From the Baltimore City Paperby Edward Ericson Jr. A quote from an officer: I can recall Commissioner Batts addressing the officers at headquarters prior to going out on the street. He pretty much patted himself on the back making statements like. “I have been in five riots and I will assure you that this is…
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That’s the motto of Camden, New Jersey. It’s from a Walt Whitman poem. A comment to a previous post made me think more about Camden. I’ve been through there a few times. Caught the River Line. Looked down from the PATCO Speedline. And I know a lot of my old 78s are from Camden. That’s…
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A good step in the right direction from Acting Commissioner Kevin Davis.
Apparently — and I didn’t know this — Baltimore is actually a role model for other cities in how to control civil unrest. Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake didn’t exactly jump the shark right here. She jumped the shark a long time ago. But this is becoming insane. She actual said this: And while you say…
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Al Baker in the Times: Nineteen New York City police officers assigned to a station house in the Bronx face disciplinary action after being charged on Friday by department lawyers with wrongdoing, including incorrectly classifying crimes and downgrading criminal complaints, the police said. The administrative charges against the officers, from the 40th Precinct, follow an…
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Usually when I get called from the media about a police-involved shooting I expect I’m going to have to explain how a reasonable police officer might perceive a potentially lethal threat. Not here. This is a bad shooting: The killing happened two years ago. The video was just released. The officers faced no legal consequences.…
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Cops would complain about this all the time when Kelly was chief. After a decade in power, the stories of his micromanaging were legendary. This is the kind of stuff the public never really understands or appreciates, even when it dominates internal police culture. A long overdue article, from the veteran Murray Weiss at DNA.info:…
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Police officer line-of-duty deaths are down 15 percent this year. Gunfire deaths are down 38 percent. Odd, because a lot of reporters were calling me last year when the number were up. “Is it Ferguson?!” “Is it Obama?!” “Are criminals less brazen?!” “Has training gotten better?!” “Are criminals worse shots?!” [Silence of me staring at…
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In late May Rolling Stone had a poorly conceived article about Baltimore police and riots. On May 30th I wrote this letter to the editor: I applaud Matt Taibbi (“Why Baltimore Blew Up”) for keeping the focus on Baltimore after the nation’s attention seems to have shifted elsewhere. But Taibbi seems more intent on attacking…
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Reports the LA Times. This came about after a very bad shooting. Twenty-eight people have been shot to death by Albuquerque police over the last five years, a per capita rate eight times that of New York.