Category: Policing

After a While, the Evidence Is Too Much To Ignore

by · Sep 28, 2021 6:34 am

When Vox and NYU, of all places, finally see that policing is the solution and not the problem, you know that our violent crime epidemic has gone over the cliff.

From this article in Vox:

Last year, the US’s murder rate spiked by almost 30 percent. So far in 2021, murders are up nearly 10 percent in major cities. The 2020 increase alone is the largest percentage increase ever recorded in America — and a reversal from overall declines in murder rates since the 1990s.

American policymakers now want answers on this surge. One approach has good evidence behind it: the police.

There is solid evidence that more police officers and certain policing strategies reduce crime and violence. In a recent survey of criminal justice experts, a majority said increasing police budgets would improve public safety. The evidence is especially strong for strategies that home in on very specific problems, individuals, or groups that are causing a lot of crime or violence — approaches that would require restructuring how many police departments work today.

I don’t agree with everything in the article  —  far from it  —  but it’s instructive that our national murder crisis has come to this point.  At some stage, reality does intrude, even in the citadels of liberalism.

Continue reading . . .

Police Blame Defund Movement for Oakland Bloodbath

by · Sep 15, 2021 2:25 pm

Oakland, CA on Monday, September 13, 2021, was a “bloodbath” according to Sgt. Barry Donelan, president of the Oakland Police Officers Association. Homicides in Oakland increased from 67 by September 2020 to at least 93 by September 2021, which amounts to a 38.8% increase.   “This devastating violence is brought to you by the majority of Oakland’s City Council that defunded the police that discounts the plight of Oakland’s victims of violent crime, and hide behind their zoom screens, ignoring the decade-high violent crime occurring on city streets,” said Donelan.

Continue reading . . .

Dangerous New DOJ Policy On Chokeholds and “No-Knock” Warrants

by · Sep 15, 2021 11:39 am

A new memo released from the Department of Justice (DOJ) by Attorney General Merrick Garland makes policy changes that have the potential to endanger the lives of federal agents, as well as the limit the seizure of criminal evidence.  According to the memo released September 14th, 2021, the DOJ is changing policy effective immediately regarding the use of chokeholds and “no-knock” warrants.  The change appears inspired by the deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor.  Officer Derek Chauvin was convicted of causing Floyd’s death by using a form of a chokehold to pin him down after he resisted arrest.  Breonna Taylor died in a shootout which began when her current boyfriend shot at police executing a “no-knock” warrant to arrest her former boyfriend, drug dealer Jamarcus Glover.   Continue reading . . .

Bluegrass Bloodshed and Possible Solutions

by · Aug 6, 2021 2:22 pm

Joshua Crawford of the Pegasus Institute has this op-ed on the horrific rates of shootings and homicides in Louisville, Kentucky and the city council’s reaction.

Louisville Metro Council recently took significant measures that could help save lives and stop the out-of-control bloodshed. They passed a budget with notable measures including allocating $620,000 to expand the ShotSpotter gunshot detection system, $500,000 to help with the implementation of Group Violence Intervention (GVI), and millions that can be used to increase officer pay in the hopes of improving recruitment and retention. They also admirably resisted calls from radicals to defund LMPD.

Continue reading . . .

Alarm About Violent Crime Is Now America’s Lead Issue

by · Jul 13, 2021 2:22 pm

For years, the Left’s complacency about crime has tried to disguise itself by claiming that it’s really the norm of mature thinking, and that the problem is the “fear” and “hysteria” of those of us who think complacency is a foolhardy and dishonest response.

As has become undeniably evident in recent months, however, even well disguised complacency isn’t going to work anymore.  The country is  headed into its second year of an unprecedented surge in murder (and yes, the correct word is “murder,” not “gun violence”).  The question is whether this will come to a head in the mid-term  elections now less than 16 months away.

Continue reading . . .

Biden Tanks as Violent Crime Rises

by · Jul 2, 2021 1:12 pm

The Washington Post, ever tooting the horn for President Biden and his pet project of more gun control, nonetheless apparently sees itself as forced to cover some of the uncomfortable truths about surging violent crime, what the public wants to do about it, and what the President says he wants to do about it.  (What he’s actually done, so far as on-the-ground results show, is nothing).

The Post’s headline is, “Concern over crime is growing — but Americans don’t just want more police, Post-ABC poll shows.”

Continue reading . . .

Supreme Court Sends Excessive Force Case Back to USCA8

by · Jun 28, 2021 8:44 am

The U.S. Supreme Court issued two summary decisions today. In Lombardo v. St. Louis, No. 20-391, the Court sent a case back to the Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, a procedure known as “grant, vacate, and remand” or GVR. The case involves the death in custody of likely suicidal prisoner who was very actively resisting officers’ attempts to subdue him. Ironically, they caused the very result he tried to inflict on himself–death by asphyxiation.

Quoting a 2015 precedent, the unsigned opinion for the majority says that deciding claims such as these “requires careful attention to the facts and circumstances of each particular case.” See the problem here? Continue reading . . .

How De-Funding the Police Works When Reality Strikes

by · Jun 23, 2021 12:07 pm

The George Floyd riots led some politicians, mostly in Leftist-dominated cities like Minneapolis, Portland and Seattle, to call for de-funding the police.  For those not inclined to view the world through the prism of anti-Americanism, and who therefore knew where reducing police presence would lead, the resulting surge in violent crime was hardly a surprise.  (It’s unfortunate that adults, or persons posing as adults, have to learn that where the police are stepped back, or not present at all, criminals will quickly get the picture and take advantage.  But this seems to be where we are).

Still, that relentless enemy of the Leftist narrative  —  that is, reality  —  will have its way, generally sooner rather than later.  It’s all nicely summarized in one flow chart.

Continue reading . . .

The Entirely Foreseeable Consequence of the War on Police

by · Jun 18, 2021 4:08 pm

Maxine Bernstein reports for the Oregonian:

Officers who serve on the Portland Police Bureau’s specialized crowd control unit, known as the Rapid Response Team, voted to resign from the team during a meeting Wednesday night.

The unprecedented move by about 50 officers, detectives and sergeants to disband their own team came a day after a team member, Officer Corey Budworth, was indicted, accused of fourth-degree assault stemming from a baton strike against a protester last summer.

The team commander submitted this memorandum to the chief explaining the reasons for the mass resignation. The reasons will not come as any surprise to those who have been paying attention. This is dangerous work. Yet those who are putting their lives on the line for the rest of us are getting the backing and support they should be getting from local leaders. Continue reading . . .