Michael Slager, the former North Charleston, South Carolina police officer who shot and killed Walter Scott after a traffic stop, entered into a plea agreement in Federal Court settling both the Federal and State criminal charges. The Times offered this analysis in a May 2 article, “The plea agreement, reached nearly five months after a […]
What the Ferguson Effect really means
A single event in the City of Ferguson, Missouri has law enforcement officers across the United States questioning what they do and how they do it. The event destroyed the life of a police officer who, after an exhaustive investigation by the DOJ and FBI, did nothing wrong. The event gave a group (Black Lives […]
Real and Fake news
With the exception of Federal, State and County agencies, Law enforcement exists with the permission of the community they serve and they deserve to be assured that the agency and individual officers are held accountable for their actions. Any death in an interaction with police is definitely real news as long as long as the […]
The “new and improved” DOJ
Attorney General Sessions just recently announced that Consent Decrees with police departments will be dissolved. That means that police departments like Pittsburgh, Los Angeles, Baltimore, and Albuquerque will no longer be required to pay ninety thousand dollars per year to a Federal Monitor. The Monitor is a political appointee by the Federal Judge assigned to […]
The politics of policing
The suspension of the three Chicago Aviation Police officers who responded to a call from United Airlines demonstrates the politics of policing today. The videos have caused a firestorm and attacks on police conduct. The incident, which occurred in Chicago, were posted on You-Tube and picked up by news outlets worldwide. The airline staff called […]
Political Correctness and Law Enforcement
Pepsico, the owner of Pepsi products produced a commercial which has created a firestorm on social media. The commercial is reminiscent of the renowned Coca Cola commercial featuring “I would like to teach the word to sing…” That commercial has been repeated for more than twenty years. The last fifteen seconds of the commercial has […]
60 Minutes segment on police shooting, police brutality, police use of force in Tulsa, OK
It is said that the worst four words someone can hear is “Sixty Minutes is outside.” But in an unprecedented move, an officer awaiting trial made the questionable decision to appear on the show and tell her story. Officer Betty Shelby, a ten year veteran of the Tulsa Police Department, shot and killed Terrance Crutcher […]
The Alternative Reality of Law Enforcement
People gain their understanding of law enforcement from news outlets and prime time network television. The job of local and national news is to inform while network television entertains. The writers of both the news and entertainment have the ability to distort the final product to reflect their own ideological viewpoints without challenge. The issue […]
Understanding police use of force
The only information available to the general public concerning the decision to use force by police comes from entertainment television and media outlets. That is both mis and dis-information. The “decision” to use force by police officers is rarely an action. When it is an action, it is usually wrong. Rather, it is a response […]
Why prosecutions of cops almost always fail
Prosecutors and District Attorneys are elected by the voters while State’s Attorneys are generally appointed by the Governor of the State. The commonality is that their livelihood hinges on their political support. The result is that they literally throw cops “under the bus” to appease a segment of the community who are screaming for blood. […]
Why would anyone want to be a cop
In 2014 Officer Darren Wilson was involved in a police shooting in Ferguson, Missouri resulting in the death of Michael Brown. The feckless Department of Justice, headed by Eric Holder, sent an invading army into the small City with the intent of prosecuting Wilson for a federal crime under the Civil Rights Law. Wilson exhibited […]
A seach case with national implications
A case which may have national implications will be heard by the Ohio Supreme Court this session. The question(s) that it will raise is whether: (1) School employees are agents of the government and therefore governed by the Fourth Amendment; and (2) whether a school holds the special status similar to that of an Airport […]
Cops being held to a different standard
A homeowner gets involved with a group of juveniles on his lawn. A confrontation occurs and the homeowner pulls a firearm from his waistband and fires a single shot into the ground. No one is injured in the confrontation. At best this is a local news story unless the homeowner happens to be an off […]
Police Shootings of “Unarmed” suspects
The media’s use of the word “unarmed” in the high profile cases of police shootings as a catch phrase is simply inaccurate and enflames tragic incidents of police use of deadly force. It indicates that the suspect was not in possession of a firearm which, looking at two of the incidents, is simply wrong. In […]
Are police held to a different standard?
There has been an outcry across the country that police officers receive special treatment in the decision of whether criminal charges are appropriate in a use of force case. Police officers are, by necessity, given a different standard that other citizens for a valid reason. If a police officer were held to the same standard, […]