Cops – Crasstalk

The New World of Cop Blanche

Cop blanche
/käp blänSH/
noun
1. Complete freedom of police officers to do as they wish against the people, even committing crimes or violating their constitutional and legal rights, without repercussion.

The last two weeks have seen a pair of high profile grand juries fail to return indictments on police officers that utilized lethal force on unarmed suspects. In the 1987 novel Bonfire Of The Vanities, author Tom Wolfe quotes New York State chief judge Sol Wachtler, saying “a grand jury would indict a ham sandwich, if that’s what you wanted.” Continue reading →

Waze Has Made All Radar Detectors Obsolete

Even casual motorists are always on the look out for the 5-0, not wanting to get pulled over. But for road warriors the speed trap is less of a statistical likelihood and more of an absolute certainty. You don’t want to get a huge ticket (with hefty fees on top of the fine) just for accidentally going 5MPH over while passing that hyper-miling Prius that refuses to budge off 63MPH.

For years I held onto the greatest radar detector ever made, the Valentine One. But the Google owned Waze smartphone app has finally convinced me to put away the V1 and sign onto the future. Continue reading →

NYPD Commissioner Kelly Defends His Record – But Does the Logic Stand Up?

NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly has taken to the media to defend his, and his police department’s, record. Let’s examine his arguments to see if they stand up to even basic scrutiny. I’ll be working off the op-ed that Kelly wrote, and which was published in the Wall Street Journal on July 23, 2013. Continue reading →

The UC Davis Pepper Spray Report

“Sometimes, when “all the facts are in,” it’s worse.” – Brad Hicks –

I came across this article while doing my research for the Daily Sausage, and wanted to do a full write-up, because it represents a textbook example of how disasters occur and what happens when they do. Continue reading →

Do Not Flirt with Cops when You Have an Outstanding Warrant

On Sunday a San Francisco man saw a uniformed police officer in a police car whom he was smitten with and attempted to chat her up. The 26 year old man seemingly casually walked up to the patrol car and talked to the two officers in the car making it clear he was interested romantically. The officer told him she was already taken but asked his name. He gave his name and as he was walking away she ran it through the system and found he had a no-bail warrant for rape.

He was arrested and booked on the warrant. Source: SF Gate

The 15 Worst TV Show Openings

While some opening credit sequences function on both a musical and visual level (I’m looking at you Six Feet Under, Twin Peaks), the following 15 examples should never have seen the light of day, let alone entered our living rooms. Continue reading →