Year: 2010

Zimring on the NYPD crime drop

Frank Zimring has always been one of the better criminologists out there. This nine minute video from the Vera Institute of Justice hows some of the reasons why.

DEA funds terrorism

Of course that’s meant to be a sensational headline… but it’s actually true. And God only knows how the DEA would flip the tables if some anti-drug-war group was guilty of the same thing. According to the Times: [The DEA] sent David C. Headley, a small-time drug dealer and sometime informant, to work for them…
Read more

It’ll never work…

The suspect is an armed and crazy and racist murderer. He’s killed before. He has multiple weapons. After a tip-off you get a warrant for his arrest. You know where he lives. A surveillance unit outside confirm his presence. Plan B is to send in the SWAT team and bust down the door in a…
Read more

Mehserle sentenced to 2 years

Seems about right to me. Not everyone agrees. Mehserle is the BART cop who (apparently) accidentally shot Oscar Grant in the back and killed him. Mehserle has already served most of his time.

COPS & Opera

From my favorite comic strip, Stephan Patsis’s Pearls before Swine:

Because it’s a sin!

A SWAT team busted up a poker game of seniors. One cop and one gambler were shot. This is not what SWAT teams are for. Actually, unfortunately, it is what SWAT teams are for. So let me rephrase: this is not what SWAT teams shouldbe for. The shot 72-year old reportedly said, “Why didn’t you…
Read more

I didn’t know…

“…marijuana use is associated with voluntary treatment admissions for addiction, fatal drugged driving accidents, mental illness and emergency room admissions.” So says Drug Czar Gil Kerlikowske. Come to think of it, so is life. There’s more on Pete Guither’s blog. Regardless, thanks God we’re still safe from this reefer madness. I don’t think marijuana makes…
Read more

Exceptional Clearance

“The presumed slaughter of 20 tourists in Acapulco — apparently has been solved by thugs who captured the alleged killers, posted their confessions on the Internet, then murdered them and directed police to the crime scene.” From the Houston Chronicle.

Read More

If you don’t read The Atlantic, you should. Not only can you act like you’re smart, you might become smart. Or at least a lot smarter than you’ll ever become reading the typical drivel in a cop magazine (yes, I know, “staying alert can save your life”–so remain in “Code Yellow” and read something worthwhile).…
Read more

What do we do with all that weed?

Explain this to me: In the past few weeks about 155 tonsof marijuana has been stopped from coming in from Mexico. Numbers of that magnitude tend to numb. I have no idea what 155 tons means. So I did some figuring. 155 tons is about 1,500 big men (or 3,000 very petite women). It’s about…
Read more