I was recently asked for comments about a “Cop of the Year.” It doesn’t matter which. I didn’t know the cop, so I didn’t say much. I have no clue what he did (or didn’t) do. But I am suspicious of “cops of the year.” Are my suspicions justified? I’ll presume there are lots of nice “cops of the year”…
Where and how you are raised? It matters.
When it comes to policing and crime, I’m quick to harp on individual agency and free will. It matters. People make bad and harmful choices. They choose to do so. And police can prevent some of the things that lead to bad choices. Some liberals forget that. But this isn’t say that root causes don’t matter. Of course they do.…
“Broken Windows” fights crime, when used wisely
Clarence Page, as usual, provides a rational, reasonable, and correct analysison the crime rise and Broken Windows.
Is there a new crime wave?
“Don’t bet on it,” say Frank Zimring in the NY Daily News. I could not have said it better myself: At their current rate, killings in New York City would end 2015 as either the third or fourth lowest year in the city’s modern history. “Ferguson Effect”? Doesn’t look like it. … To a student of crime data, this sounds…
Baltimore police talk
If you want to hear some details about Baltimore police and policing during after the riots, listen to this 20 minute discussion with Sgt Robinson and Lt Butler on WBAL with C4.
Let’s Rethink Patrol
Here’s another piece of mine in CNN, also out today. I hope this gets a bit of attention because I was able to move past the headlines (thanks to my wonderful editor at CNN for her encouragement and mad editing skillz) to question the very concept police patrol. That’s the type of moderately deep-thinking that is hard to get published…
How about telling cops what they should do rather than what they shouldn’t do?
Here’s my piece in today’s New York Times: Critics of police — and there have been a lot this past year — are too focused on what we don’t want police to do: don’t make so many arrests; don’t stop, question and frisk innocent people; don’t harass people; don’t shoot so many people, and for God’s sake don’t do any…
Sometimes you just get wet
From Shorpy:
Policing Will Never Be The Same
This is huge: The NYPD has authorized, effective as of 0001 hrs, 4 June 2015, the use of — are you seated? — black OR BLUE ink for all department business. Too much. Too soon. It’s gotta be DeBlasio’s fault. For sure.
John Waters on the Riots
From the Daily Beast: “I was around for the first Baltimore riots,” Waters says. “My first apartment in Baltimore was on 25th Street and Calvert, and there were tanks outside of my house. Everywhere was burning. Believe me, these riots were not as bad as those. But the riots in Baltimore this time were more widespread than what you saw…