The sixth in a series from Sgt. Adam Plantinga’s excellent 400 Things Cops Know: Street-Smart Lessons from a Veteran Patrolman: There are good people in the neighborhood. They work hard. They try to raise their kids right. They’ll even help you push if your squad car gets stuck in a snow bank. You see them out there, tending to their…
Cops and fitness
The fifth in a series from Sgt. Adam Plantinga’s excellent 400 Things Cops Know: Street-Smart Lessons from a Veteran Patrolman: There are uniformed cops on the street who are grossly overweight. Their prominent bellies make their equipment belt hang so low it seems inaccessible to them and they can’t chase a suspect more than a block without collapsing. To them,…
S.C. State Trooper arrested for bad shooting
Here’s me on Chris Hayes last night talking about the shooting of Levar Jones. And yeah, that’s my bolo tie. You got a problem with a little New Mexico sunshine on TV? Didn’t think so. Update: The officer pled guilty
Youth: The future (prison) leaders of tomorrow
The fourth in a series from Adam Plantinga’s excellent 400 Things Cops Know: Street-Smart Lessons from a Veteran Patrolman: As a cop, it’s easy to get discouraged about the state of today’s youth. You don’t see much of the honors student bound for Dartmouth, because she doesn’t do anything that would cause her to come into contact with you. You…
The decline of Stop, Question, and Frisk in pictures and numbers
The New York Times examines the decline of NYPD stops with pretty pictures:
On Fighting
The third in a series from Adam Plantinga’s 400 Things Cops Know: Street-Smart Lessons from a Veteran Patrolman: People give off plenty of indicators that they’re looking to fight. Some precursors are obvious, like the clenched fists and the readjustment of the feet into an attack stance. Others are more subtle, like the lowering of the chin to instinctively protect…
“Will police have more free time once pot becomes legal?”
Good question! And it’s answered by Ted Hesson in his good article in Fusion.net. Spoiler alert: No. Second spoiler: I’m quoted. Third spoiler: I curse (yet again).
We Got Another Kingpin! (14)
It’s been a few months, and actually “we” didn’t get him. But he was gotten all the same. From the BBC: “Mexican police have found the body of Aquiles Gomez, who was thought to be one of the main leaders of the Knights Templar drug cartel.” We win! (for the fourteenth time and counting…) As I wrote back in 2011:…
CRIME (not) SKYROCKETING
The real headline of course, the one you don’t see very often, is that crime is down. So says the BJS. Though I’m skeptical of the NCVS, since it reported a 40 percent increase in the previous two years, which, quite frankly, as I wrote, I do not believe. (The UCR showed an every-so-slight drop during the same time). So…
On Gunshot Wounds
The second in a series from Adam Plantinga’s 400 Things Cops Know: Street-Smart Lessons from a Veteran Patrolman: The seriousness of a gunshot wound depends on a host of factors, including the type and caliber of round, the distance the bullet travels, and if anything is present to slow the bullet down (a wall, a door, another person) before the…