Is this man the dumbest criminal in Pennsylvania? There’s so much competition. Here’s the story in the BBC:
Retired police chief John Comparetto was attending the meeting of 300 officers when he was allegedly held up at gunpoint in the men’s toilets.
…
He described the suspect as “probably the dumbest criminal in Pennsylvania”.
The suspect said, “I’m smooth.”
I’m not one to give dumb crime fighting tips, but keep this in mind: even criminals need to buy presents.
The week before Christmas is always a busy time for police, with extra muggings and robberies.
Now it’s officially in the news. The Daily News, to be precise.
Seems like you’ve officially entered the blogosphere when you’re quoted in other blogs.
More on the Harlem shootings at Gothamistand NYC The Blog and great pictures at Harlem Hybrid.
Seems like my initial report of 14 guns and 7 shot was right on the mark (at the time I hedged the shooting number with “give or take one or two”). There were seven shootings if you believe an anonymous comment about “another, unreported shooting at Fred Doug and 127th.” I’m inclined to believe seven because that’s what I was told. But six or seven, I guess it doesn’t matter either way, unless, of course, you’re the seventh victim.
The old (high-school) journalist in me likes to be able to actually break some important(?) news.
I did find this buried in the Daily News. Maybe it’s all about location. Location, location, location. Or, as they said in The Wire, “wrong zip code.”
The newspaper headline is “Fatal Gunfire on Westside.” One man was shot and killed. Then in the last paragraph it says this:
The slaying came after a chaotic night in uptown Manhattan. Six people were shot in a series of attacks in Harlem – starting at 8:30 p.m. – on an unseasonably balmy evening. None of the victims was expected to die.
Thanks for the weather report.
One of my students told me that police took 14 guns off the streets of Harlem last night. This after the annual African-American Day Parade. Seven people were shot (give or take one or two). This isn’t in any of today’s papers. Say what?!
The parade ended in the afternoon. The tough kids come out at night. Between 11pm and 2am, people were walking around with guns, shooting them in the air. And this right by uniformed officers. Plain-clothed officers would tackle the kids. Policing is dangerous work. Be safe.
Tuesday Update:
For some coverage (it’s nice to know I didn’t make this whole thing up), see:
The comments at uptown flavor and hip-hop Republican (thanks for the links, DJK).
And there’s this video on You Tube. Nothing too exciting. There’s a gun shot at 1min and police response to it. And I’m reminded how much I hate police helicopters.
So why wasn’t the crazy night a news story? I don’t know. Conservatives love bashing the liberal media. See, they say, it’s un-politically correct to talk about the annual shootings after the African-American Day Parade. I don’t buy it. News is still news and if it bleeds, it leads. Besides, not even the conservativemedia covered it. Nothing in the Post. Nothing on Fox News. Some feel the media (and most white folk) simply doesn’t care about black-on-black crime and what goes on in Harlem. I’m more inclined to that position.
Wednesday Update:
Read all my posts on these shootings and check out my book, Cop in the Hood.
Copied from Crime & Justice News:
The Democratic Party platform includes a four- paragraph section on criminal justice focusing principally on support for local law enforcement and ending violence against women, says the National Criminal Justice Association, which represents states and localities in Washington, D.C. The platform says, “We will reverse the policy of cutting resources for the brave men and women who protect our communities every day. At a time when our nation’s officers are being asked both to provide traditional law enforcement services and to help protect the homeland, taking police off of the street is neither tough nor smart; we reject this disastrous approach. We support and will restore funding to our courageous police officers and will ensure that they are equipped with the best technology, equipment and innovative strategies to prevent and fight crimes.” The Democrats vow to “reduce recidivism in our neighborhoods by supporting local prison-to-work programs. We will continue to fight inequalities in our criminal justice system. We must help state, local and tribal law enforcement work together to combat and prevent drug crime and drug and alcohol abuse, which are a blight on our communities. The platform includes support for ending violence against women and backing victims’ rights.
The Republican platform includes an eight-part criminal justice section on ending child pornography, gangs, sentencing, reforming prisons, federal law enforcement, fighting illegal drugs, and protecting crime victims. The platform calls for “stronger enforcement and determined prosecution of gang conspiracies” and for the immediate deportation of “aliens involved with gangs or who are convicted of crimes of violence or sex offenses.” The Republicans are specific in their commitment for tougher sentencing for certain violent crimes, support of the death penalty, and opposition to granting parole to dangerous and repeat felons. The platform calls for reform of the nation’s correctional institutions. It discusses the need for increasing the ranks of federal law enforcement agencies to replace the resources shifted to homeland security duties. The document calls for “several thousand new FBI agents, U.S. marshals, immigration officers, and Border Patrol agents. The costs will be significant; but the social and economic costs of street gangs, identity theft, and illegal entry into this country would be much greater.” The platform endorses “state and local initiatives, such as Drug Courts, that are trying new approaches to curbing drug abuse and diverting first-time offenders to rehabilitation.” The Republicans seek ratification of a constitutional amendment on the rights of crime victims.
You can read the whole summary here. I tend to believe this is all bullshit, anyway. But I’m especially skeptical of any platform promises from the ruling party. Because, you see, this is the party that has had time to do all this and hasn’t. Like the next four years would be different than the last eight. Republicans have not been good to police (though most police are Republicans).
A Constitutional Amendment for victims’ rights? Be serious. Leaving aside a scary willingness to want to change the Constitution for every minor issues (flag burning, gay marriage), I have a problem with crime victim rights. Really. It sounds goods. But the devil is in the details. Many crime victims are criminals. Drug gangs aren’t shooting you. They’re shooting each other!
There have been problems when the bad guys get money from crime victim funds. See, for instance this story.
Why beat around the bush? Here’s what I think about Ed Norris as commissioner.
Like I already wrote: I think he was a good commissioner. Not as good a commissioner as hethinks he is, but then who is? I think he was better than the guy that came before and the guy that after him.
When Norris came in, the goal was to reduce homicides to 175. Ultimately he failed. Then he quit. Then he got convicted.
Norris likes saying how he led the nation in crime decline every year. Errr, kind of, sort of, but, no. Not really. But it says so in Wikipeadia! Yeah, right next to “citation needed.” First of all, there’s no official stat on crime decline, so it depends how you measure it. Let’s take murder. I like murder because it’s fun and easy (to count, that is).
Year — Baltimore Murders2000 — 262
2001 — 259
2002 — 253
Norris took over in March, 2000. That was the first year in a decade that Baltimore murders dropped below 300. It was a big deal. I even got a medal (we all did). Norris deserves credit. He did things that should have been done a lot early: put cops where the crime is, clear up cold-cases, talk about crime prevention, help get cops a raise, and try and get guns off the streets. He had the right ideas. He still does.
Since 2002, after Norris, murders are back up. In 2007 there were 282 murders. Like I said, Norris was doing something right. I’d guess he prevented about 30 murders a year as commissioner. That’s more than Iprevented last year.
But a big decline? Well, not really. The murder rate (that’s murders per 100,000 population–don’t forget, Baltimore was losing population this whole time) didn’t go down at all between 2000 and 2002! And when Norris couldn’t get the murder rate down any more, he quit. Well, there’s a longer story, perhaps for another time.
Biggest decline in the nation? No way. Let’s take New York City as just one example.
Year — NYC Murders2000 — 667
2001 — 649
2002 — 587
New York’s murder rate dropped more than 10% when Baltimore, under Norris, was stagnating. And this is aftermurders in New York had already gone down by two-thirds (the so called “low-hanging fruit”).
The problem wasn’t Norris’s vision. And by and large the rank-and-file, myself included, supported him. His problem was implementing his policies.
Ultimately my jobwas judged by arrest number and not crime prevented. I would have loved to have been brought into the district-level problem-solving meeting and asked how I thought we could do a better job? I have ideas. But that’s not how it works. In police departments, ideas come only from the top.
I’m telling you, his “plan,” despite what he wants to believe, didn’t change my day-to-day patrol job one bit. Is that his fault? Yes and no. I don’t blame him personally. But as the man in charge, well, it is his problem.
The weak link is middle management–the 4 layers in the chain-of-command between the commissioner and the patrol officer. Middle management believes, in this case for very good reason, that they’ll outlast this outsider boss. Just kiss ass, say yes, play nice, stay out of trouble, and hope for promotion. Meanwhile cops like me, at the bottom, go about and do their job same as it ever was.
I wantedto write my book on the great crime drop in Baltimore. Too bad it didn’t happen.
Tasers for home use? Guns for police officers? It’s not a bad idea.
If you really hate guns and can’t stand gun ownership (I hate guns but canunderstand gun ownership), then you should take some solace in the fact that guns are used in suicide more than homicide and accidents put together. About 55% of our 31,000 annual gun deaths are suicide.