A Money Pit
(#471, 7/28/25)

Feeding cops and lawyers
is very expensive.
Little is left for prevention.

Post-Pandemic Blues
(#470, 7/7/25)

Thievery, some of it violent,
besets our nation's recovery

More Poverty,
Less Trust
(#469, 6/23/25)

Citizens who most need the
cops trust them the least

Violence Isn't Down
for the Cops
(#468, 5/30/25)

More officers are being
murdered. And mostly,
with guns.

A Lethal Distraction
(#467, 5/12/25)

A foot pursuit of hit-and-run
suspects turns into
an exchange of fire with
an armed resident

Putting Things Off
(#466, 4/27/25)

Pursuits hurt and kill
innocents. What are
the options?

Gun Control?
What's That?
(#465, 4/1/25)

Ideological quarrels
beset gun laws.
And gun law-making.
And gun law-enforcing.

Forewarned is
Forearmed
(#464, 3/19/25)

Killings of police officers
seem inevitable.
What might help?

Who's Under the Gun?
The ATF, That's Whom
(#463, 3/6/25)

Going after gun controllers,
for the usual reasons

Who's Under the Gun?
The FBI, That's Whom
(#462, 2/14/25)

Going after the FBI
for going after
the Capitol rioters

Point of View
(#461, 1/30/25)

Do scholars really “get”
the craft of policing?

All in the Family
(Part II)
(#460, 1/6/25)

A decade after Part I,
domestic killings
remain commomplace

Acting...or Re-acting?
(#459, 12/8/24)

An urgent response
proves tragically imprecise

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

Keep going...

8/4/25 Guilty pleas have resolved the criminal case against four Milwaukee Hyatt employees who "piled on" D’Vontaye Mitchell last June after the "morbidly obese" man confronted two women in the women's restroom. Mitchell died after being relentlessly pressed to the ground. Security guards Todd Erickson and Brandon Turner pled to being "a party to felony murder" and could draw up to fifteen years. Bellhop Herbert Williamson and front desk worker Devin Johnson-Carson pled to misdemeanor battery. All were fired last July. Related post

A D.C. civil jury awarded $655,000 to the mother of an 18-year old whom a police officer shot dead five years ago. Deon Kay had supposedly just performed a "music video" with three other young men when he ran towards D.C. police officer Alexander Alvarez, and was allegedly throwing down his gun when he was shot. Finding that "events unfolded rapidly and unpredictably," an official inquiry criticized officers for acting too hastily. But prosecutors didn't find sufficient cause to file charges, and officer Alvarez remains on the force. Related post

"Sole reliance" on "race, language, location and job...alone or in combination" cannot form reasonable suspicion that someone is illegally in the U.S. With those words a three-judge panel of the 9th. Circuit seconded a lower court's decision to ban the immigration sweeps that had beset Southern California. While the U.S. Attorney insisted that agents "never detained individuals without proper legal justification," the Justices said that the agents' misbehavior reflected official policy. And it had to stop. Immigration updates   Related post

Two L.A.-area owners of an unlicensed operation that extracted honey oil to produce an illegally concentrated form of cannabis are charged with murder over the deaths of five employees who were killed in a 2023 warehouse explosion and a 2024 laboratory fire. Four workers have also been charged with illegally making concentrated cannabis. Related post

Mass murders rock the headlines. Montana authorities are scouring the mountains for Army vet. Michael Brown. Described by his niece as "a sick man who doesn’t know who he is sometimes and frequently doesn’t know where or when he is either," Brown is wanted for shooting and killing four persons in a bar next to his home. Meanwhile, in Tennessee, police searching for an ex-con who murdered four members of a family with whom he was acquainted found his abandoned car. Austin Drummond, 28, served terms for robbery and for threatening the jurors who convicted him. He was released last year. Related post

LAPD identified Los Angeles-area resident Efrain Villalobos, 28, as the man who shot and wounded the motorist who purposely plowed his car into a crowd outside a nightclub. Villalobos, who's on the lam, "has a shaved head, brown eyes and gauges in both ears." He's also amply tattooed; “respect is earned not given” is emblazoned on his inner right arm. Related post

8/1/25 Did Trump enlist Russia to cast aspersions on the Clintons during the 2016 Presidential campaign? No, insists Trump. His Administration's release of a declassified Appendix to the Durham report "show[s] the false Trump-Russia collusion narrative for what it was." Actually, Trump's supporters claim, it was the Clintons and Obama who had conspired against Trump. More might be known but for Hillary Clinton's unauthorized use of a private e-mail server, a major faux-paus that former-FBI Director James Comey (he was in the Clinton camp) failed to properly investigate. Related post

A deep-dive into homicide rates by an U.S. academic notes that their steep increase during the pandemic was followed by a pronounced drop beginning in 2023, when they declined 12 percent, and 2024, when they fell by 14 percent. And 2025 promises even better numbers. Why that is, though, is open to speculation. Stress, unemployment, increased gun-carry and a lack of social controls are blamed for the spike during the pandemic. But later, as society "switched back on" and the purveyors of social control (e.g. schools, churches) returned, misbehavior eased. Stiffer gun law-enforcement and improved funding of mental health and anti-violence initiatives also get credit. Related post

7/31/25 Two days after a mentally-troubled man used an assault-style rifle he brought from Nevada to gun down four persons in a Manhattan office building, New York Governor Kathy Hochul praised her state's strong gun laws, which she credits for making New York the safest large state in the nation. She also called for the restoration of the nation's assault-weapons ban: “With respect to the assault weapons, there needs to be a national ban. It is within the realm of possibility. We had it for an entire decade." Related post

Los Angeles-area burglars have turned to technology to help them accomplish their foul deeds and avoid detection. Their techniques range from the hands-on, such as cutting phone and utility lines, to the more sophisticated, including jamming Wi-Fi signals and observing targets using video transmitted from mini-cams mounted in parked cars. Related post

When a social worker stepped out of the police car holding a clipboard and a bundle of hygiene bags, "a small crowd lined up." According to the Police Executive Research Forum, Camden's "guardian mentality" is indeed policing's "wave of the future." Trained social workers regularly deploy with police to interact with homeless persons, the mentally ill, substance abusers and sex workers. Counselors are also stationed at the police department to handle walk-ins. Related post

7/30/25 A small- town Maine police reserve officer is in ICE custody for overstaying his visa, then trying to buy a gun, supposedly for his job. According to ICE, Jon Luke Evans, a Jamaican national, was scheduled to leave in October 2023 but never boarded his flight. But the city of Old Orchard Beach insists that ICE reassured it this May that Evans, who successfully completed all hiring protocols, could be legally employed, and was good until 2030. Immigration updates   Related post

A three- judge Fourth Circuit panel unanimously upheld the Federal law that prohibits persons who have been committed to a mental institution from having guns. In its view, barring potentially dangerous persons from possessing firearms comports with the Supreme Court's Bruen decision, which requires that gun laws be supported by historical tradition. According to Judge Albert Diaz, the "categorical disarmament of groups of people" - including those thought dangerous - was permissible all the way back to Colonial times. Related post

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker just signed two new "common sense" gun laws into effect. "The Safe Gun Storage Act" requires that guns be locked up and out of reach to minors and prohibited persons, and imposes fines and a jail term should unsecured guns be misused. And to help fight gun trafficking, a new law requires that police use the Federal "E-Trace" system to track the path of guns they recover from crimes or find at crime scenes. Related posts 1   2

7/29/25 A CBS News analysis reveals that police officers are facing more unprovoked attacks. So far this year fifty have been shot in ambushes; 2024's full-year total was eighty. Motives aside, FOIP data indicates that 342 officers were shot on duty last year, and eighty-percent increase from 2018. An FBI trainer points out that officers "always have to have their head on a swivel, they've always got to have that situational awareness." Related post

Gun massacres struck three States. In Atlanta, an early-morning shooting involving two groups left a 27-year old man dead, an 18-year old in critical condition, and wounded nine others. In Reno, a man opened fire outside a prominent local resort. He killed three persons and wounded three others, two critically, before police arrived. He was wounded by police gunfire and arrested. And in New York City, a mentally-troubled 27-year old Las Vegas man burst into an office building with an assault-style rifle. He opened fire, killing a uniformed police officer and three other persons, and critically wounding a fifth person. He then committed suicide. He was allegedly targeting the NFL, whose offices are in the building, over brain trauma he suffered in high-school football. Related post

Last year a Columbus jury convicted ex-Columbus cop Adam Coy (he's White) of murdering Andre Hill, a Black man, whom he wrongly thought suspicious and whom he wrongly thought held a gun. Ex-officer Coy just drew 15 years to life. His victim, Andre Hill's family settled their lawsuit against the city for $10 million. Coy's chief was soon fired because of "a series of fatal police shootings of Black people." Related post

7/28/25 Former Asst. U.S. Attorney Michael Gordon prosecuted several top Capitol rioters. Then, under the new Administration, he, along with "dozens of others," was summarily fired. Despite having consistently earned "outstanding" performance ratings during his 8 1/2 years on the job, he (like the others) was given no reason. Gordon and two other former DOJ employees claim that their summary dismissals clash with the civil service protections that come with Government jobs. So they're suing. Capitol updates   Related post

Project Ceasefire works. That's the message conveyed by Oakland's Mayor and police chief. Compared with a year ago, violent crime and property crime are both 30 percent lower. Ceasefire's targeted approach, which uses data and specialized teams, is credited for the gains. According to the head of the city's violence prevention office, "when we work to identify the 250 to 350 individuals driving violent crime at any given time, and we provide them with both enforcement and services, property crime goes down, too." Related post

In a self- published book, Bradford James Gille, a 42-year old Michigan man, depicts himself as "Jesus Christ and the spirit as Judas Iscariot." But he nonetheless accumulated a series of arrests for vandalism, assault and drug offenses. And on July 26th. he ambled into a Traverse City, MI Walmart, pulled a folding knife, and randomly stabbed eleven shoppers, ages 29-85. Other customers tackled Gille and held him for police. All his victims are expected to survive. Gille was booked on 11 counts of attempted murder. He is also charged with terrorism. Related post

7/25/25 Lorain, a Cleveland suburb, has 65,000 residents and its own police force. And it's now in mourning for Officer Phillip Wagner, who succumbed to wounds sustained when he and Officer Peter Gayle were ambushed as they enjoyed their lunch while parked on a dead-end street. Their assailant, 28-year old Michael Parker, fired on them with a rifle that was part of an arsenal police later found in his car. He was killed in the exchange of gunfire; officers Gayle and Brent Payne, who had rushed in to help, were wounded, the latter critically. Related post

Ruling 2-1, a Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals panel overturned California's requirement that ammunition buyers submit to a background check every time they cue up for their rounds. According to the panel, the law "meaningfully constrains the right to keep operable arms" and is inconsistent with the historical tradition test imposed by the Supreme Court's Bruen decision. Related post

DOJ has recently filed lawsuits against the states of New York, Colorado and Illinois, the city of Rochester, NY, and several cities in New Jersey. Its goal: to annul their "unconstitutional sanctuary policies." And it just added Gotham itself to the list. According to AG Pamela Bondi, “New York City has released thousands of criminals on the streets to commit violent crimes against law-abiding citizens due to sanctuary city policies. If New York City won’t stand up for the safety of its citizens, we will.” Immigration updates   Related post

7/24/25 Bryan Kohberger, the former criminology Ph.D. student who pled guilty to fatally stabbing four University of Idaho students, was sentenced to four consecutive terms of life imprisonment. Kohberger was identified through genetic DNA. But victim families and others are upset that he was allowed to plead guilty, thus avoiding the imposition of the death penalty should he lose at trial, without being required to explain the reason for his deeds. Related post

Philadelphia's Rev. Dr. Michelle Simmons is well- versed in the perils of straw purchase. Her own daughter was once convicted of buying a gun for her boyfriend. So thru her non-profit, "Why Not Prosper", she's launched a campaign that urges women "to make better choices as it relates to purchasing guns for their friends, boyfriends, and even for their mothers.” In other words, to just say "no." According to Philly's D.A., since 2018 one-quarter of the 559 persons accused of straw-buying "more than 4,900 guns" have been women. Related post

Forty-two months in Federal prison. That's the sentence just handed down to Farooq Khan, a Chicago-based tax preparer whose false submissions led to the distribution of $3.6 million in small-business COVID-19 loans to thirty non-operating companies. Khan personally collected $1.2 million of that for himself. He's also been ordered to reimburse the full amount to the U.S. Treasury. COVID-19 Updates