And soldiers aren’t police. Going from the armed forces to a police department may seem like a natural transition. It’s not. A different mentality is needed. Most soldiers can make the transition. Some can’t. De-emphasizing the military aspects of police departments would help. Here’s an interesting article in the Austin Chronicle about the problem for…
Read more
In 2007, the Kansas City Police Department reported a 22% drop in crime to the state (and to the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report). Now it turns out that crime actually went up 10%. The department basically blames this mix-up on a paperwork mess. Sounds fishy. But having worked in a real big city police department,…
Read more
Now it’s officially in the news. The Daily News, to be precise.
It’s a great book. And I’m not the only one who says so. “Riveting…. An unsparing boys-in-blue procedural that succeeds on its own plentiful—and wonderfully sympathetic—merits.” —The Atlantic “Never mind ‘The Wire.’ Here is the real thing.” —The Wall Street Journal “[A] riveting tale of policing…. A must read.” —Sudhir Venkatesh “Hard-edged sociological analysis…. A…
Read more
Seems like you’ve officially entered the blogosphere when you’re quoted in other blogs. More on the Harlem shootings at Gothamistand NYC The Blog and great pictures at Harlem Hybrid. Seems like my initial report of 14 guns and 7 shot was right on the mark (at the time I hedged the shooting number with “give…
Read more
I did find this buried in the Daily News. Maybe it’s all about location. Location, location, location. Or, as they said in The Wire, “wrong zip code.” The newspaper headline is “Fatal Gunfire on Westside.” One man was shot and killed. Then in the last paragraph it says this: The slaying came after a chaotic…
Read more
This brings back memories. Bad memories. Cops deal with this sh*t all the time.
I recently finished reading Fox Butterfield’s excellent All God’s Children: The Bosket Family and the American Tradition of Violence. Amazingly researched (Butterfield is a Class-A journalist), this 1996 book follows a culture of violence and its transference over time from white slave owners in the historically f**ked-up county of Edgefield, South Carolina to Willie Bosket…
Read more
OK you gun fans (and I know you’re out there), explain this to me: I read in the paper today that licenses for concealed handguns have almost doubled in Florida since 2005. “Interesting.” I thought. “I wonder what’s happened to crime.” So I checked. Murder, robbery, and burglary are all up. Now I know this…
Read more
One of my students told me that police took 14 guns off the streets of Harlem last night. This after the annual African-American Day Parade. Seven people were shot (give or take one or two). This isn’t in any of today’s papers. Say what?! The parade ended in the afternoon. The tough kids come out…
Read more