Author: Moskos

The truth will set you free

Another case where body cams help police officers avoid false accusations of brutality from a viral video.

Cops on Comey

I love thoughtful cops. Especially those who can write. He emailed me this and agreed to let me repost it, anonymously. I wish him well and am happy to see people like this still becoming police officers. I’m a police recruit with a B.A. in the social sciences, and I read your blog a lot.…
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“Most people really do not return to prison”

This goes against common accepted wisdom, which refers to a recidivism rate (ending up behind bars again within three years) of about two-thirds . Here’s another good piece by Leon Neyfakh in Slate, an interview with William Rhodes. The basic gist is this. Some people recidivate a lot while others do not at all. So…
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Bar the doors! Board the windows!

Halloween is coming! 6,000 inmates are about to be released from prison. Most got about 2 years cut from a 10 year drug sentence. Think of it: 6,000 roving marauders. Pirates! Barbarians!! Thugs!!! They’ll be Shanghaiing our youth, raping our maidens, and pillaging our homes! At least that’s what I’m learning from some on the…
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Killed by police, Washington Post analysis

Washington Post reporters are doing what journalists are supposed to do. They’re looking at those killed by police (like the Guardian, but a bit more fairly). 815 have been shot dead by police this year as of right now (the Guardian, just FYI, pushes that number to 948. That’s a 15 increase based on people…
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Do you mind if I search your black car I mean car?

It’s not so much that blacks are more likely to get stopped while driving, it’s that blacks get searched much more than whites after a car stop. This has been documented for at least 20 years. I’m a bit surprised it’s still happening at this level. It was a big issue after the bullshit “drug…
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Liberals eating themselves

In the Comey story, in which a seemingly liberal FBI director discusses crime, police, race, and history and get pilloried by the left, the New York Times takes the cake. In some Bizarro World I’m not part of, The Grey Lady deemed Comey’s comments “incendiary” and playing “into the right-wing view that holding the police…
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Three Cheers for FBI Director Comey

It’s kind of funny to watch the Left completely freak out at the mere suggestion from Comey that viral videos might have an impact on police on crime. See thisand this and this: "But he acknowledged that there is so far no data to back up his assertion…" https://t.co/ShhyMlv50H — Christopher Hayes (@chrislhayes) October 23, 2015…
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“Nothing is uglier than a crab cake sandwich under tungsten lighting”

The third of three little remembrances of my policing days. There’s been a lot of talk recently about a so-called “Ferguson Effect.” I don’t know. It’s certainly possible. Even probably, I would say. There’s always been disincentives in the police world to actually doing any work, especially from those who see police as a force…
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