Read The Agitator’s letter that Phelps should say. Brilliant.
Copinthehood.com has moved to qualitypolicing.com
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Bong Hits for Phelps
Too bad it’s illegal.
The News of the World has the scoop: A picture of Gold Medal swimmer Michael Phelps (gasp!), smoking marijuana (gasp!) from a bong (double gasp!)
So what? Most people (at least young Americans) have smoked marijuana. Many from a bong. You can smoke marijuana and live a perfectly functional, even gold-medal winning life. And certain lifestyles, so I hear, are virtually dependent on the wacky weed (musicians and snowboarders come to mind).Tone Newman in the Huffington Post is right on the mark saying no apology needed. Drug use is only called a “youthful indiscretion” when the rich and famous don’t get locked up for it. Drug use is not a youthful indiscretion; it is an adult choice.
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Cell phone jamming
As President Obama’s motorcade rolled down Pennsylvania Avenue on Inauguration Day, federal authorities deployed a closely held law enforcement tool: equipment that can jam cellphones and other wireless devices to foil remote-controlled bombs, sources said.
It is an increasingly common technology, with federal agencies expanding its use as state and local agencies are pushing for permission to do the same. Police and others say it could stop terrorists from coordinating during an attack, prevent suspects from erasing evidence on wireless devices, simplify arrests and keep inmates from using contraband phones.
But jamming remains strictly illegal for state and local agencies. Federal officials barely acknowledge that they use it inside the United States, and the few federal agencies that can jam signals usually must seek a legal waiver first.
Read the whole story in the Washington Post.
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Killed Over a Loosey
A 30-year-old man was chased down by four women and stabbed more than 20 times early Sunday after arguing with them over a broken cigarette, sources said.
Here’s the story in the Chicago Sun Times: “The slain man, Morris Wilson, was drinking with the four women at about 2 a.m. when he broke a cigarette, angering the women, a source familiar with the investigation said.”
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General Says Shoot Drug Trafficers in Afghanistan
Not only is it illegal, it’s stupid!
Here’s the story in the Times.
Maybe Obama will fire Gen. John Craddock, this idiot.In a confidential letter to NATO, he wrote: “It was no longer necessary to produce intelligence or other evidence that each particular drug trafficker or narcotics facility in Afghanistan meets the criteria of being a military objective.”
That will win hearts and minds, for sure.
Oh, that crazy war on drugs.
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Police Blogs
There are a lot. And a metablog about them.
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Stories of the Eastern
I got Badges, Bullets & Bars in the mail and started reading it.
I am amazed (maybe pleased is a better word) to find that one story — a police urban myth I constantly heard — is true. There are many crazy stories cops tell. And every squad has its own ghosts. Most of the stories are probably true (you really “can’t make this shit up”). But cops are also good bullshitters, so you never know for sure.
There are stories that come to mind that I fully believe are true but weren’t in my book because, well, I didn’t see it.
One involves fake snow and a sleeping police officer.
another involves an officer who dragged a cold dead body across the street so he wouldn’t have to do paperwork.
Turns out the dead guy had the misfortune of dying right on a post boundary line. What made it even worse was the the line wasn’t even a districtline (I mean if he dumped the body on the Southeast… or even gave it Sector 1, well, that is a littlefunny). But the SOB dragged the body across the street so another member of his own squad had to deal with it! What a prick.
Or who knows? Maybe it never happened. (But it did.)
Another story I heard (many times) involved brothers on Durham St. One brother stabbed his brother with a butcher’s knife. On Thanksgiving. At the family dinner table. Why? Because they were arguing about who would get the turkey legs.
Now that’s certainly a doozie of story! True? Who knows? I mean, I wouldn’t kill my brother over a bird leg. But then there’s a lot of behavior in the Eastern I wouldn’t do.
But I rarely heard stories that weren’t true… I mean, why make shit up when there’s such much true that is unbelievable?
But still… Thanksgiving? turkey leg? brothers? carving knife? table all set up and everything. It seemed too picture perfect to be true. I mean, maybe they were just “brothers.” And it wasn’t Thanksgiving. And it was while eating a chicken box. But really it was about something else.
Well… I’ll be damned. In his book, Dan Shanahan was working Sector Two in the Eastern and says not only is the story true, but hewas the primary at the scene! On Durham Street. In mysector. It happened back in 1976. (The way the story was told, it always seemed like it happened just nights before I hit the streets in 2000). Twenty-five years later (only one officer I worked with had more than 24 years on) this story was still being told to represent everything that was f*cked up about the Eastern.
Still. I’m happy to read this. I feel like Mythbusters. “Man in Eastern stabs and kills brother over turkey leg at family Thanksgiving dinner.” Confirmed!
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Prisoners no longer will work at farm
This is a shame. And stupid. One guy escaped. So what?
From the Newark Start Ledger.
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Murder Factory Part 2
In the Kansas City Star by Tony Rizzo.