Police

White Shirts

They’re on my mind, but probably because I’m reading Melville’s excellent White-Jacket: The World in a Man-of-War. But with regards to the protests and the NYPD… I don’t see the problem of the “white shirts.” (And before you go there, Deputy Inspector Anthony Bologna has been taken off the street.) This is one of the very rare times the military-like…

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Police

Bad Day at the Office

Come on, walking up to somebody you’ve penned up (for not moving?!), macing them, and walking away? Of course it’s indefensible. And it’s not fair to the officers trying to deal with the situation… the officers who weredealing with the situation, acting professionally in a stressful situation. This guy had a very bad day at the office. But if that’s…

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Police

Little Hurricane Crime in New York City

The mayor says there were 45 arrests in New York City last night compared to 345 arrests on a normal August Saturday night. Mayor Bloomberg said, “If that doesn’t tell you about New Yorkers, I don’t know what does.” That’s sweet. Now don’t get me wrong, it’s good there wasn’t massive looting, and New York is a pretty great place.…

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Police

Wouldn’t it be great…

If we were all rich enough to have our own private police force that did whatever we want? Police have better things to do that act as private security for rich corporations. I wonder how much Coach and Rolex (and other big-name products) have to “donate” to New York’s elected officials and police leaders to get them to care about…

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Police

NYPD Officer Samuel Battle

The Timeshas a story about Samuel Battle, one of New York’s first black police officers. But what is reallyinteresting is his oral history. In his own words. “They had riots. Many riots.” Worth a read: I went on down, and we got there, with my squad. The whites and Negroes were battling. I saw the white cops beating up the…

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Police

Reasonable Doubt

An NYPD officer were acquitted of rape today. Did I think he’s guilty? Yeah, I do. But I’m not surprised he was acquitted. (He and his partner were found guilty of lesser charges and promptly fired.) In fact, last week I predicted this exactoutcome (but just to my class… you’ll have to take my word). Why? because even I had…

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Police

Alphabet City Memoirs

When I re-posted those pics of a Baltimore crack house, I found one of the comments so interesting I asked the commenter to turn it into a guest post. Eddie Nadal, retired NYPD, graciously agreed. These are his words: I recently visited the Lower East Side in New York, the same LES where I was born, where my grandma lived…

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Police

NYPD Stop and Frisks and Marijuana Arrests

WNYC reporter Ailsa Chang reports on the curious link between stop and frisks and marijuana arrests in New York City. It’s curious because small-scale possession of marijuana in New York State isn’t a crime (it is a non-arrestable ticketable “violation”). Nor do drugs that are “immediately apparent” based on “plain-feel” during a “Terry Frisk” (for weapons) give police justification to…

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