A good article by Ben Nuckols about crime in Baltimore and the good things happening under Police Commissioner Frederick Bealefeld. In a blighted west Baltimore neighborhood, Lt. Ian Dombroski turns his unmarked police car around a corner and sees several men standing outside a liquor store. They scatter immediately. Dombroski knows they’re probably selling drugs, but he keeps driving. Five…
New York Black and Latinos Frisked 9 Times as Often as Whites
Ninety percent of those stopped by the NYPD are black and latino. So says the New York Times. Is this a cause for concern? I don’t know. Something certainly bothers me when my male black and hispanic students complain of being stopped by the police often (and often rudely stopped). But there is one touchy and politically incorrect fact that…
Mexican drug raid wins drug war!
In 2007, Mexican and US drug agents raided a home in Mexico City. Over $200,000,000 in cash was found. Lot’s of other stuff, too. Like tigers and gold guns! It’s pretty impressive. I put the pictures in a PDF file. It’s not recent, but I just got an email with the pictures from a student. Unlike a lot of forwarded…
Off Duty Balto Officer Cut in Harford County
The story in the Sun. The guys who attacked him, in what seems to be a case of road rage, were quick to drop the N-Bomb and talk about hanging Detective Cook, who is black. For just being cut in the eye, give Cook credit for being calm on professional on the phone. Officers move from the city in part…
The NYPD Tapes
A reader pointed me to this story in New York’s Village Voice. In the 81st Precinct in New York City, a cop, Schoolcraft, secretly recorded roll call and other happenings over the course of the year. Bold. Though all he seems to show is something we all should already know. In the NYPD, everybody is under intense pressure to produce…
Baseball, hot dogs, apple pie, and taser!
Damn Yankees. The Orioles lost. It was kind of a mismatch. But the O’s did at least make things interesting by getting the tying runs on base in the 9th. There was some minor scuffle near me that resulted in many crying children. Oh, nothing like the bleachers in Yankee Stadium to make me want to root against the Yankees…
Crowd stampede at Netherlands WWII ceremony
I’m not a big fan of crowds. Mobs do stupid things–both intentionally and through panic. I always like having an out. Interestingly, I’ve always felt a little more claustrophobic in Dutch crowds. I think they’re used to less personal space so they get tighter together (which is also a sign of their general civility). The Dutch also sometimes seem a…
Good Use of Taser
I don’t think I’ve ever used that headline before. I don’t like Tasers, generally. But if you run from police and can’t be easily caught? I got no problem. It’s tasing in situations of unarmed passive non-compliance that I strongly object to. I’m going to the Yankee game tomorrow. Go O’s!
Arrest made in Times Square bomb
A US citizen from Pakistan. The story in the New York Times.
This one is just our crumbling infustruction
From the Times: New York authorities are investigating a manhole fire that startled passers-by just a few blocks from where a Times Square car bomb failed to detonate over the weekend. A spokesman for the Con Edison utility says smoking underground electrical cables caused the fire Monday afternoon.