I'm tweeting this thread about mental health with permission, it's is from a DM. This isn't about me, but somebody else. But I think more people need to tell their stories. The system is working as designed. it's is poorly designed. Society fails.

(1/7) "My mom has been sick for ten years. The system is terrible. She’s been on in a psych ward for 4 times. When she is on her medication she is great. But when she’s off, she’s dangerously delusional…

I called this a month ago. But let's focus on the newspaper coverage. There are three big NYC newspapers. The different coverage is revealing. The Post tells you why the jury acquitted, the Daily News basically lays out the prosecutor's case. The NYT does "the context" thing.

https://twitter.com/PeterMoskos/status/1855117429493407960

Both the Times and News mention how Penny was supported by right-wing groups, which is true, but does seem irrelevant to the jury's decision. The NYT compares this case to Bernie Goetz, who shot and wanted to kill. Daily News mentions Goetz in a Sharpton quote. The Post does not.

Violence and murders are way down in Baltimore. My first thought is, "I wonder how much arrests have gone up?" No, not _if_, but "how much". Because violence won't go down without police getting back in the crime-fighting game (community organizations notwithstanding). (thread)

https://twitter.com/AaronMMaybin/status/1864015093739970798

So I go to Baltimore Open Data and download arrest data. Easy peasy. This is almost too easy because I know what I'm going to find before I crunch the numbers. data.baltimorecity.gov/datasets/619ec…

"VOCAL-NY, an organization involved in the push to close Rikers" wants to close all jails and end incarceration. Their "north star" is emptying jails and closing Rikers, Why Ashley Southall of the NYT gives them the last word here, I do not know.
nytimes.com/2024/11/29/nyr… What to they want in an appointed receiver of Rikers? A commitment to "antiracism," "decarceration," & ending "racist and classist criminalization," plus no experience as a cop, corrections officer, or other law enforcement representative." To run a jail. vocal-ny.org/wp-content/upl…

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.

https://twitter.com/PeterMoskos/status/1769407106757628074

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-…

This tweet quoting Chicago's public safety strategy wins the day. Let's dig deeper, shall we?

https://twitter.com/CWBChicago/status/1735442767596134800

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?

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.

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) 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?

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.

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…

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…

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.

https://twitter.com/ZaidJilani/status/1668805622366699520

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.

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.

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?

https://twitter.com/PhillyCrimeUpd/status/1638955784221368335

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

https://twitter.com/PostScottWilson/status/1614070304468512769

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.

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…

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.