Maybe I’ve become a bit cynical after my time in New York, but I don’t normally think of the police union as a good source for rational and cost-effective advice on better policing (though protecting workers’ rights is an important part of the union). But I’ve got to hand it to Robert Cherry, president of my old Baltimore Fraternal Order…
Tag: police culture
UC-Davis Pepper Spray
From Jack Stripling in The Chronicle of Higher Education: The pepper spraying of student protesters at the University of California at Davis in November, an incident that provoked international outrage, constituted an unjustifiable use of force in an operation that was bungled by failures of leadership and communication at nearly every level, an investigative report issued on Wednesday asserts. The…
What’s Eating the NYPD?
New York Magazine has a very good article by Chris Smith on Ray Kelley and the current state of the NYPD: Whenever Kelly leaves One Police Plaza — most likely in January 2014, when a newly elected mayor replaces Michael Bloomberg — he will be rightly celebrated as the greatest police commissioner in the city’s history. Crime, overall, is down…
“There are police and there are police”
I received a very gracious and lengthy email from a very prominent professor (which in and of itself was thrilling). He read Cop in the Hood and wrote, in part: There are police and there are police. They all look similar to the general public because they are all (most, at least) in similar uniforms, wear badges and carry firearms.…
Police Apologize For Job Poorly Done
It doesn’t happen often. But here it is. Oh, no, it’s not a US police force. That would be a sign of weakness. Wouldn’t be prudent. Might admit legal liability.
“Moskos, your thoughts!”
There were many periods of silence in the police academy. The environment didn’t exactly encourage free and independent thinking. During these awkward moments, Agent Cassidy, when he was in the room, was fond of bellowing out, often apropos of nothing, “Moskos, your thoughts!” Thirteen years later, these might be most (only?) remembered words from the academy class of 99-5. David…
Street Soldiers
I’ll be on Hot 97’s Street Soldiers with Lisa Evers this coming Sunday morning (it was prerecorded today). Rounding out the roundtable is Noel Leader, co-founder of 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement Who Care, and Norman Seabrook, President of the New York City Correction Officers’ Benevolent Association. It’s a lively hour. You’ll hear me question Brooklyn rapper Uncle Murda as…
What they think I do
There are a lot of these “what people think I do” versus “what I do” gags going around. Some are pretty funny. Here’s one on policing. The intellectual in me thinks of the Rashomon Effect. The kid in me just giggles at seeing Lou Costello in a police uniform. [thanks to Stef the Greek] [Hey all you folks, consider buying…
Teaching Chicago Police How to Write
And not just reports. Monica Davey writes an interesting story in the New York Times.
Dumb-ass Training and the U.C. Davis Pepper Spray Incident:
I’m in Dublin. I love Ireland (though England was great, too). I received an email from the Washington Monthly (you may remember them as one of the first magazines to publish a Flogging piece) asking my opinion about the UC Davis pepper-spray incident. I hadn’t heard of it. But ignorance is not bliss. So now I’ve watched the video. I…