Police

Dutch “coffee shop” fined 10 million euros

Ahhh, the joys of drug regulation and the strange wonders of Dutch drug policy. The ultimate crime seem to be that this place got too big for its britches. But they nailed them for keeping a stock of more than 18 ounces of marijuana. That is a limit that most if not all coffee shops violate. But this place was…

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Police

The Battery

I just finished a excellent book by Henry Schlesinger, The Battery: How Portable Power Sparked a Technological Revolution. You may remember Schlesinger as the co-author (with Joe Poss) of the wonderful non-fiction police story Brooklyn Bounce. The Batteryis all about, you guessed it, batteries. Turns out they have a fascinating history and Schlesinger tells it well. One interesting police note:…

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Police

A Whiff of Taser

From a reader: “So, following the memo to pick your targets carefully when employing the Taser, Taser invents a device to fire wildly into a crowd.”

Police

Overrated Careers

I’m proud to announce that “professor” has joined the list of overrated careers that already includes “police officer.” Boy, I sure know how to pick them! So says U.S. News and World Report.

Police

Police Priorities

Evidently, the MTA (New York’s subways and buses) could raise enough money to prevent massive service cuts if they could only collect the fare from 27 million dollarsof fare evaders. Meanwhile, the NYPD arrests more people for misdemeanor drugs possession (half of those for the lowest level of marijuana possession) than it does for fare evasion. That’s an interesting take…

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Police

Police, Ethography, Sociology, Crime, and How Things Work

I always like academics who can explain things simply. I rarely find any greater knowledge or meaning hidden behind esoteric words and jargon-filled academic prose. Here’s Professor Jay Livingston on the difference between ethnography and survey research. While it’s not a distinction that most non-academics give two-beans about, it’s a great description. From A Shot of Ethnography: Survey research shows…

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Police

New Development in Rev. Ayers Case

Turns out that Billy Shane Harrison, the officer who killed Ayers, didn’t (and doesn’t) actually have police powers. He let his firearm training lapse. Oops (and from TV news). Maybe if this drug officer had had proper training, oh, I don’t know, he could have figured a better tactical way of stopping an innocent man for questioning without causing a…

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Police

It’s back!

This was taken down for a while but is now back up. The funniest YouTube video I’ve ever seen. Maybe it’s only hilarious if you are or were a cop and don’t speak German. But I think it’s probably funny regardless.

Police

NYPD Stop and Frisks

Lenny Levitt poses an interesting question is his weekly column: From 2004 through 2009, [New York City] police have had nearly three million stop-and-frisk encounters, which involve patting people down or questioning them. Virtually all of those stopped are black or Hispanic. In 88 per cent of the cases, the people searched or questioned were innocent of wrongdoing. [ed note:…

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