Category: History

The Stake-Out Squad

From 1968 to 1973, there is an interesting (to put it mildly) and surprisingly little-remembered part of NYPD history. The “Stake-Out Squad.” I’ve spoken to a few cops who remember its existence. One who was part of it. It’s impossible to imagine this unit existing today. And even back that it was controversial…. but very…
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Police Strategy Booklets

Here are the first three of the NYPD Police Strategy books from 1994. Number 1: Guns Number 2: Youth Violence Number 3: Drugs

History isn’t Bunk, part 2: New York City Police

This is Part Two. Part One is here. Jill Lepore has an article in the New Yorker about the invention of police that somehow manages to sidestep every thing I know about the history of police. I know a little about the history police history. Much more, I suspect, than Jill Lepore. I discussed a…
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History isn’t Bunk, part 1

This is Part One of Two. There’s so much Jill Lepore gets wrong in her New Yorker article “The Invention of the Police.” The spoiler is in the subtitle: “Why did American policing get so big, so fast? The answer, mainly, is slavery.” She seems to ignores the actual history of police in America, but…
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