Citizen Misbehavior
Breeds Voter
Discontent
(#458, 11/20/24)

Progressive agendas
face rebuke in even
the "Bluest" of places

A Matter of Facts
(#457, 11/3/24)

Did flawed science place
an innocent man
on death row?

Want Brotherly Love?
Don't be Poor!
(#456, 10/12/24)

Violence is down in Philly,
L.A. and D.C.
Have their poor noticed?

Prevention Through Preemption
(#455, 9/16/24)

Expanding the scope of
policing beyond
making arrests

Switching Sides
(#454, 8/30/24)

St. Louis’ D.A. argues that
a condemned man
is in fact innocent

"Distraction Strike"?
Angry Punch? Both?
(#453, 8/11/24)

When cops get rattled,
the distinction may
ring hollow

Bringing a Gun
To a Knife Fight
(#452, 7/30/24)

Cops carry guns.
Some citizens flaunt knives.
Are poor outcomes inevitable?

"Numbers" Rule –
Everywhere
(#451, 7/2/24)

Production pressures
degrade what's "produced" –
and not just in policing

Is Crime Really Down?
It Depends...
(#450, 6/20/24)

Even when citywide
numbers improve, place
really, really matters

Kids With Guns
(#449, 6/3/24)

Ready access
and permissive laws
create a daunting problem

De-Prosecution?
What's That?
(#448, 4/27/24)

Philadelphia's D.A.
eased up on lawbreakers.
Did it increase crime?

Ideology (Still)
Trumps Reason
(#447, 4/9/24)

When it comes to gun laws,
“Red” and “Blue” remain
in the driver’s seat

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)

What should cops do when
miscreants refuse to comply?
Refuse to comply?

Keep going...

12/3/24 Four women and four men, ages 20 to 35, were shot during an afternoon gathering at a residence in Chicago’s “Chicago Lawn” neighborhood. Three of the victims succumbed to their wounds, and five were hospitalized. No arrests have yet been made. According to the City of Chicago’s July 2024 Community Data Snapshot, median household income in Chicago Lawn is about forty percent lower - $43,293 vs. $71,673 - than for the city as a whole. Related post

In February 1979 Lewis Randy Williamson notified Riverside County, Calif. authorities that he found a 17-year old girl’s body on a roadside. Williamson was “argumentative” but passed a polygraph. He led a seemingly normal life until his death in 2014. Using genetic genealogy, authorities recently used DNA from crime scene semen to identify a woman. She turned out to be Williamson’s mother. Nearly five decades after the crime, a blood sample from Williamson’s autopsy proved to be a perfect match. Related post

12/2/24 Eagle Pass, TX is connected by international bridges to Mexico. And a divided Fifth Circuit has just enjoined the Feds from “damaging, destroying, or otherwise interfering” with the barbed wire fence that Texas built to keep migrants from circumventing the bridges and gaining illegal entry. Border Patrol agents, though, must retain “necessary access to both sides of Texas’s c-wire for immigration law enforcement purposes.” Texas v. DHS (no. 23-50869, 11/27/24.) Immigration updates Related post

On November 9 a 23-year old transient, Efrain Troncoso, set a fire outside a Ventura, Calif. pet hospital and injured the officer who arrested him. His crimes were deemed misdemeanors, so he was promptly let go. Three weeks later, on November 23, Troncoso went on a “stabbing spree.” By the time he was done he had stabbed one man in the back, another repeatedly in the neck, hit a third victim in the head with a metal object and took a fourth person’s keys “at knifepoint.” Troncoso was jailed on multiple counts of attempted murder, assault and robbery. A mental competency hearing is on tap. Related post

Two 17-year olds and a middle-aged relative are under arrest after Federal agents alerted the Ventura County, Calif. Sheriff’s Dept. that one of the youths was receiving mail-order parts from foreign sources to make unserialized “ghost guns” and convert firearms into machineguns. Detectives intercepted several shipments, then served a search warrant at the youth’s home. That turned up nineteen illegal guns, including unserialized pistols and an AR-15 style machinegun, and a substantial quantity of ammunition. Related post

On November 29 Oak Park, IL police exchanged gunfire with a suspect who was said to have just exited a bank while carrying a gun. Detective Allan Reddins was killed, and the suspect, Chicago man Jerell Thomas, 37, was wounded. His criminal record includes two assaults on police officers, of which one led to a felony conviction, and several arrests for domestic battery. He is now charged with 1st. degree murder. His victim, Detective Reddins, is the first Oak Park officer shot while on duty “in over 85 years.”   Related post

President Joe Biden issued pardons as to all Federal crimes Hunter Biden might have committed between January 1, 2014 and December 1, 2024. That will bar his son’s sentencing for two Federal convictions: a gun case in Delaware, where jurors found him guilty, and a tax case in California, in which he ultimately pled guilty. Hunter’s lawyers protested that the prosecutions were politically motivated. During his aborted campaign, the President assured voters that he would not pardon his son. Related post

11/29/24 A “sting” operation by Lake County, Indiana sheriff’s detectives led to the arrest of an  Indiana couple for straw-buying a half-dozen handguns at a gun show. Julian Sgiers, 29, admitted that he had his girlfriend Tristyn Sampson, 30, use her drivers license to acquire the weapons, which he intended to resell to two other persons, including a teen. Sgiers, who has felony convictions in Indiana and Illinois, told Lake County, Indiana sheriff’s detectives that he had “fallen on hard times” and was simply “trying to make some money.” He and Sampson were booked on multiple felonies. Related post

On November 19 Chicago resident Constantin Beldie, 57, stabbed his wife dead. He then committed suicide. That happened one day after Beldie’s arraignment for an incident last month, in which he allegedly strangled and beat his wife. And that supposedly wasn’t the first time; she had obtained protection orders against him in the past. But despite a prosecutor’s plea to detain Beldie after the October incident, a judge released him on electronic monitoring. That judge is now receiving threats and has been removed from domestic violence cases. The Chief Judge has also pledged “to provide additional training to all judges who hear domestic violence cases and petitions for orders of protection.” Related post

In a yearly update to the notorious 1996 murder of six-year old JonBenet Ramsey, Boulder police reported that they are working through recommendations by an expert panel to determine whether technological advances including genealogical DNA might help. Her parents were long the prime suspects, but in 2008 they were cleared by prosecutors based on DNA that pointed to an unknown third party. Last year JonBenet’s father asked that an outside agency step in to focus on the DNA. Criticisms about the police inquiry are detailed in a recent Netflix three-part series about the long-unsolved case. Related post

Two Massachusetts men are breathing more easily. According to the National Registry of Exonerations, 43 persons convicted of murder have been exonerated since 1990. Among them is Victor Rosario, who was 23 when coercive interrogation by Lowell police helped lead to his 1983 murder conviction for an arson that killed eight. He was exonerated in 2017 after serving 32 years, and the city just settled his lawsuit for $13 million. Ditto Framingham man Michael Sullivan, whom an erroneous blood chemistry analysis helped imprison for 26 years. A jury just awarded him the same amount - $13 million. Related post

“The hardest thing is, people…don’t know what we do, and we’ve been called terrible names.” A Border Patrol officer’s lament reflects the scorn that he and his colleagues receive as they do a tough job that ranges from combating human trafficking cartels to caring for the many migrants who cross into the U.S. each day. Some are now being trained as “chaplains” that can help agents in distress avoid compromising their welfare, and that of their families, as they carry out their uniquely demanding task. Related post

11/27/24 “Operation Tornado Alley” combined the resources of local and state police and Federal agencies in a massive sweep directed against four violent criminal organizations that have beset Baltimore with shootings, robberies, and the sale of guns and drugs. Nearly forty persons were arrested as agents coordinated the execution of sixteen search warrants, seizing large amounts of drugs, $373,000 in drug proceeds, 15 stolen cars, and 65 firearms, including ghost guns and converted machineguns. Related post

According to a review by The Trace, Federal regulation and State laws helped abate a surge of home-built “ghost guns.” For example, in 2016 only 174 “ghosts” were recovered from crimes in California. By 2021, that number was an astounding 10,877. But their numbers then began to drop, and in 2023 “only” 8,340 were recovered. Credit is attributed in part to a 2022 ATF regulation that broadened the definition of a “firearm” to include parts kits, and to similar moves in State laws. ATF’s rule is under legal  challenge, but it remains in effect pending a forthcoming decision by the Supreme Court. ATF rule Related post

11/26/24 Twenty-million dollars. That’s what the city of Las Cruces, NM has agreed to pay the estate of Teresa Gomez, who was shot and killed by ex-cop Felipe Hernandez during an October 2023 nighttime encounter outside a housing complex. As the cop berated her and her passenger, who was supposedly barred from the premises, Ms. Gomez suddenly drove off with her car door still open. Hernandez instantly opened fire. He awaits trial for second-degree murder. Press briefing, with bodycam   Related post

To seize marijuana shipments, Kansas troopers have long used minor reasons to stop vehicles from bordering states where pot is legal. In 2023 a Kansas Federal judge outlawed troopers’ practice of creating the fiction of “voluntariness” by stepping away after the initial contact, then promptly returning to a vehicle to chat up its occupants in hopes of gaining consent or developing legal cause for a search. Kansas insists that this “Two-Step” is legal; its appeal is being considered by a Tenth Circuit panel. Initial decision   Related post

11/25/24 On November 12 Las Vegas resident Brandon Durham called 911 to report that he and his daughter were hiding from a person who just broke into their home. And as he and the intruder struggled over a knife, Officer Alexander Bookman burst in. He soon opened fire, and Mr. Durham was shot dead. The intruder, Alejandra Boudreaux, was arrested, and the officer was placed on leave. Boudreaux – reportedly Mr. Durham’s one-time paramour – has a lengthy criminal history   Related post

Braulio Castellanos, the asserted leader of L.A.’s “Forencia-13” street gang, and his brother, Arturo, were both doing life for murder. Castellanos, who stabbed two persons to death 35 years ago, reportedly ran the gang from his prison cell. But he developed terminal cancer, and a judge recently granted him compassionate release. Castellanos passed away at home a week ago. Seized by prison authorities, his recent writings instructed his gang how to choose a new set of leaders so that it could continue to thrive without him. Related post

During the early morning hours of November 18, Ramon Rivera, 51, stabbed three persons to death as he “stalked across Manhattan.” Chronically homeless, with an extensive criminal and mental-history record in several States, Rivera had recently served nine months for burglary and theft. Then, while on release, he stole again. It was a misdemeanor, so he was released under “supervision.” Rivera missed an appointment with his case manager. He now faces three counts of 1st. degree murder. Related posts 1   2

On November 21 a 16-year old Darien, IL boy brought a loaded Taurus 9mm pistol to his high school. A tip to school officials led to the gun’s seizure and the youth’s arrest by local police. He was charged with two felonies – carrying a gun in school, and being an underage gun possessor – and was ordered detained until at least his next court appearance, on Dec. 2. Related post

Thanks to a Supreme Court decision limiting the applicability of “obstructing an official proceeding,” imprisoned Capitol rioter Marc Bru’s sentence was reduced from six years to…five. It might have been more, but his continued defiant posture led the judge to question Bru’s chances to “make a positive contribution” once he’s released. Capitol updates   Related post

Eighteen months in prison. That’s what Justin Lee just drew for hurling “rocklike objects and a smoke bomb” at the Capitol’s defenders. That sentence would have been far stiffer, the judge implied, but for what happened one and one-half years later. That’s when Mr. Lee, as a rookie Montgomery County, MD cop, fatally shot a knife-wielding man. Alas, when his employer found out about the Capitol affair, Mr. Lee was let go. Capitol updates   Related post

A reportedly stolen Mercedes that was being chased by LAPD officers crashed into a Tesla. It in turn crashed into two other cars. The Tesla’s driver was killed, and two occupants of the vehicles it struck were injured. According to official city data, about 25% (1,032) of 4,203 pursuits between 2018 and 2023 ended in a crash that caused an injury or death. More than half of the 958 persons injured (496) and nine of the fourteen killed were not involved in the pursuit. Sixty officers were also hurt. Related post

11/22/24 Violence-beset Trenton, New Jersey is in the Federal bull’s-eye. Just issued, an in-depth assessment by the Department of Justice alleges that Trenton officers engage in a “pattern or practice” of using force “in the absence of any significant resistance or danger” and frequently make stops, searches and arrests “without reasonable suspicion or probable cause.” Trenton has agreed to implement required corrections, and its performance will be monitored to assure that it complies. DOJ report   Related post

According to the Gallup poll, a slim majority of Americans (52%) favor prohibiting the possession of assault rifles. That’s fewer proponents for a ban than in past surveys. And at guns’ opposite extreme, only a small minority of respondents (20%) favor banning handguns. That percentage has also shrunk over time. As for gun sales, a slim majority (56%) of adults would regulate them more strictly; one-third would keep things as they are, and ten percent would loosen things up. Related post

In 2022 L.A. resident Albert Corado Sr. unsuccessfully campaigned for a seat on the L.A. City Council. His goal: abolish the LAPD and replace it with civilians. Four years earlier his daughter, Melyda, was accidentally shot and killed by police officers as they exchanged gunfire with a man they chased into the Trader Joe’s that she managed. No officers were disciplined; the shooting was declared "in policy". Her father’s lawsuit against the city was just settled for $9.5 million. Related post

Convicted of murder in October 2019 for mistakenly entering the wrong apartment in her complex and shooting its occupant dead, ex-Dallas cop Amber Guyger is serving a ten-year prison sentence. Her bid for parole was recently denied. And she’s now on the hook for a $100 million civil judgment, rendered by a jury during a civil trial in which she declined to participate. Her lawyer in the criminal case implied that the judgment would have little effect, as his former client is “destitute.” Related post

11/21/24 “We were bored. We were looking for someone to beat up.” That’s how a D.C. girl explained why she and four girlfriends - each was then 13-14 years old - beat and stomped to death an elderly, disabled man out for his usual stroll. A judge just convicted two of the girls of second-degree murder, and they face a maximum sentence of detention until the age of twenty-one. The other three admitted their roles and pled to lesser charges; one, who said she “went along” with her friends, got three years. Related post

In March 2021 then-L.A. County deputy sheriff Remin Pineda kept shooting at David Ordaz Jr. even though the man, who had threatened family members with a knife, was struck by bullets fired by other officers and had fallen to the ground. Mr. Ordaz died. A plea bargain to let Pineda plead guilty to felony assault under color of authority had been rejected by a judge. But although Ordaz’s survivors bitterly objected, another judge just approved the deal. Pineda will not have to serve any prison time. Related post

Information about suicides attempted or committed by law enforcement officers since 2022 is now offered on the FBI’s Crime Data Explorer. Information includes officer gender, age, time in service, manner of suicide, whether on or off duty, location, and four variables relating to a possible cause: “burnout/secondary trauma collapse,” “substance use disorder,” “chronic/increased absence from work,” and “subject of an administrative investigation.” So far this year seven agencies have reported nine suicides and 3 attempts. Data   Related post

An analysis by the Council on Criminal Justice reveals that shoplifting rates in Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York continue to be higher than pre-2020. Chicago’s rates, in particular, experienced a sharp uptick in 2024. Half-year 2024 shoplifting rates in a 23-city sample were also higher than for a comparable period in 2023. Related post

11/20/24 Loudly tooting its own horn, Homeland Security announced its third “removal flight” of unauthorized immigrants to the People’s Republic of China in less than six months. According to DHS, the President’s June decision (it limited how many illegal border-crossers can apply for asylum) reduced Border Patrol encounters over 52 percent. Since then, DHS has operated over 640 removal flights to more than 155 countries, returning more unauthorized immigrants to their homelands than any year since 2010. Immigration updates Related post

A new report by the National Academies, “Cannabis Policy Impacts Public Health and Health Equity,” urges the Government to implement a research agenda and adopt regulatory policies that would lessen the “public health harms” of cannabis use. According to the report, in 2022 more persons reported frequent cannabis use than frequent alcohol use. Meanwhile the THC concentrations of cannabis products “has markedly increased.” Drug Legalization updates   Related post

11/19/24 On Sunday, November 17, an annual New Orleans parade and celebration sponsored by the Nine Times Social Aid Pleasure Club was marred by two episodes of gunfire. In the first incident, at about 3:30 p.m., nine persons were wounded in the St. Roch neighborhood, near the French Quarter. One-half hour later, two persons were killed and one was wounded at the Almonaster Avenue Bridge, about a half-mile away. No arrests have yet been made. Related post

A recent IACP survey of 1,100 U.S. police agencies reveals that, in comparison to a 2019 survey, seventy percent are finding it more difficult to recruit officers, that the problem besets both small and large departments, and that it’s especially pronounced in the Midwest and Northeast. Resignations are also substantially up. To meet these challenges agencies have taken steps including raising entrance pay and loosening grooming standards, but the results have been mixed. Related posts 1   2

11/18/24 Ex-Memphis cops Tadarrius Bean, Justin Smith and Demetrius Haley were recently convicted on assorted Federal civil rights charges for the January 2023 beating death of Tyre Nichols.  Their sentencing is scheduled for January 2025. And in April they will go on State trial for murder. Two other officers that were members of the “Scorpion” team, Emmitt Martin and Desmond Mills Jr., pled guilty to the Federal charges and testified against their colleagues. Their State cases are pending. Related post

After “considering the merits of the issue,” the Texas Supreme Court took back its recent setting aside of the execution date for convicted murdered Robert Roberson. According to the Justices, a correct interpretation of “separation of powers” means that if legislators wish to have Roberson testify, they must schedule his appearance so that it does not conflict with a properly set execution date. As of yet, Roberson has not testified, and no new date has been set for his execution. Related post

A recent Federal criminal complaint alleges that Adam Iza, a Los Angeles-based cryptocurrency trader, engaged in a years-long scheme to evade taxes and extort payments from his clients. To carry it out he allegedly enlisted the services of six Los Angeles County deputy sheriffs, who intimidated and silenced “the Godfather’s” victims by performing illegal searches and making illegal arrests. Several deputies were recently relieved of duty. Federal complaint   Related post