Civil forfeiture is still a problem. A man in Chicago has been trying for 13 years to get $101,000 is cash back from the those who stole it. Last year, the U.S. attorney’s office in Chicago collected more than $19 million in asset forfeitures. The Justice and Treasury departments raked in more than $4.5 billion nationally in 2014. Is this…
“Will the anti-cop Left please figure out what it wants?”
Heather MacDonald in City Journal: Will the anti-cop Left please figure out what it wants? For more than a decade, activists have demanded the end of proactive policing, claiming that it was racist. … Equally vilified was Broken Windows policing, which responds to low-level offenses such as graffiti, disorderly conduct, and turnstile jumping. Black Lives Matter activist Shaun King launched…
“New Orleans Police Officers Plead Guilty in Shooting of Civilians”
From the Times: The guilty pleas, which drew prison terms from three to 12 years, were the latest development in a wrenching 10-year saga that began when police officers responding to a distress call on the Danziger Bridge on Sept. 4, 2005, opened fire on unarmed residents, killing two and injuring four. … Under the terms of Wednesday’s deal, the…
“He came in with a gun and announced a robbery!”
On April 15th, an off-duty Baltimore cop shot and killed a man. “Witnesses” said, according to WBAL: The officer was having an argument with the man outside the store and the man ran away toward the store. “As he was running in the store the police shot him, boom. When he got in the store, the police (officer) got over…
Chicago Police Report
It’s kind of hilarious that Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel is trying to present his cover-up-and-dictate style of management as concern for police misconduct. But leaving that aside, a task-force he appointed has released its report. Some of what it says needs to be said: “From 2011-2015, 40% of complaints filed were not investigated by IPRA.” And: “These events and others…
Null finding
Wouldn’t it be great if I could show that video games decrease violence because young men, rather than hanging out and starting fights and shootings on the corner, stay inside and play “Call of Duty”? I don’t think people over 40 understand just how big video games are. Compare games to movies. “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” has grossed $935,500,000…
Scandal in the NYPD
It’s still hard to figure out what exactly is going on. But Banks seems to be toast. Banks never had money problems. Maybe the IRS is interested. Overall, the best summary to date is by Lenny Levitt in NYPD Confidential. Along with connections to Da Mayor, the white elephant in the room is the “special consideration” given to the Hasidic…
“Everyone should experience the ‘fight or flight’ response when flight isn’t an option”
Unlike some the other guy who lied about being a Baltimore cop, this guy has a few thoughts worth hearing. From Humans Of New York: I got an Ivy League education and then became a street cop for six years. I’d always been a knee jerk liberal. I was one of those kids screaming ‘off the pigs’ at protest marches.…
“‘Walter Scott effect’: North Charleston traffic stops cut in half after shooting”
Worth reading for many reasons: http://www.postandcourier.com/article/20160402/PC16/160409955
Bad Cop Good Movie: The Seven-Five
I’m finally getting around to watching The Seven Five, a documentary about the 75 Precinct in the 1980s and criminal cop Michael Dowd. Good stuff… the documentary, that is, not the cop. I like how the movie is told through three perspectives: the dirty cops, the cops who caught them, and the criminal the cops worked for. And of course…