Police

I wanna be a cowboy…

In some ways this is just another shooting in the hood. But I post it because, well, look at her Jessie getup! Also, she packs her gun in her panties. And there’s high quality video. Does there have to be more? I wanna be a cowboy… and she can my cowgirl. This is the violence problem in America. Have an…

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“What messy justice looks like: After Peter Liang’s killing of Akai Gurley, DA Ken Thompson does the right thing twice”

Harry Siegel’s excellent column in the Daily News: The progressive prosecutor — elected on a promise to salvage Brooklyn justice from the oxymoronic state his predecessor had reduced it to — did the right thing first in holding the cop to account and convicting him before a jury of his New York City peers, and again in recommending that he…

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Who is this man?

Does anybody recognize this guy from Humans of New York? More than 13,000 shares and 147,000 likes on facebook. He says he was a Baltimore cop for 21 years and a heroin addict the entire time. It’s not inconceivable, but it doesn’t ring true. I see a guy sitting on a bench in NYC with a story. I don’t believe…

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Bratton on Cruz

Bill Bratton in the Daily News: There seems to be a widespread belief among certain members of the political class that protecting the country against terrorism is a matter of ideology. According to them, the strong leaders in this area are the ones who are willing to insult Muslims, advocate torture, and engage in various other provocations. They claim that…

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“Queens Man Accused of Making Over 30 False Calls to 911”

This doesn’t happen enough(the prosecution, not the BS calls to 911): In all, the authorities said, more than 30 calls were made over a month, none for actual emergencies. On Friday, prosecutors in Queens said that they had all been traced to one man. He told the fire marshal investigating the case that he made the calls. “My uncle is…

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Arrest of Postal Worker in Crown Heights

Unless there’s more to this story that hasn’t come out — and there may be (though I wouldn’t bet on it) — this is inexcusably shitty. The video: So is this unrelated incident in 2013 when a cop made a left turn into and killed a teacher crossing the street. It’s all too common for drivers in error to get…

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Legalize It All

Dan Baum has written a bunch of good books about a variety of subjects, and I’ve mentioned him many times on this blog (search for his name, if you want). I first met Dan and his wife, Margaret, in New Orleans in 2007. The title of my book, “In Defense of Flogging,” was coined the night I met them, at…

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Good news: Baltimore Homicides in 2016 only up a little…

Baltimore homicides, year to date, are only up a bit compared to last year. Through March 24th, 50 this year compared to 47 in 2015. Rarely is more murder good news. But it’s certainly an improvement from last year, post riot. From May through December 2015, there were 269 murders in 244 days. So 50 murders in 84 days in…

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Police

A Toddlin’ Town

From AP: In all, Chicago has paid a staggering sum — about $662 million — on police misconduct since 2004, including judgments, settlements and outside legal fees, according to city records. The payouts, for everything from petty harassment to police torture, have brought more financial misery to a city already drowning in billions of dollars of pension debt. … The…

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