In line with my last post, I got an email around noon yesterday from my favorite editor at the Chronicle of Higher Education. We worked together on my flogging piece. He asked if I could write 1,000 words on James Q. Wilson. Quickly. For $500. Why, yes, I replied, I think I can. I’ve always been pretty good with the…
Search Results for: "Broken windows"
The Principles That Never Were
It turns out the Peel’s famous “Principles of Policing” are a fraud. I kind of always suspected that… but not so much that I didn’t quote them at length in the afterward to the paperback edition of Cop in the Hood. I should have known better because Susan Lentz and Robert Chaires had already published an article stating as much…
It’s not new, but is it fair?
I wasn’t even going to link to this story because I don’t want to repeat myself more than necessary. Here’s the point: black New Yorkers are seven times more likely than whites to be arrested for marijuana possession. For a moment, let’s put aside the actually story (not that we should). For the sake of debate, let’s accept the seven…
“Zero tolerance for what?”
Here’s a great interview from Investigative Voice with Baltimore homicide detectives Irving Bradley and David Hollingsworth. You had to be an actor. I had to convince you, what I was telling you to do was the right thing to do. Even though before I got you, you had torn out every window in the neighborhood, you had torn up somebody’s…
Why do white people commit so much suicide?
One of the first things I ask in my criminal justice students is, “why do people commit crime?” Students are pretty well trained to talk about social and environmental factors. After agreeing with all that, I like to add, “I thought people committed crime because they’re criminals!” Everybody laughs, but there’s a basic truth there, too. People do make choices.…
Alan F. Kiepper dies at 81
OK. I’ll be honest. I had never heard of the guy either. But it turns out he might be responsible for America’s great crime drop (not that he ever claimed such a feat). But he did hire Bill Bratton to run the New York Transit Police, and that was perhaps the start of it all. “Effective management is doing small…
More on NYPD vs. bicyclists
If you need more proof that something ain’t right in how the NYPD handles Manhattan’s Critical Mass bike ride, you should watch this video on the blog, The Agitator. There’s an anti-police tone I don’t like. And overproduction. And half-assed legal knowledge (there is no Constitutional right you “wave” when you identify yourself to police. Ask Dudley Hiibel. And if…
Is foot patrol right for you?
Foot patrol may not be right for everyone. How do you know if foot patrol is right for you and your neighborhood? Ask your mailman. If your mail is delivered in a cart pushed by a walking mailman or woman, police should be on foot. If your mail is delivered by truck, foot patrol may not be right for you.…
Never lose sight…
I received this email today. It’s worth reading. I wish all police officers wrote so well. I wish all my students wrote so well. Too bad he’s not my student. Some small police department’s gain was surely Baltimore’s loss. I recently finished the first chapter of your book, Cop in the Hood and found it to be completely on point…
Community Policing query
Dear Prof. Moskos First off, let me say that I enjoyed your book. As someone who has recently moved to Baltimore and now finds themselves living on the edge of the Eastern I found it a fascinating read. Your discussion of 911 helped to explain the very big difference in reaction between the community meetings. Commanders (not a direct quote)…