The second in a series from Adam Plantinga’s 400 Things Cops Know: Street-Smart Lessons from a Veteran Patrolman: The seriousness of a gunshot wound depends on a host of factors, including the type and caliber of round, the distance the bullet travels, and if anything is present to slow the bullet down (a wall, a…
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With regards to the killing of Jersey City Police Officer Melvin Santiago, Fox News TV reporter Sean Bergin no longer has a job after editorializing on-air: It’s important to shine a light on this racist mentality that has so contaminated policing and America’s inner-cities. … The underlying cause for all of this, of course, is…
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We all, er, know that guns don’t kill people (even though that is what they’re designed to do). But what I didn’t know was that guns really didn’t kill people until just a few decades ago. As recently as 1960, just 20 percent of NYC homicides involved a gun! That went up to 48 percent…
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A nice New York Times video piece about the coming of the “superpredators” who never came. File under C for crack babies? From the Times: What happened with the superpredator jeremiads is that they proved to be nonsense. They were based on a notion that there would be hordes upon hordes of depraved teenagers resorting…
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A du Pont family heir plead guilty to raping his 3-year-old daughter in 2008. From The Daily News: Superior Judge Jan Jurden sentenced Richards to eight years in prison, but suspended the time for probation that requires monthly visits with a case officer. “Defendant will not fare well in [a prison] setting,” Jurden wrote in…
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Angel Rojas came to the US four years ago from the Dominican Republic with his wife, Maria Lopez and their two kids, now 12 and 8. Rojas was on a break between two jobs, riding the bus home to, (from the New York Times): …hug his children and grab a quick bite. When three young…
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Erin Rose wrote a great piece in Salon about your average run-of-the drug dealer. It’s not like Breaking Bad (though it is in Albuquerque). It’s not like Baltimore’s Eastern District. Most drug dealers are not violent. Most drug dealers are not black. Some highlights (but it’s worth reading in its entirety): Rico works a full-time…
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Last week I mentioned“the army of junkies outside Lexington Market.” My tender New York eyes were a bit shocked by 20 people shouting and 20 other people nodding in what I call the “junkie lean.” You can’t expect decent people or caring parents with children to walk a gauntlet of junkies to go shopping. They…
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Murder in Baltimore is at a four-year high. Murder in New York City is at a record low. Meanwhile, from Justin Fenton’s Baltimore Sun article, in other cities: Homicides across the country Oakland, Calif. — down 25 percent (as of Dec. 12) Philadelphia — down 24 percent (as of Dec. 16) Flint, Mich. — down…
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The stories don’t usually have happy endings. And it was caught on video. He then kicked the window out of the police. But the robber’s mother said this was “not within his character.” Oh, mom.