Apparently an officer in Sanford FL (pop 57,000, 30% African American) was fired for this (and quit before termination). I don’t know if he was on duty of off duty (or why it would matter). A cop with a clean record gets on stage at a concert and shouts, best I can tell, “Let the…
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I love thoughtful cops. Especially those who can write. He emailed me this and agreed to let me repost it, anonymously. I wish him well and am happy to see people like this still becoming police officers. I’m a police recruit with a B.A. in the social sciences, and I read your blog a lot.…
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The third of three little remembrances of my policing days. There’s been a lot of talk recently about a so-called “Ferguson Effect.” I don’t know. It’s certainly possible. Even probably, I would say. There’s always been disincentives in the police world to actually doing any work, especially from those who see police as a force…
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Baltimore, December 9, 2000: We get a call for disorderly on Somethingleaf Court. Turns into an armed person. Housing won’t take it. Man is there as promised. We get there and I frisk him. [Officer C] has his gun out. No gun. The guy said he gave this woman $20 for “you know, whatever”. He…
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Sometimes it’s fun to re-read my old field notes. I should write a book or something. This is from Jan 24, 2001 (and better than my average day’s notes): [Officer A] and I are walking our 4 miles at 5am: “People say this is a good neighborhood with a few bad people. But it’s not.…
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A few months ago I warned people not to believe the hype (at least in NYC). But all signs do now indicate the murders are up. The numbers below come from “The Brainroom” at Fox News. They compiled publically released data from city police departments. There are some cities where murder isn’t up, of course,…
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Adrian Schoolcraft wanted money and he got it, according to the Post. Schoolcraft wasn’t the first to point out that the NYPD was under intense (and illegal) quota pressure. He’s just, as I wrote. The only one, in my humble opinion, who has tried to martyr himself and turn number fudging into a tidy personal…
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Some stats about the NYPD in the New York Times. Bratton is giving more discretion to local commanders for disciplining cops for minor offenses. That’s good. It’s another move away from the micro-managed overly top-down approach of former Commissioner Ray Kelly. The article then tries to say Bratton is not applying Broken Windows within his…
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No, Freddie Gray should not be. What a disgrace to MLK, Jr. I hate to paraphrase The Trump, but just because you are killed or die in police custody does not make you a hero. But such is politics in Baltimore. When these officers look at this larger-than-life mural with Gray in the center, they…
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