Quality Policing Podcast and Blog

$12,500 in Seattle Taser Settlement

A homeless felon in Seattle gets $12,500 for being tased twice simultaneously by two officers. That’s just what I don’t like my tax dollars going to. I’m not saying the cops didn’t follow procedure and their training. I am saying that procedure and training are wrong. [A] judge ruled that the two officers … were…
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Bicycle Patrol

I love the idea of cops on bikes. Nothing beats the speed and stealth. But I haven’t really considered the benefits of paramedicson bikes. A couple of those saved a life in Chicago. The rescue might not have been possible if not for the paramedics’ bicycle team, which can weave in and out of crowded…
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New Haven Firefighters

Interesting story in the New York Times about Ben Vargas, the lone Hispanic firefighter on the winning side of Ricci v. DeStafano.

Police Blogs

Here’s a police blogs that seem, at least at first glace, to be pretty interesting.Beat and Release: To new supervisors, I have the following the advice: Dedication to your troops is what engenders respect. Willingness to back them engenders respect. Putting paper on them and chastising them for very minor infractions shows them you are…
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Taxed Marijuana In Rhode Island?

There’s yet morerationality in the news today! Let’s stop quibbling about decriminalized marijuana for dying people and get to the heart of the matter: legalize, regulate, and tax. That’s what they’re looking into in Rhode Island. Katherine Gregg reportsin the Providence Journal: The measure poses a number of specific questions for study, among them: “Whether…
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Man Burned at Burning Man Assumed Risk of Being Burned by Burning Man

Sometimes the courts actual make the right decision. It seems that if you go to Burning Man and get burned by the actual burning man by walking in fire, you can’t sue. Fair enough. Lowering the Bar brought this important legal decision to my attention. I went to burning man once. There’s some incredibly cool…
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Help Wanted

There’s a Craigslist help wanted ad for chief of the BPD’s Criminal Investigations Division. Normally you would expect this position to be in internal promotion. Justin Fenton writes about this in the Sun.

Rain Prevents Crime

Duh. All cops know that. Rain keeps all the sh*ts inside. But apparently it’s breaking news to the New York Times. But I also think, despite what the article says, that rain reduces domestics as well. I don’t have the stats to back that up, but it’s certainly what I saw. Domestics don’t start because…
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Raiding Gay Bars

40 Years after Stonewall police are still raiding gay bars? Really?! And looking for… er… drunk people? If you can’t be drunk in bar, my God, where can you be drunk? Apparently some police were looking for gay men to beat up. The Fort Worth police chief said, “You’re touched and advanced in certain ways…
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Civil Service and Affirmative Action

The Supreme Court ruled in Ricci v. DeStafano that a particularly bizarre form of affirmative action is unconstitutional. You can’t just throw out a test because you don’t like the results. In 2003 a firefighter’s promotional exam produced no black candidates. The city of New Haven threw out the whole exam and promoted no one.…
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