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  • The snowball heard round the web

    Everybody is talking about it…

    …so here’s my two-cents:

    For a cop, having a gun out isn’t such a big deal. Pointing a gun at someone is a big deal. Waving it around would be a big deal (and would also show a lack of professional training). I understand others may see any display of a gun as a shocking development. But this is D.C. and this is a police officer. The streets are dangerous.

    Simply having your gun out means there’s a threat. Having your hand on your holster means there might be a threat. This officer has lived through a lot of threats and I don’t begrudge him for feeling threatened by a large crowd. And from what I can tell he holstered up pretty quickly.

    To me the question is why the guy got out his Hummer in the first place? That’s the mistake. He could have just kept on driving.

    [Though I should point out, because I haven’t heard anyone else do so, that all the uniformed officers handled the scene very well.]

    When you’re inyour vehicle, snowballs are not a threat to anything but your manhood. The only potential threat to the officer was created by the officer when he made a choice to exit his vehicle to initiate a useless confrontation with a large group of people. Christ, if you feel so threatened while driving your Hummer, what’s the point of owning a Hummer in the first place!?

  • It’s not new, but is it fair?

    I wasn’t even going to link to this story because I don’t want to repeat myself more than necessary.

    Here’s the point: black New Yorkers are seven times more likely than whites to be arrested for marijuana possession. For a moment, let’s put aside the actually story (not that we should). For the sake of debate, let’s accept the seven times figure (as we should). Let’s also accept that whites smoke just as much weed as blacks (that’s also true). Let’s ignore that fact (not that we should) that these arrests happen even though personal marijuana possession in New York State is decriminalized. And let’s also not concern ourselves with the cost of $53 million to $88 million annually for these arrests. Let’s not worry that these arrests may play an important part in a general “broken windows” approach to crime prevention. And finally, let’s assume that everybody arrested is guilty as charged.

    Here’s my question:Does it matter that blacks are seven timesmore likely than whites to get caught for this drug crime? Perhaps not. I mean, all you have to do to not be arrested in not commit a crime, right?

    Is simple guilt all that is needed to give moral justification to our criminal justice system? Remember, this seven-times discrepancy is not due to the facts that blacks are more likely to committhis drug crime. We’re just talking about the odds of getting caught.

    I mean, what if cops only gave traffic tickets to women. Women who speed and run red lights. But what if basically men were given a pass when it comes to traffic violations. Does it matter? Would this be fair? Perhaps…. since all the tickets were given to guilty women. But for traffic enforcement to be fair, shouldn’t men get tickets, too?

    At some level, I think the very notion of justice–at least justice with any moral legitimacy–depends on the idea that everybody has an equal (or at least somewhat equal) chance of getting caught.

    What do you think?

  • Stocking stuffers of the century!

    And the century has just barely begun.

    How come nobody is buying Cop in the Hood for Christmas? My Amazon sales rank is rapidly approaching infinity. Not good. Last I checked, more than 200,000 book were selling better than my book. That’s a lot of books being bought that aren’t mine.

    I can’t think of a better present in the holiday spirit than a scintillating story of blood, drugs, and arrest discretion!

    Oh wait, I can. There’s Forking Fantastic, the best cookbook ever. It’s even got a recipe by me (though that’s not what makes it the best cookbook ever).

    Two great last-minute Christmas presents. You can still get them shipped in time for Christmas. Or go to your local bookstore. I’m just sayin’…

  • They are most definitely not playing

    Only hours after the grieving family had finished burying [Ensign Melquisedet Angulo Córdova, a Special Forces sailor killed last week during the government’s most successful raid on a top drug lord in years] in his hometown, gunmen burst into the family’s house and sprayed the rooms with gunfire, killing his mother and three other relatives, officials said Tuesday.

    More violence. More victory!

    The storyby Elisabeth Malkin in the New York Times.

  • Read it for the writing (don’t peek at the pictures!)

    “A pre-Christmas 2003 “Code Orange” terror alert that had police standing guard in heavy assault gear on the streets of Manhattan was the result of a scam by a man named Dennis Montgomery.” From Playboy.

  • CopCams in San Jose

    To record interactions with the public. The storyin the Mercury News.

  • Check out my dope suspenders!

    I know you think it’s cool to be chillin’ with your pants hanging low, but funny things happen when your pants don’t stay up. For one, if you’re running and I’m chasing you and you’ve got one hand holding your pants up, I will actually catch you. Two, if you’re like Hector Quinones of the Bronx and kill three people and wound one more, you’ve got problems. “A fifth relative managed to escape only when Mr. Quinones lost his balance after his pants had fallen down.” Next thing you know, the po-po are coming and you make to leave out the window and fall to your death.

    The story by Michael Schmidt in the New York Times.

  • Jackpot!

    Problems in Baltimore Internal Affairs? I’m shocked. Shocked!

    Neither, I suppose, is Justin Fenton. Here is his story in the Sun.

    Remember the whole Staples affair from my era? “Stolen” confidential police files that then showed up in a Dunkin Donuts dumpster? You can’t make this stuff up.

    And you wonder why cops don’t trust the system…

  • Ayers killing “justified”

    Indeed, you read it here first (many thanks to my anonymous tipster).

    Here’s the story by Stephen Gurr in the Gainesville Times.

    Of course regardless of this decision and any lack of criminal conviction, the Ayers’ family will get a lot of money in some civil case. But no amount of money will bring Jonathan Ayers back. The whole situation–up to and including the shooting death of Ayers–this was bad policing.

  • The killing of Jonathan Ayers judged “good”

    I have just received word over the virtual transom (as of yet still unconfirmed word [update: now confirmed]) that this morning the grand jury decided notto bring criminal charges against the officers who killed Jonathan Ayers.

    I would have loved to have heard the facts as they were presented because knowing what I do know, the police-involved shooting seems very wrong. Certainly wrong enough to let a jury decide.

    If this is true, the officers had best be buying a very sympathetic prosecutor a nice Christmas present since, as the saying goes, you can get a grand jury to indict a ham sandwich.