Over the years, I get regular calls from newspaper reporters for comments on issues of the moment. Sometimes I’ll talk to them, if it’s a subject that interests me or a reporter I know and respect. Much of the time, I won’t. They don’t really care about informing people anymore, but about getting a blurb to fill in the space between their editorializing. I’m not a fan of being the lunchmeat in their “truth” sandwich. I’m decades past caring about seeing my name in the funny pages.

But then, no mainstream media personality has ever called me to do a profile on SJ. Fair enough. It’s pretty niche, and hasn’t been particularly kind to newspapers or reporters in that tribal sort of way they adore. Continue reading →

Whether cops would react differently if they thought about the Good Guy Curve is unlikely. It’s not that they’re necessarily that dumb or narcissistic, but that they care far more about themselves, their own position on the First Rule of Policing, than they do about the other guy making it home for dinner.

The problem is that when they approach a person, even if there’s nothing beyond rank speculation that the guy might be up to something wrong, they may know they’re cops in plain clothes, but the other person doesn’t unless they display shields or say something. Too often, they don’t. They may lie about it afterward and claim they did, but they didn’t. It just wasn’t on their mind at the moment. That was the case when they stopped Lamar Wright in Euclid, Ohio. Continue reading →

Pat Lynch isn’t a cartoon character, although he does his best to come off that way. As police unions, separate from all other public sector unions, have come under attack as being singularly problematic when it comes to excising the cancer of bad individual cops from the force, Lynch does his best Wile E. Coyote routine by throwing teachers unions, inter alia, under the bus.

For example, a common anti-union talking point is that “police unions have traditionally used their bargaining agreements to create obstacles to disciplining officers.” In New York State, at least, that’s false. Police unions are prohibited from negotiating disciplinary issues. The police commissioner — and, by extension, the mayor who appointed him — have full authority over discipline.

But then there’s mandatory arbitration, Pat. They discipline. You arbitrate. Did that slip your mind? Continue reading →

If a program doesn’t run the way it’s supposed to, there is an array of possible reasons, from an erroneous letter or symbol to a bad line of code to a program replete with errors. If it’s to be debugged, which it is matters. Or maybe the code is so bad it isn’t worth fixing and better to start over and rewrite the program. Or, hold on to your hats, maybe the program will never work, no matter how much effort is put into trying to fix it.

If these distinctions aren’t made, the program doesn’t get fixed and perform the way it’s intended. It’s become fashionable to cry “systemic” as the problem with social ills. It has the virtue of creating the impression that everything is wrong and it allows the screamer to avoid the hard labor of identifying what the actual problem is, what is going wrong, and what can be done to fix it. Continue reading →

The existence of CHAZ, the Capital Hill Autonomous Zone created by protesters, has managed to evade much scrutiny. One story appeared in my hometown paper on June 11, which explained its existence in the simplest of terms.

“This space is now property of the Seattle people,” read a banner on the front entrance of the now-empty police station. The entire area was now a homeland for racial justice — and, depending on the protester one talked to, perhaps something more.

One block had a designated smoking area. Another had a medic station. At the “No Cop Co-op,” people could pick up a free LaCroix sparkling water or a snack. No currency was accepted, but across the street, in a nod to capitalism, a bustling stand was selling $6 hot dogs. It was dealing in U.S. dollars.

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Having read little more than some screen shots of the Bible, Princess Karen version, also known as White Fragility by marketeer Robin DiAngelo, the only thing I know for sure is that I don’t self-flagellate with sufficient vigor. And, I’m told, I should because of my “white privilege.”

We are determined to do that work and determined to let everyone know we are doing it. This work is deemed necessary so we can become better allies for black people in the fight for racial justice. There are so many anguished conversations among white people taking place right now about what to write on our protest signs, about that time we said that thing to a black friend and it changed the energy in the room, about whether rewatching the movie “The Help” counts as progress.

There is a frantic race to catch up, and that’s got to be the correct instinct, right? I mean, look at this moment in history. I swear, if I don’t do it right I’ll ask to speak to my own manager.

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The New York Times writes that Attorney General Bill Barr “tried to fire” Southern District of New York United States Attorney Geoffrey Berman, but that’s not quite right.

Attorney General William P. Barr on Friday night abruptly tried to fire the top federal prosecutor in Manhattan, Geoffrey S. Berman, who has investigated several of President Trump’s closest associates, but Mr. Berman said he would not leave.

Barr issued a press release stating that Berman was “stepping down,” which was news to Berman, who wasn’t stepping anywhere. Continue reading →

A 73-year-old woman was punched on a subway platform in the Bronx. This didn’t catch much interest for lack of a video, but assuming it happened, it doesn’t fit the narrative.

A 73-year-old woman was punched in the face by a stranger on Wednesday night while standing on a subway platform in the Bronx, sources said.

The Queens woman was on the platform of the D line at the 174 street station at about 7:20 p.m. when a man attacked her before fleeing the scene, according to law enforcement sources.

The victim was taken to Bronx care hospital with pain to her face. The suspect was described as a man in his 20s.

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In the heat of Atlanta, Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard announced that fired Police Officer Garrest Rolfe would be prosecuted for felony murder in the killing of Rayshard Brooks. As with charges against fired Minneapolis cop Derek Chauvin a few weeks earlier, people cheered the charges, and again the upped charges, notwithstanding their dubious nature and, as reflected by the final results of the Medical Examiner’s autopsy, the serious doubt that Chauvin’s knee was the cause of death.

But surely Rolfe, who shot Brooks in the back three times. will be convicted? Don’t be too sure. Continue reading →

There’s a joke: What do you call 1000 good cops and ten bad cops? 1010 bad cops, because those ten couldn’t be bad, couldn’t persist, but for the acquiescence of the good cops. There is a well-known phrase, “the blue wall of silence,” referring to the police historically protecting their worst and themselves from outside scrutiny. If you’re a cop, ignore the wall at your peril. Ask Frank Serpico how that works.

But these are cops, not criminals, and rather than characterize what they do, and don’t do, as a pejorative like “snitching,” it should be viewed as a positive duty to maintain the law, their integrity and the virtue within their own ranks. Continue reading →