One of the best resources to stay on top of current police and criminal-justice news is a daily email from Criminal Justice Journalists. They’re not exactly a secret, but most people don’t know about it and everybody should. Bookmark them or give them your email and they’ll send you one e-mail every weekday (and nothing…
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Today’s Los Angeles TimesOpinion Section has an excellent article by an L.A. police officer about cameras in squad cars. I couldn’t have said it better myself, so I won’t. Here’s his piece: View from a squad carPutting video cameras in black-and-whites won’t clear up a distorted picture of the LAPD. By Jack Dunphy Los Angeles…
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Looks like I wasn’t the only one bothered by the picture I posted of New Orleans Mayor Nagin smiling and pointing an automatic weapon. Mayor criticizes use of photograph by Times-Picayune staff Wednesday February 13, 2008, 7:58 PM Editor’s note: Late Wednesday evening, the office of Mayor Ray Nagin released the following statement regarding a…
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Fair warning: If you’re not interested in Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)–and there’s no reason you should be–you should probably just skip this whole post. Brief background: Federal regulations require IRB approval is required for all professors’ research on people. Since 1991 (I just learned this from Shrag’s blog), IRB approval was expanded to cover, among…
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So much bothers me about this storyfeaturing this picture by Eliot Kamenitz of The New Orleans Times-Picayune The captain reads: Mayor Ray Nagin and NOPD Superintendent Warren Riley try out a pair of the NOPD’s new M-4 rifles Tuesday at the Superdome. Money from the state also provided 600 bullet-proof vests. The storybegins: New Orleans…
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I am misquoted in today’s Baltimore Sun. This is the first time I’ve been quoted by a reporter and said, “no!” when reading my words. It particularly irks me to be misinterpreted in the Sun because police I know and like will read it and think I’ve sold out (I’m not quite sure to whom,…
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There’s a story in the Baltimore Sun about a police officer that got suspended over his conduct as shown on a YouTube video. You can’t skate in the Inner Harbor (why, I’m not sure). You can’t bike either (I got busted once for biking through an empty Inner Harbor at 6:45AM on my way to…
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There’s a very interesting exchange on Slate.com between Sudhir Venkatesh and Alex Kotlowitz. These are two authors I respect deeply (and not just because Prof. Venkatesh was kind enough to offer to write a blurb for Cop in the Hood). Their letters discuss the role of researchers vis-à-vis their research subjects. You should read all…
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Last night I was stopped by police. It was about 1AM on the coldest night of the year and I was biking back from work. I needed some groceries and passed an unfamiliar grocery store. I went up on the sidewalk to look inside, trying to decide if it was worth my while to buy…
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This was five years ago and more than an unfortunate accident, it was bad policing and a bad shooting: “Here you got two of the sweetest kids on the Earth going to the mall and having Slurpees, getting shot through the car window. It’s a mess. Yeah, I’m angry,” Harkum said from his Pasadena home.…
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