Author: Moskos

Good times…

Baltimore, December 9, 2000: We get a call for disorderly on Somethingleaf Court. Turns into an armed person. Housing won’t take it. Man is there as promised. We get there and I frisk him. [Officer C] has his gun out. No gun. The guy said he gave this woman $20 for “you know, whatever”. He…
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Just another day in the Eastern…

Sometimes it’s fun to re-read my old field notes. I should write a book or something. This is from Jan 24, 2001 (and better than my average day’s notes): [Officer A] and I are walking our 4 miles at 5am: “People say this is a good neighborhood with a few bad people. But it’s not.…
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Me and Bill O’Reilly

If you missed it, here’s me on Bill O’Reilly’s show from back September 1, talking about the non-increase of cops being killed. And here’s me again on October 8th.

“The Stop”

Ashley Cleek’s piece on car stops in Life of the Law. Nice piece. And I’m quoted in it.

Who’s Counting?

Chava Gourarie at Columbia Journalism Review with a great piece on data and police-involved killings.

Officer Down

NYPD Housing Cop Randolph Holder was shot and killed a few hours ago around 120th and FDR Drive. This is about a mile from my house (but a world away in East Harlem). Rest in Peace. Update: Apparently the killer was also a “non-violent drug offender.” From the Times: Last fall, the man suspected in…
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“Adrian Schoolcraft is no Frank Serpico”

Lenny Levitt on Adrian Schoolcraft: Larry [his father], who appeared to be calling the shots, hired and fired half a dozen lawyers…. Over the years, their behavior became increasingly bizarre. For months at a time they would disappear. They continually changed their phone numbers. At one point, one of the lawyers asked Frank Serpico, who…
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“Was the Shooting of Tamir Rice ‘Reasonable’?”

Another good story by Leon Neyfakh in Slate. This one with some legal analysis on the two reports that judged the shooting of Tamir Rice in Cleveland “reasonable.” Here’s a link to the audio of the radio dispatch.

Baltimore in The Onion

I’m totally stealing this from the Baltimore Sun: Baltimore Preparing For Hurricane Joaquin By Adding Second Layer Of Plywood To Shuttered Small Businesses Camden Yards Concessions To Stop Selling Crack After Seventh Inning  Baltimore Residents Urged To Stay Indoors Until Social Progress Naturally Takes Its Course Over Next Century Final Police Report: Only 20,000 Killed…
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Prop 47 in California

In the Washington Post. In the 11 months since the passage of Prop 47, more than 4,300 state prisoners have been resentenced and then released. Drug arrests in Los Angeles County have dropped by a third. Jail bookings are down by a quarter. … Robberies up 23 percent in San Francisco. Property theft up 11…
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