December 20, 2014
The cops are fuming! As they see it, a New York Supreme Court Justice did the unthinkable. He chose to believe the testimony of half a dozen civilians, and effectively discounted contrary testimony by four police officers. As a result, Justice Michael Gary, after a bench (non-jury) trial, dismissed gun charges against the defendant. Here’s the background. Back in 2012, in the wake of Hurricane Sandy, officers say they observed the defendant, Marty Sully, firing […] Read On
December 3, 2014
If you drink and drive, the consequences could be a lot more severe than fines and loss of your driver’s license. According to the Centers for Disease Control, alcohol impairment is a factor in almost one-third of traffic fatalities in the United States. An example involves a Long Island cardiologist who, police say, was driving at around 4 a.m. this past June, ran a red light, and struck another vehicle, the driver of which was […] Read On
November 6, 2014
Gates, New York, a suburb of Rochester, was the scene on Halloween night of more than one strange occurrence. There’s nothing strange, of course, about people being charged with driving while intoxicated, especially when it’s holiday time. Whether it’s New Year’s Eve, Memorial Day, or even Halloween, the roads seem to be populated by more than the usual number of drunk drivers. But the incident in Gates was unusual, for at least two reasons: The […] Read On
October 15, 2014
About a year and a half ago, we reported a number of arrests involving students at the Bronx High School of Science (Hazing Charges at Prestigious New York High School). The criminal charges involved assault, hazing, forcible touching and harassment by members of the school’s track team. When we reported the incident, you might have been thinking that it was an aberration, something that did not reflect practices in other places, or on other sports […] Read On
October 1, 2014
Who would have believed it? For those who remember the soaring crime rate in New York City in the 1980’s, it might come as something of a surprise, but the numbers are in. According to research based upon figures from the FBI and the Bureau of Justice Statistics, crime in New York City declined by 54% over the past twenty years. And statewide, the drop in crime from 1990 to 2012 was 62%, which was […] Read On
September 3, 2014
For those concerned about the news regarding the proliferation of guns (and their use) among all segments of the population, Labor Day Weekend in New York was a virtual exhibition of how many tragedies can occur in the course of just a few short days. Topping the list was a police officer who was on foot patrol with a partner in Bedford-Stuyvesant in the early morning hours on Sunday morning. The two encountered a suspect […] Read On
August 20, 2014
You may have seen one or more news articles recently which talk about something called “broken windows” policing. If you haven’t had any exposure to the concept, it can be a bit confusing. Broken windows theory says (or at least suggests) that maintaining well-ordered urban environments may stop additional vandalism and avoid an escalation into more serious crimes. What’s behind the language is the idea that if you have a building with a few broken […] Read On
July 8, 2014
Off-duty cops in New York City and around the country regularly carry guns while they are off-duty. It sounds like a respectable safety measure, based upon unassailable logic – unless, of course, you ignore the fact that police officers are human, and in some respects maybe a bit more human, than the rest of us. What we’re referring to, of course, is that cops have most, if not all, of the defects, problems, illnesses, and […] Read On
June 12, 2014
The United States Department of Justice has announced that effective July 11, 2014, it will institute a new policy on recording interrogations. The policy, which will apply to the Federal Bureau of Investigation as well as other federal law enforcement agencies, will require most interviews with witnesses to be videotaped. This represents a break in policy for the DOJ, whose senior officials had previously opposed the change, taking the position that recording interrogations would reveal […] Read On
May 14, 2014
Racial profiling is a term that we’ve been hearing a lot about lately. In the Big Apple, it’s peppered throughout many reports on the NYPD’s “stop and frisk” policy. It’s also been a major news item in stories about police activity in Los Angeles, Durham, and in a host of other towns and cities across the country. In each case, local police departments are faced with allegations that they are arresting a disproportionate number of […] Read On