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Peter Moskos Profile picture
Peter Moskos
@PeterMoskos
Welcome to my Twitter Cafe! Police focused (+ bikes & pigeons). I'm nice. The bouncer, however, has a mean temper and blocks fast, sometimes just for bad vibes.
Mar 23 • 8 tweets • 3 min read
So many ways this could have policed and prevented. One can never be certain, but had we not reformed the police and the C.J. system to better serve the interests of the criminal, I think this would not have happened.
Repeated violence against women is a big red flag. This quality-of-life stuff used to be policed more: “He has friends hanging out late at night,” the man said. “They smoke weed in the lobby and in the courtyard, they sit on the steps….. I’m coming in day in and day out and I have to walk through them.” nypost.com/2024/03/22/us-…
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Dec 15, 2023 • 7 tweets • 3 min read
This tweet quoting Chicago's public safety strategy wins the day. Let's dig deeper, shall we?
Image I mean that was just the press release. What's the summary? Surely that will have some meat on its bones. Nope. Chicago is being run by children. Or even worse, children with advanced degrees. What does this even mean? Image
Nov 27, 2023 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
So I've got this really basic data I've always wanted but never had before. Calls for police service by neighborhood, combined with neighborhood demographics. If I didn't have to enter in manually, I'd go for police post. But here it is by neighborhood. igchicago.org/information-po… I'm interested because I've always been bothered by the idea, popular among progressives, that police aren't wanted in minority (majority Black) communities. Cops ask: "If they really hated us, why do they keep calling for us?" It's a reasonable question.
Sep 28, 2023 • 13 tweets • 3 min read
While you're busy going on with your life, academics are busy working hard to end pretext (legal stops based on suspicion) car stops. They assure us there's no impact on public safety. They say it's "dangerous, ineffective, and racially discriminatory policing." (1/7) Image Example of a pretext car stop: a car with tinted windows blasting bass in an area with a lot of shootings. You pull it over for illegally tinted windows. You see if the driver is legit and ask to search the car for guns. You may find one; you may not. Is the stop wrong?
Aug 17, 2023 • 15 tweets • 4 min read
I have a new paper. Of sorts. This isn't actually an interesting story, so let me tell it slowly. [thread] @jjhall_77 @BrandondelPozo @donohue
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cf… It does involve sex and crime. But also academic peer-review. And two years of BS.
There was an article by Ciacci & Sviatschi’s (2021) “The Effect of Adult Entertainment Establishments on Sex Crime: Evidence from New York City.” Published in The Economic Journal. Legit.
Jun 17, 2023 • 21 tweets • 8 min read
Let's take this DOJ report at face value. (Something I'm not inclined to do if this is another DOJ template-filling boilerplate "investigation" to legally trigger a consent decree, but for the sake of discussion...)
nydailynews.com/news/crime/ny-… Post Ferguson, a cottage industry of police reform "experts" got in the game. They were happy to sell their special sauce of "implicit racial bias" training to police departments. This was supposed to be solution to police. cbsnews.com/news/racial-bi… Image
Jun 15, 2023 • 16 tweets • 7 min read
Let me delve into low-level NYPD enforcement data, transit in particular. First, in NY you may receive a violation (like a parking ticket), a civil summons, a criminal summons, a desk appearance ticket, or actually be arrested. It can be hard to look at trends because the rules and laws have changed over time, trends can be difficult to follow because some things that used to be a criminal misdemeanors are now violations.

Sources can be found in the left column here nyc.gov/site/nypd/stat…
Jun 14, 2023 • 7 tweets • 2 min read
Too many of my own white NYC friends seem to use their own personal racial segregation as proof of a greater systemic problem rather than, I don't know, going across the street to that working class place you don't go to, and maybe even making friends. I remember 10 years ago hearing people say, "OMG, it's so nice Astoria finally has a coffee shop!" Really? Astoria had and has so many coffee shops. It's just that in many English isn't the first language spoken.
Jun 13, 2023 • 12 tweets • 5 min read
This is all hypothetical. I'm in no inner circle. But I offer my thoughts about the next NYPD Commissioner, after Sewell's resignation, because I probably do know more than you, gentle reader.
There's _always_ a power struggle in 1PP, the Puzzle Palace, NYPD headquarters. The mayor is a former cop. You all know that. He takes a particular in interest in the police department and ran on an anti-crime platform. We all know that. No harm there.
Mar 25, 2023 • 24 tweets • 10 min read
Forget about the shooters or victims for a moment. Thing about everybody else on the block. Well kept homes with gardens. They matter, too. Not just for their sake but for our sake and the sake of Philadelphia.
How many of you wouldn't move if this happened where you live? Fuck: "OMG, what can we do to help those poor shooters?!" Just help the rest of the people on the damn block. You can't imagine what it's like to have four people shoot on your block. It takes so few to destroy a neighborhood. And that is true even if you're not the one shot.
Mar 23, 2023 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
The progressive abolitionists left will chip away at police and prosecution until there is nothing left. Going after gun laws and gun enforcement is probably their most pernicious move. No, enforcing gun laws is not racist like the war on drugs. themarshallproject.org/2023/03/23/gun… The two "sides," if you will, come down to this: some believe the "criminal legal system" is inherently bad, that its very _purpose_ is to perpetuate racist oppression. Most people disagree, and see the CJ System as good, or at least necessary, and want to make it better.
Mar 3, 2023 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
So best I can tell the most controversial part about the DC Crime Bill is it lowers the _max_ possible sentence for carjacking. Mostly irrelevant, but politically unpopular, so an odd hill for reformers to die on. I can understand fighting to reduce _minimum_ sentencing... But what is bad is this reform attempt (that needs to be pushed back on) is to equate carjacking with stealing a car, car theft. No. That's why they call it "carjacking." Yes, somebody "steals your car"... after sticking a gun in your face. It's threatening and traumatic. ImageImageImageImage
Jan 21, 2023 • 8 tweets • 2 min read
From 1968 to 1973, there is an interesting (to put it mildly) and surprisingly little-remembered part of NYPD history: the "Stake-Out Squad." I've spoken to a few cops who remember its existence. One who was part of it. It's impossible to imagine this unit existing today.(thread) The basic problem at the time was commercial armed robberies. There were more and more every year and somewhat out of control.
Jan 21, 2023 • 7 tweets • 2 min read
I interviewed NYC Transit Police cops who said, in effect, "[Circa 1992] Bratton [when he became Transit Chief] got us accredited! Not that I know what that means." Turns out in means, in part, they Transit reported crime stats to the UCR! And then when Bratton left they stopped. I also find it interesting that the UCR kept the NYC Transit Authority Police Department in existence long after they (and the Transit Authority!) ceased to exist.
Jan 19, 2023 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
The term "police violence" loses all meaning if it's simply synonymous with use of legal force, arguable the foundational function of police.
Also journalists shouldn't adopt the terminology of police abolitionists unless they're advocating for police abolition. Most (not all) police use-of-force is good. Not just acceptable. But needed and good. For public safety and individual safety. If you insist on calling use of force "police violence," then society has to accept "police violence" is good. That's not a path to progress.
Jan 9, 2023 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
Old-time data gets better and better. Accurate numbers from Philly just got tossed over the transom (Source: White, Mike. 2003. "Examining the Impact of External Influences on Police Use of Deadly Force Over Time." Evaluation Review. Vol 27(1).) And Memphis joins the club. From Fyfe, James J. 1982. "Blind Justice: Police Shootings in Memphis." Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology. Vol 73(2). Table 5, 7 years, n=39.
Will update momentarily. copinthehood.com/fewer-people-s…
Jan 7, 2023 • 20 tweets • 6 min read
This headline frustrates a lot of people, myself included. Because it's, well, not true. Any honest person who does research with a sense of history knows cops used to shoot a lot more people. A LOT! theguardian.com/us-news/2023/j… You get bits of data here and there. You talk to people who were there. Better use-of-force policies. Policies at all. And there's never evidence based on good data showing cops shoot more people. There was change leading up to Tennessee vs. Garner (1985). It's important.
Jan 6, 2023 • 9 tweets • 2 min read
Social spending is good. It's not a violence reduction strategy (as much as we may wish it to be). In 1990 Dinkins hired a lot more cops ("Safe Streets, Safe City"). In 1994 Giuliani cut social spending and murders declined 19%. Another 25% in 1995, following by more decline. There's simply no case where increased "social spending" can be shown to reduce violence. Ever. In NYC, there were 1,390 people shot in 2014, the first year of de Blasio's term. He then increased social spending for 8 years. Eight year later 1,876 New Yorkers were shot.
Jan 5, 2023 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
Stolen cars that are _not_ fleeing from police still crash and hurt people. The idea of always letting people drive away from police in a stolen car without risk of pursuit isn't tenable. And more people (albeit different people) will be hurt. bbc.com/news/av/world-… It would be interesting to know how many fatal hit-and-runs are from people driving stolen cars. My guess is more people die that way then from police following stolen cars. But I don't know. The former is considered a tragedy. The latter means fewer apprehended car thieves.
Nov 21, 2022 • 43 tweets • 16 min read
Of course police prevent crime. I suspect he knows his statement isn't true and he doesn't care. (Though what honestly baffles me is the 'why?' Why do you want to spread this falsehood?)
Or maybe he _doesn't_ know? (1/∞)
copinthehood.com/a-list-of-poli… Aziai, Alberto. 2022. “What happens when the police go on strike? Analysing how a marked reduction in policing impacts upon homicides in Ceará, Brazil.” Global Crime, DOI: 10.1080/17440572.2022.2098121
Nov 20, 2022 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
Replacing steam radiator valves is my idea of a good time. Pipe wrench twitter is the best twitter.