Category: Policing

As the Police Are Scorned and “Progressive” Prosecutors Settle In, Murder Explodes Across America

by · Jul 6, 2020 12:36 pm

The New York Times today makes some efforts to explain away the story, but for the most part tells it straight up:  Murder is surging in cities across the country:

Overall crime is down 5.3 percent in 25 large American cities relative to the same period in 2019, with violent crime down 2 percent.

But murder in these 25 cities is up 16.1 percent in relation to last year. It’s not just a handful of cities driving this change, either. Property crime is down in 18 of the 25 sampled cities, and violent crime is down in 11 of them, but murder is up in 20 of the cities.

Continue reading . . .

Abolish the Police? “That Would Be Suicide.”

by · Jul 3, 2020 9:02 pm

The types  —  mostly white  — who went to Columbia and NYU Law and take the limo out to their weekend place in the Hamptons are none too pleased with the NYPD.  Their man, Mayor Bill de Blasio, just cut the police budget by a billion dollars, in a time of dramatically rising violent crime.

But New Yorkers who lead ordinary lives have a different view.  Asked about the prospect of abolishing the police, the response made up in common sense what it lacked academic refinement:  “That would be suicide.”

The commentary in the Western Journal lays it on the line.

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Democrats Vote Against Tim Scott’s Police Reform Bill

by · Jul 2, 2020 3:34 pm

Part 3 in a three-part series.

Shortly after president Trump signed a new executive order aimed at initiating police reform at the federal level, both parties in the House and Senate drafted their reform bills, proposing new laws and amendments.

Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina led the Senate Republican Bill, which was quickly and harshly shut down by Senate  Democrats. The vote against the legislation is tragedy, as it eliminates any possibility of passing police reform this year. Continue reading . . .

What’s Inside Trump’s Executive Order on Police Reform

by · Jun 30, 2020 1:40 pm

Part 1 of a three part series:

Earlier this month, President Trump signed an executive order aimed at guiding police reforms following weeks of national unrest sparked by the death of George Floyd.

The order would create federal incentives through the Justice Department for local police departments that implement “independent credentialing” to certify that law enforcement is improving standards for the use of force and de-escalation training.

Continue reading . . .

Police Report a Spike in Violence

by · Jun 29, 2020 10:45 am

A survey of four U.S. cities finds that crime and particularly shootings have increased significantly since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and widespread protesting organized by Black Lives Matter.  Luke Barr of ABC News reports that data compiled by the Police Executive Research Forum found that during the third week of June 72 people were shot in New York City.  An official from the NYPD suggested that the pandemic-related release of inmates from Rikers Island had contributed to the increased violence. “[W]e’re seeing a large uptick of parolees involved on either end of the gun, as either the shooter or the victim,” he said. Continue reading . . .

Because Black Lives Matter, Save Them Instead of Sacrificing Them to Blind Ideology

by · Jun 28, 2020 2:31 pm

As I noted in an earlier post, no normal person disagrees with the proposition that black lives matter.  So the obvious question is:  What can we do to preserve and enhance them?

This is not a hard question, because we’ve been preserving and enhancing black lives for an entire generation.  We didn’t do it by tearing down statues, defacing monuments, chucking bricks through store windows or setting up lawless “autonomous zones.”  Liberals know perfectly well how we did it, but don’t want to admit it because that would confound The Received Woke Wisdom.  Jason Riley of the WSJ spills the beans, however.

Continue reading . . .