Police

“Stop arresting people for weed” is 5 words long

You’d think it would be easy to tell cops to stop arresting people for small scale possession of marijuana. But not a police department. Every now and then I try to write about paperwork, because it’s such an integral part of the job and such a key negative motivator of police officers and good police work. But who the hell…

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Police

Quote of the Day

As more and more states legalize marijuana, New York City still leads the world for arrests for possession of the evil weed. You might wonder who actually thinks it’s a good idea to arrest people for a decriminalized amount of marijuana. Sergeants Benevolent Association president Ed Mullins: “If the current practice of making arrests for both possession and sale of…

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Police

Brrrr… it’s cold outside

I can’t help but notice — now that another long hot summer is done and a commie mayor and Al Sharpton are running the show and the police have been thrown under the bus and Obama is president and the ACLU stopped letting police stop criminals and there’s no more stop question and frisk and there’s independent oversight and body…

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Police

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…

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Police

Good use of Taser

NYPD subdue armed mentally disturbed man. Nobody seriously hurt. That’s the headline you should read every now and then. But you rarely do. I’m not a big fan of the Taser, but this seems to me exactly what it is designed for. What’s odd, at least to me, is that here is a perfect use of the Taser. A crazy…

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Police

“Excited Delirium” is not a real medical condition

Best I can figure, it was invented (or at least inspired by) the Taser corporation (correct me if I’m wrong here). But it’s not a real cause of death. That being said, it’s usually used to get cops off the hood when someone dies after being Tased. But now some high guy dies and the police officer might (but probably…

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Police

The chokehold that wasn’t?

Not surprisingly, the preliminary autopsy report in the death of Eric Garner shows, showsthat the “deadly encounter Thursday did not damage his windpipe or neck bones.” Why is the not surprising? Because I’m still not convinced there was any chokehold at all. It certainly did not happen when Mr. Garner was taken down. There may have been a chokehold later,…

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Police

If you can say, “I can’t breath”…

The first thing that jumps to mind in the death of Eric Garneris that somebody who is repeatedly saying “I can’t breath” is, in fact, breathing. It’s a basic rules of choking, first aid, and well, the way we speak. [Update: Seems I’m probably very wrong about this.] Also, I’m no expert in chokeholds (because most departments forbid them), but…

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