So I’m trying to write and Schoolly-D’s “A Gangster Story” comes on. I hear him say “B-more” and “yo-boy” and perk up. I’ve always liked slang and wondered about the term “yo-boy” because it’s so common in Baltimore’s ‘hood but I’ve never heard it outside of Baltimore (what’s a “yo-boy?” You gotta read my book.…
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It’s a lazy journalist and an incompetent academic who writes a story based on the anecdotes of cab drivers, bartenders, and shoe shiners. But… I was getting my shoes shined Friday afternoon in Baltimore’s Penn Station and the shoe shiner and I were chatting. He was a black man, a bit older than me. Baltimore…
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One of the issues that came up in Baltimore at the conference I was at is the realism of The Wire. I say The Wireis about 75% – 80% realistic. Not 100%. But 74% ain’t bad. And being “real” three out of four times is still about three times more realistic than any other cop…
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Anybody want to hear people talk about The Wire? In Leeds. The UK. You know, where the Queen hangs out. It’s in November. I’ll be there. ‘Ello Leeds! Here’s the call for papers.
I just got back from a conference (the Eastern Sociological Society) in Baltimore. It was well organized and all three sessions were quite interesting. I got to meet old friends and new. My two contributions were speaking on a panel about the Baltimore Ghetto and also having the privilege of being the discussant for a…
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Here’s the story. Update (12:40am): Three of the officers have died, I just read. “On Saturday, people lingered at the scene of the traffic-stop shooting. About 20 bystanders taunted the police.” Update (Monday 1pm): The fourth officer has been declared brain dead.
Michael East is a veteran police officer in Saginaw, Michigan. He’s also an excellent writer. He has a new book coming out. Beyond Hope? Saginaw, not that you’d know, is a pretty messed up place of rusted industry and abandonment. It’s lost about half its population. Even Habitat for Humanity is helping tear it down.…
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So says Ramon “Mike” Vargas (Charlton Heston) in Orson Well’s 1958 “Touch of Evil” (thanks, Dave H.). Two Peoria, Illinois, police officers were arrested in relation to a police stomping. Here’s the story in the Peoria Journal Star. I worry about publicizing such things because they make people think such behavior is normal for police.…
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Policing is one of the few jobs where “cowardice” can get you fired. Here’s a fascinating storyby Brendan McCarthy in the New Orleans Times-Picayune about a police officer fired for not shooting a gun man. They see a man standing about 50 feet away in the street, pointing a gun. Pop, pop. … He chose…
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It’s generally not good to bring a Police Chief from outside a department. A former FBI agent? That’s not really good enough to be in charge in New York or Chicago or L.A. The storyin the Tribune.