Quality Policing Podcast and Blog

QPP 6: St. Louis & Stockley acquittal

Nick and Peter discuss the acquittal of former St Louis police officer Stockley. The verdict led to violent protests. Peter thinks the preponderance of the evidence — and then some — suggests the officer was guilty as charged (though that isn’t the legal standard for conviction in a criminal case). Peter can’t get over the…
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QPP 5: Andrew Wittmer and police PTSD

On July 11, 2016, Decatur, Illinois, Police Officer Andrew Wittmer shot and wounded Lonnie Mitchell after a shirtless Mitchell reached for a black semi-automatic pistol in his waistband. Wittmer fired one shot. The podcast episode is here: https://www.spreaker.com/episode/13383204 In this honest interview, Andrew opens up about the trauma and stresses he went through during and…
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QPP 4: 9/19/17

We begin the podcast with a reference to – but not a discussion of – the trial in which St. Louis Circuit Judge Timothy Wilson acquitted Officer Jason Stockley of premeditated murder this week in St. Louis. Peter and Nick have completed a separate podcast on that incident which will drop this week. Audio: https://www.spreaker.com/episode/13383204…
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Quality Policing: Episode 2

Enjoy. You can add Quality Policing to your podcast subscription or download the MP3 audio file old-school style. Either way, head on over to the webpage for info and links.

QPP 3: September 11, 2017

Photographer shot by a deputy; Chief outrage reporter; London use of force statistics; Murder Accountability Project; Polk County Sheriff; Detroit Cops capture murderer. Audio: https://www.spreaker.com/episode/13383206 This episode is dedicated to those who lost their lives on September 11, 2001 and to those who have since passed from injuries suffered as a result of those attacks.…
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Still trying to explain…

What’s wrong with the Brennan Center’s analysis? There are many problems. But here are a few: 1) They take a non-random sample (which isn’t bad in and of itself) and then A) don’t tell the reader in the text and B) state conclusions as if the sample were a random sample (every data point equal…
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Quality Policing Podcast: Interview With Jeff Asher

There’s another quality policing podcast in which I talk to data analyst Jeff Asher about the Brennan Center’s latest report on crime. Asher had posted this thread about methodological problems in their data and analysis. Brennan has a new report out showing murder down 2.5% nationally, but there are some major issues with that finding.…
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QPP 2: Jeff Asher: Are Murder Rates Rising?

Jeff Asher is a crime analyst and consultant based out of New Orleans. He previously worked as a crime analyst for the City of New Orleans. Jeff runs the NOLA Crime News blog and can be found on twitter @Crimealytics. Audio: https://www.spreaker.com/episode/13383202 The genesis of this podcast interview was the release by the Brennan Center…
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Quality Policing Podcast

Nick Selby and I made a podcast! Check it out at qualitypolicing.com/. The first episode is up. And cut us some slack, it’s the first episode.

QPP 1: Welcome to the Quality Policing Podcast

Nurse Wubbels and Detective Payne; David Clarke; Joe Arpaio; “We only shoot black people;” Sheriff Ed Gonzalez & the Houston response. Audio: https://www.spreaker.com/episode/13383205 After confrontation with nurse at Utah hospital, detective said on camera he’d “bring them all the transients.” This story also includes the sequence of events, beginning with the accident of 43-year-old William…
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