So here’s the longer storyin the Sun. What I don’t get (there’s a lot I don’t get), is how could officers get a kick-back of $300 per car? The tow company would need to charge more than that. And the article says that approved towers are only charging $130-$140 dollars. When I needed to tow…
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I know it’s important, but I’m a bit clueless here. Can somebody explain to me just what collective bargaining means? Why is it important to unions? And what would happen if it were taken away?
Here’s the story in the Timesand in the Daily News. The difficulty is that any benefits and harms of aggressive stop and frisks are not only found in aggregate numbers but also in the individual incidents. Some of these stops are good. Some aren’t. So how do we tell the difference? How do we keep…
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A “dozen or more” B.P.D. arrested?! Peter Hermann of the Sunreports: a federal corruption probe that involves an improper relationship with a Baltimore towing company, sources said. … The officers were arrested today at the police academy after being called in under the guise that their firearms needed to be checked. … Multiple sources say…
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There might be some good lessons here. Too often we only look for lessons when things go wrong. It’s probably better to look for lessons when things go right. Here were tens of thousands of people protesting and counter-protesting… and it all happened without an arrest.
This year, nationwide, 15 officers have been killed by gunfire (out of 30 total line-of-duty deaths). This puts us on pace to expect 105 officers to be shot and killed in 2011. Compare this with 59 firearms deaths in 2010, 47 in 2009, 40 in 2008, and 66 in 2007. Is this a trend? It’s…
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There’s a wake for Poughkeepsie Officer John Falcone today. The 18-year-veteran was killed last Friday. Lee Welch, 27, and his wife, Jessica Welch, 28, both of Catskill, have three children together and a history of domestic violence, Knapp said. They were in Poughkeepsie to exchange a vehicle when the shooting occurred. Falcone was a block-and-a-half…
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Seattle Timescolumnist Danny Westneat has a worrisome article in the paper: “You are paid to use your discretion and there are many ways to do police work. Recent events should show us that many in the city really don’t want aggressive officers who generate on-view incidents. They want officers who avoid controversy and simply respond…
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In response, lawmakers in Mexico have called for the banning of… a video game. Meanwhile, the NRA kills a law aimed at limiting gun running to Mexico. If the rising death toll was a sign in 2009 that drug gangs were weakening, what does the rising death toll say about how weak the drug gangs…
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…except when they do. Patricia Marilyn Spottedcrow, who is serving 10 years in prison, has been taken away from her four young children and husband, and has ended her work in nursing homes because of $31 in marijuana sales. On Dec. 31, 2009, Spottedcrow and her mother, Delita Starr, 50, sold a “dime bag” of…
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