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Shutting the Barn Door (#446, 3/19/24)
Oregon moves to re-criminalize hard drugs
Houston, We Have (Another) Problem (#445, 2/28/24)
Fueled by assault rifles, murders plague the land
Wrong Place, Wrong Time, Wrong Cop (#444, 2/8/24)
Recent exonerees set "records" for wrongful imprisonment
America's Violence- Beset Capital City (#443, 1/20/24)
Our Nation's capital is plagued by murder
Are Civilians Too Easy on the Police? (II) (#442, 12/18/23)
Exonerated of murder, but not yet done
Warning: (Frail) Humans at Work (#441, 11/29/23)
The presence of a gun can prove lethal
See No Evil - Hear No Evil - Speak No Evil (#440, 11/14/23)
Is the violent crime problem really all in our heads?
Policing Can't Fix What Really Ails (#439, 10/18/23)
California's posturing overlooks a chronic issue
Confirmation Bias Can be Lethal (#438, 9/21/23)
Why did a "routine" stop cost a man's life?
When (Very) Hard Heads Collide (II) (#437, 9/5/23)
Why did a "routine" stop cost a man's life?
What Cops Face (#436, 8/24/23)
America’s violent atmosphere can distort officer decisions
Punishment Isn't a Cop's Job (III) (#435, 8/1/23)
Some citizens misbehave; some cops answer in kind
San Antonio Blues (#434, 7/20/23)
What poverty brings can impair the quality of policing
Keep going...
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3/28/24 Fifty-one percent of Philadelphia’s police applicants now pass its
physical fitness test, versus 36 percent before standards were relaxed. Fewer pushups and situps are
required, and more time is allotted to complete the 1.5 mile run. After all, such things are addressed at
the academy. With 836 vacancies and 470 injured officers off the streets, options seemed limited.
Meanwhile, Pennsylvania no longer requires two years of college to be a state trooper. Applications have
reportedly “surged”.
Related post
An analysis of data
from the Gun Violence Archive reveals that gun violence
besets the South. According to The Trace, thirteen of the twenty
towns and cities with the highest rate of shootings between 2014-2023 are in that region. Selma, Alabama,
for example, had a higher rate than infamous Chicago. Comparing States produced similar findings. While
Illinois was one of the four States with the highest rate of fatal and injury-producing shootings,
the other three were Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.
Related post
Although he reported being “profoundly troubled” by gun crime and mass shootings, Virginia
Gov. Glenn Youngkin (a “Red”) vetoed, as expected, a bill to prohibit assault weapons.
According to his message, the Constitution forbids outlawing a broad category of guns used for lawful
purposes, including self-defense. In his view, the solution lies in stronger penalties and more money for
mental health treatment. Gov. Youngkin also turned away a host of other proposed gun laws. But he signed
a bill that outlaws devices which convert guns to fire fully automatically.
Related post
A major inquiry led by the Associated Press probed 1,036 instances over
ten years where deaths resulted after police officers used supposedly non-lethal methods of force, ranging
from prone restraint and blows to Tasers and bean-bag shotguns. Over 800 police agencies were identified;
sixteen percent of the deaths occurred in one of the nation’s 20 major cities. Methodology Cases
Related post
3/27/24 Illinois’
top parole official has resigned in connection with his board’s release of Crosetti Brand, who
went on to fatally stab the 11-year old son of a woman he had chronically - and violently - stalked.
Donald Shelton’s exit follows on the resignation of board member Lee Ann Miller, who favored the
release. Her departure had been praised as “the correct decision” by Governor Pritzker, who
said that Brand’s release “was not given the careful consideration that victims of domestic
violence deserve.”
Related post
Five Texas residents face Federal charges for illegally acquiring and
smuggling more than 100 “high-powered” rifles to Mexico and selling them to a drug cartel.
Their weapons, which included “FNH SCAR rifles, Barrett .50 caliber rifles, FNH M294S rifles, and
M1919 rifles”, had been purchased by straw buyers from both licensed and unlicensed dealers in
the U.S.
Related post
According to the FBI, its enhanced background-check system for gun buyers under 21, which was
implemented in October 2022, has led to “more than 600” denials of gun purchases that would
have otherwise been approved. State databases that the FBI typically queries don’t consistently
include disabling criminal history and mental records for younger persons. Specifically reaching out to
local police and to juvenile justice and mental health authorities has made a significant difference.
Related post
3/26/24 Violence besets New York City. Officer Jonathan Diller was shot and killed by the
passenger of a car stopped by NYPD’s Critical Response Team. Return gunfire wounded the shooter. He
had four prior arrests, including a recent gun charge. The car’s driver has eleven prior arrests.
NYPD’s chief of detectives called it “a recidivist problem. Same bad people doing bad things
to good people.” And in the city’s fraught subways, a 24-year old man was arrested for
murder after pushing a rider into the path of an oncoming train. Hours earlier, a dispute between
passengers about smoking had led to a stabbing. Related posts
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Three tons of meth. That’s
what officials at the Otay Mesa crossing near San Diego just found in an inbound tractor-trailer. Neatly
wrapped in 574 packages, the drugs were hidden under a load of...carrots. Agents recently seized seized
400 pounds of cocaine. It was secreted among...cucumbers. And, in yet another haul, two tons of
meth and cocaine, stashed in containers of jalapeno paste.
Immigration updates
Related post
It’s not just D.C. Its “closest suburbs” are reeling from years-long increases
in violent and property crime. Carjackings are rampant. Prince George’s County had 86 in 2019 and a
stunning 508 in 2023. Montgomery County had 19 in 2019 and 99 last year. A resident complained that
“criminals are more brazen today.” Thieves recently tried to take the wheels off his
son’s car. And security cameras didn’t keep his neighbor’s home from being burgled. But
2024 has brought some improvements, and officials are hopeful that the downward trend in crime will
continue.
Related post
3/25/24 D.C.’s “drug-free” zones, which empower police to expel suspected drug
users and sellers, are now in effect at three locations. By law they can last only five days. But
it’s hoped that this provision of the District’s new “Secure D.C.” bill can help tackle the
street crime problem. Many residents welcome the intrusion. But some worry of police overreach. And
there’s also a concern that the zones will take the place of drug and mental health treatment.
Related post
An ATF affidavit accused the chief of Arkansas’s Little Rock airport of illegally reselling
“more than 150” guns he bought from licensed firearms dealers between 2021-2024. Many
reportedly wound up in the hands of criminals and were used in crimes. But when agents tried to serve a
search warrant at his home, Bryan Malinowski, 53, opened fire. An agent was wounded, and Malinowski was
shot dead.
Related post
Johns Hopkins U. and DOJ have established the “National Extreme Risk Protection
Order Resource Center”. Its purpose is to advise and help train law enforcement officers,
prosecutors, judges, clinicians and other service providers in the use of ERPO (“Red Flag”)
laws, which authorize courts to issue orders directing the seizure of firearms from dangerous persons.
Website
Related post
Qualified immunity forbids civil rights lawsuits against
individual police officers unless they “clearly violated” a law. That, according to a recent Ninth Circuit
ruling, shields LAPD officer Toni McBride from a lawsuit filed by the family of Daniel Hernandez,
whom she shot dead in 2020. That’s so even though the LAPD Commission had ruled that her final two
shots, once Hernandez was on the ground, were out of policy. But Chief Michel Moore disagreed, and
officer McBride went unpunished.
Related post
3/22/24 Five former Rankin County, Mississippi deputies and a local
police officer, all White, were sentenced to prison terms ranging from ten to forty years on their guilty
pleas to violating the civil rights of two Black residents. According to prosecutors, the accused engaged
in a “hate-fueled power trip” in which they burst into a home without a warrant, used racial
slurs, delivered countless blows, and staged a mock execution in which one of the victims was shot in the
jaw. Former
deputies testified of a “goon squad” that took pride in abusing suspected criminals and
ruled over promotions and assignments.
Related post
According to the National Registry of Exonerations, 153 persons were exonerated of their criminal
convictions during 2023. Eighty-six were exonerated of murder, and two for manslaughter. Twenty-three were
exonerated of other violent crimes, and 17 for sexual assault. Fifty exonerations were based at least in
part on mistaken eyewitness ID, 32 on false confessions, and 116 on perjury or false information. False or
“misleading” forensic evidence was cited in 43 cases. National Registry
Related post
One-hundred nineteen American law enforcement officers
committed suicide in 2023 according to FirstHelp. They averaged about 17 years of service, and more than
eighty percent were Caucasian. This total is considerable fewer than the 169 officer deaths by suicide
FirstHelp reported for in 2022, and the 197 for 2019. But it’s far more than the thirteen that
the FBI’s UCR system recorded
at mid-year 2023. Its data collection efforts, though, are admittedly incomplete.
Related post
3/21/24 Emmett Brock lost his job as a substitute high school
teacher because of his arrest by a Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy one year ago. Violently subdued
after a traffic stop (he flipped off the deputy while driving by), the transgender man was charged with
“three felonies and a misdemeanor.” But bodycam video proved damning, and the prosecution was dropped. He’s now been
fully exonerated. Mr. Brock has filed a lawsuit, and the D.A. is investigating the deputy.
Related post
Just launched, “Operation Safe Cities” partners the FBI and ATF
with local police to combat commercial robbery, kidnapping, extortion and gun crime in Southern California.
“Sophisticated investigative tools” including firearms tracing will be used to target dangerous
offenders for Federal prosecution. For example, persons with three or more prior convictions for violent
crimes can draw a mandatory fifteen-year Federal term if caught with a gun.
Related post
3/20/24 Chicago is suing gun maker Glock in Cook County
court over a chronic design flaw that allows home-made “auto sears” to be easily fitted to its
pistols. Auto sears, which enable firing multiple rounds with a single trigger squeeze, essentially turn
guns into machineguns. Chicago PD reports seizing more than a thousand auto-sear equipped Glocks in the last
two years.
Related post
In a split decision opposed by its three liberally-inclined members, the Supreme Court allowed Texas to
enforce its new immigration law while its Constitutionality is litigated by the Fifth Circuit. But the
Circuit promptly put the law back on "hold". Meanwhile the White House continued to insist that immigration
is the Fed’s exclusive turf. “We fundamentally disagree with the Supreme Court’s order
allowing Texas’ harmful and unconstitutional law to go into effect” said Press Secretary Karine
Jean-Pierre.
Immigration updates
Related post
Attorney General Merrick B. Garland announced a substantial drop in crime between 2022-2023,
including “an over 13% decline in homicides.” According to the Major City Police
Chiefs Association, its 69 member cities reported slight to moderate decreases in violent crime. Our
tabulation of its data shows a 10.4% decrease in homicides. Rapes declined by 8.3%, aggravated assaults fell
2.7%, and there were 0.8% fewer robberies. But some cities bucked the trend. For example, homicides
increased 9% in Dallas, 22.6% in Seattle, and 35% in D.C.
Related post
3/19/24 Three years ago Chicago police tried to stop a car that ran a stop
sign. Although Chicago police department rules prohibit pursuits for minor traffic violators, it turned into
a high-speed chase. By the time that officers pulled away it was too late. The fleeing car crashed, and a 15
-year old passenger was critically injured. He remains fully paralyzed. His family sued, and city council
members have proposed a $45 million settlement, the largest in city history.
Related post
In 2019 El Cajon (Calif.) police discovered an arsenal of firearms, including many that
were illegal, while conducting a probation search of a misdemeanor gun offender. John Fencl was charged with
possessing illegal firearms, and a judge ordered him to give up all his guns while awaiting trial. Fencl sued,
citing the Supreme Court’s
Bruen decision, which requires that gun laws follow legal “history and tradition”. But a three
-judge Ninth Circuit panel unanimously ruled that prohibiting potentially dangerous persons awaiting trial
from having firearms complies with Bruen.
U.S. v. Fencl
Related post
3/18/24
Chicago man Crosetti Brand, 37, had a life-long history of stalking, harassing and assaulting women.
Repeatedly the subject of protection orders, he got 16 years in prison for a 2015 assault. Paroled last
October, he promptly picked on a former target. Although he had been ordered to keep away, he tried to break
into her residence. Brand was returned into custody. But he was released on March 12. One day later he got in.
Armed with a knife, he stabbed the woman and killed her 11-year old son.
Related post
8-THC is a virtual twin of 9-THC,
marijuana’s psychoactive element. But 8-THC, which is assertedly legal, is present in a wide assortment
of gummies and vapes that are marketed and sold to youths. According to medical researchers, their ingestion,
which produces marijuana-like “intoxicating effects”, presents the same risks of addiction and
perils to mental development as marijuana.
Related post
Maine has a “Yellow Flag” law that allows authorities to request that a judge order
dangerous persons to give up their guns. According to a commission investigating the October 2023 massacre in
a Lewiston bowling alley, where eighteen were shot dead, it could have been applied to its perpetrator, Army
reservist Robert Card, well in advance. But a deputy who knew five weeks earlier that Card was in a
“mental health crisis” and had threatened to commit a mass shooting did...nothing.
Related post
A Connecticut jury acquitted ex-State trooper Brian North of manslaughter and negligent homicide for
shooting and killing a mentally-troubled youth who flaunted a knife. In the 2020 incident, Mubarak Soulemane,
19 resisted arrest at the end of a pursuit and crash, and then-trooper North fired seven rounds because he
thought, mistakenly as it turns out, that a fellow officer might be stabbed. A $10-million dollar wrongful
death lawsuit remains in progress. Related posts
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In February Minneapolis-area resident Shannon Gooden, 38, shot and killed two suburban Minneapolis police
officers and a paramedic during a domestic violence call. Gooden, who had been convicted of assault with a
knife, was barred from having guns. But his live-in companion, Ashley Dyrdahl, who allegedly knew of
his record, bought him several, including three AR-15 style rifles. She has now been Federally indicted for
doing so. Related posts
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3/15/24 James Crumbley was found guilty by a Michigan jury. Both he and his wife Jennifer now
stand convicted of four counts of involuntary manslaughter for making a gun accessible to their deeply
troubled 17-year old son. In November 2021, Ethan Crumbley used the pistol his father bought him four days
earlier to kill four students at Michigan’s Oxford High School. He pled guilty and got life without
parole. His mother was convicted in February. She and her husband could draw up to 15 years on each count.
Related posts
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In the aftermath of Tyre Nichols’ brutal death, Memphis enacted a law that prohibits officers from using minor reasons, such as a broken
taillight or expired license plate, to make traffic stops. Its effects on policing recently led some Tennessee
legislators to introduce a bill that would prohibit cities from enacting such measures. The Federal trial
of four ex-Memphis cops for violating Mr. Nichols’ civil rights is now set for September 2024. It will be
followed by their State trial on murder charges.
Related post
Going against a seeming trend, Oakland crime
“surged” in 2023. Traditionally violence-ridden areas got worse, and even privileged districts
became beset with break-ins. In response, both Denny’s and In-N-Out Burger simply closed shop. Local
politicians blame the “crime wave” on inadequate police funding and “reforms” such as
Prop. 47 that substantially eased punishment. Memories of police misconduct haunt the search for solutions.
But after having his car repeatedly broken into, even a police reform advocate wonders “what is going
on?”.
Related post
3/14/24 Two Kansas City men face multiple Federal charges, including unlicensed gun dealing,
in connection with the February’s Super Bowl shootout. Fedo Manning and Ronnel Williams Jr. are accused
of buying and illegally reselling numerous guns, including the AR-15 style assault rifles recovered at the
scene. Both are also accused of buying gun parts for the purpose of assembling them into unserialized weapons.
Their customers included Chaelyn Groves, 19, who was too young to legally buy the pistol that Williams
supplied.
Related post
LAPD is recruiting “real” lawyers. Why? To help fire “bad cops.” By city
law, that requires a hearing before, and the approval of, a three-member “Board of Rights” panel.
Its members used to include officers, but accused can now demand that all be civilians. Past cases, though,
have convinced the city that civilians tend go easy on the cops. What’s more, officers can bring in their
own high-powered lawyers, while LAPD is only represented by cops with law degrees. So to help balance things,
they’re hiring!
Related post
3/13/24
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser signed “Secure D.C.,” a comprehensive anti-crime measure that was
prompted by her city’s problems with violent crime. Among (many) other things, it increases penalties for
certain gun offenses and lesser thefts, broadens the definition of “carjacking,” relaxes
restrictions on police chases and use of force, increases judges’ ability to detain potentially dangerous
persons, and allows police to designate “drug-free zones”. Bill text
Related post
After 25 years on the job,
Uvalde Police Chief Daniel Rodriguez resigned. He escaped direct blame for the loss of life at Robb Elementary,
as he was in Phoenix when the massacre took place and had left a subordinate in charge. Chief Rodriguez’s
resignation came only a few days after the city’s release of a report that has been highly criticized for
absolving Uvalde’s officers of blame. But city leaders praised Chief Rodriguez and wished him well.
Related post
3/12/24 In Apple Valley, Calif., Sheriff’s deputies responded to a 9-1-1 call from a home where a teen
was reportedly assaulting family members and causing damage. Seconds after the first deputy on scene approached
the home’s open front door, 15-year old Ryan Gainer emerged from its interior aggressively wielding
“an approximate five-foot-long garden tool, with a sharp bladed end.” Gainer ignored commands to
“get back,” and the deputy, who had already drawn his pistol, shot him dead.
Video
Related post
Pittsburgh police will no longer respond to calls other than
“in-progress emergencies.” Chief Larry Scirotto told reporters that short-staffing requires
they cut yearly call volume about 75%, from 200,000 to 50,000. According to Pittsburgh PD’s portal, complaints about criminal mischief,
theft and harassment will be handled by a “Telephone Reporting Unit”. But officers will still
respond to calls “where a suspect may be on scene, any crime where a person may need medical aid, any
domestic dispute, calls with evidence, or where the Mobile Crime Unit will be requested to process
a scene.”
Related post
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