You don’t see headlines like this much in America anymore. But we used to (google “Jake Leg” if you’re interested in a tragic little footnote in American history). Fewer people die when drugs are legal and regulated. Prohibitionists in India wanted to protect poor people from themselves. So, in an entirely predictable bit of failed prohibitionist logic, they made liquor…
NYPD pay raise
It’s still all too low, but finally, just a few years too late, starting NYPD officers are getting a raise from a criminally low $25,100 to the embarrassingly low salary of $35,881. The top base pay is $65,382. The Daily Newshas this story.
Officer Pete says (rule 18):
Don’t believe he’s innocent just because you’re related.
Getting away with murder in B’more
The Baltimore City Paper tells the story. Well, one guy did get 5 years. Here’s their first story. Here’s the concept: The Murder Ink column in the print edition of City Paper tracks homicides in Baltimore, giving details on each murder in the city. But what becomes of those homicide cases after we’ve reported the murder? Recently, we started looking…
Meanwhile, in the NYPD
The brass is throwing the book at the officers involved in the Sean Bell shooting. What’s so unsatisfying about this, is that such discipline makes cops paranoid, and for good reason. What’s the moral? For police, it’s that if the department wants to get you (if Al Sharpton shouts loud enough), they will. Obviously the order had been given that…
Police Units
I gotta say, many of these don’t really ring true to me. But some of them do. No matter, I still find them amusing. A friend sent them to me. It’s out there on the web. If anybody knows the source (or can think of more), let me know. Narcotics units: Immediately grow facial hair, tell everybody you were ordered…
4 Philadelphia Cops Fired for Beating
The ax has started to fall in response to the Philly police beatings. The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that four officers have been fired, others have been demoted and/or disciplined. Maybe this beating was an aberration, but given the mass involvement, it’s hard to imagine that this wasn’t part of the informal Philly police culture. Two of the officers were just…
Officer Pete says (rule 19):
I don’t stop people because they’re black. Everyone I stop is black because there are no white people where I work.
Officer Pete says (rule 20):
Nothing keeps the hoodlums inside like a little rain.
Mexican police chiefs flee to U.S. for safety
Mexican police chiefs are getting killed right and left, thanks to the war on drugs. Brendan McKanna of the Dallas Morning News reportsthat other chiefs are quitting their posts and three police chiefs have applied for political asylum in the United States out of fear for their lives. When they stand down, who’s going to stand up?