witnesses.”
Read the story here.
[thanks to Dave H.]
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The Face of a Killer
[update: Hey, look at the picture below and then the picture of me to the right? Do you think we were separated at birth? Or maybe I just photo-shopped all the cops holding me out of the picture.]
Should I be bothered by the fact that I’m always somewhat relieved whenever I find out that some murderer, in this case “a troubled man with an arrest record and a reputation for a hair-trigger temper,” just happens to be white?Is this some weird vestige of liberal guilt? Or is this logical relief at knowing 1) what some would would say if he were black or Latino, 2) feeling obliged to argue against some irrelevant and racist theories on race, and 3) then somehow having my words twisted by idiots who would say I’m justifying the actions of murderer?
Here’s the coverage in The Daily News.
One victim:
Another victim:
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Photos With (Operation) Impact
Under “portfolio,” check out NYPD Operation Impact (1 & 2), from former police officer and photographer Antonio Bolfo.
In an interview he says:
I really liked the story of Operation IMPACT in general: how new, inexperienced cops get sent to the most dangerous places, places where a cop really should know what he is doing.
. . .
I was very worried that people [in France, seeing my photography] would view the story as propaganda because of my background in law enforcement. But fortunately that was not the case. People showed a lot of empathy to the officers, which was quite surprising to me because I am used to people hating the police, since New York is a very anti-cop city. Operation IMPACT is not a political statement but a human story of individuals who choose to be police officers in a very dangerous place. And I am pleased that message came across.
The Haiti pics are pretty intense, too.(Thanks to a former student of mine)
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Be Thankful… and nice to strangers
All this revolution and celebration got me thinking…
One of the things I’m always surprised at when I travel, at least when I travel anywhere other than the US and Western Europe, is just how sweet and kind and generous the average person on the street is. I’ve seen it Egypt, in Syria, in Thailand, and in Mexico. In so many places in the world when people see a stranger–a stranger who probably has had a much easier life and yet, because of luck, also has much more money–and the poorer local person offers to help, or give away what they’re selling away for free, or at the very least offers a smile and heartfelt welcome.
Honestly, one of the things that makes Cairo so tiring is that everybody won’t stop welcoming you to Cairo. It’s like this millennia-old metropolis has never seen a tourist! (The dirt and lack of sanitation are also problems.) But I’ll never forget this old man in a ratty traffic-cop uniform who took me under his wing to make sure I could eat a falafel sandwich at the falafel sandwich place (just FYI, I can manage eating a falafel sandwich in any country pretty well on my own).
“You see,” he told me with a big smile while demonstrating with his own sandwich (I’m just making up what he said because I have no idea what he was saying), “You take a pinch of salt and put it on your falafel, maybe a pepper or two, if you like it spicy, and then put it in your mouth… Atta boy! Now chew. And here, have a sip of water from this communal cup. Welcome in Cairo! Do you like Egypt? Where are you from?!”
Here you can read what my wife says about the goings on in Egypt. There’s also a link to some pictures from our trip to Cairo, a very tiring city, pre-revolution, in 2007.
It came to mind today because I’ve spend weeks at a time in Mexico and Thailand without hearing anybody yell. Think about that. Tonight I went to Manhattan for dinner with friends and, as is all-too typical, saw the following:
One person on the subway say, “I told him, ‘that’s not a threat, that’s a promise’ because a threat is something you may not do! And I promise you, I’ll take him out.”
Another person walking down the street, talking in his hands-free phone saying with passion, “I’m just going to flatten him. Put him out!”
An argument between a young woman and a taxi driver that wouldn’t take her. It culminated in her spitting on him and, as you can imagine, much more yelling after that (for what it’s worth, I believe the cabbie wasn’t willing to take her party to their location, which does, technically, puts her in the right–minus the expectorating).
We live in a rich country. A good country. We have basic freedom and democracy. Most of us do not want for life’s necessities. So why are we so quick to take offense? So rash to assume that everybody is out to do us wrong? Why are we so angry?
And just because I stumbled across this picture from that trip, here’s one of my favorite displays of statistics, this from a colonial-era Egyptian book. Look! Imports and exports are both booming… in 1924. It’s such a beautiful chart!
And finally, check out this BBC graphic of Tahrir Square. Dude, it’s just like Burning Man!
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Police Officers and Free Speech
Deputy Probation Officer Joe Miller signed a letter in support of California’s Proposition 19 (marijuana legalization). A disclaimer made it clear that he did not represent the viewpoint of the Mohave County Probation Department.
Officer Miller was fired. Maybe you think a police officer should never have an opinion on anything. I can understand saying a police officer should not advocate breaking the law. But that is something else. All people, police included, should be able to express their personal opinion about public referendums without fear of retribution.
One can only wonder… actually, no: one doesn’t have to wonder at all. Nothing would would have happened to Officer Miller if he had signed a letter in support of less restrictive gun laws. Or even gay marriage, pro or con. But he thinks drugs laws should be (gasp) changed.
Whether or not you agree with Miller’s (or my) position, stand up for workers’ rights and free speech. Sign a petition in his support.
So what it is with drugs? Yes, drug use is a crime. But it’s justa crime. There are lots of crimes. Why is law enforcement so obsessed with drugs? I didn’t get it before I was a cop; I didn’t get it when I was cop; and, Heavens to Betsy, I still don’t get it!