Saturday, December 31, 2011

Police Tactic: Keeping Crime Reports Off the Books

Police Tactic: Keeping Crime Reports Off the Books

Guy Calaf for The New York Times

Katherine Davis said that when a man climbed through her living room window, the police did not take an official report.

By AL BAKER and JOSEPH GOLDSTEIN
Published: December 30, 2011

Jill Korber walked into a drab police station in Queens in July to report that a passing bicyclist had groped her two days in a row. She left in tears, frustrated, she said, by the response of the first officer she encountered.

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Nicole Bengiveno/The New York Times

Jill Korber was frustrated by the Police Department's response after she was groped by a passing cyclist two days in a row.

“He told me it would be a waste of time, because I didn’t know who the guy was or where he worked or anything,” said Ms. Korber, 34, a schoolteacher. “His words to me were, ‘These things happen.’ He said those words.”

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/31/nyregion/nypd-leaves-offenses-unrecorded-to-keep-crime-rates-down.html

Are Black Mothers Failing to Raise Their Sons?

Are Black Mothers Failing to Raise Their Sons?

In an entry at Madame Noire, blogger LaShaun Williams writes that African-American women continue to outpace black men academically, professionally and economically. She asks if it could be attributed to how some single black mothers raise their daughters in comparison with their sons.

In recent years the percentage of black children born into single parent households, an overwhelming majority of which headed by women, has skyrocketed. Nearly three-fourths of black boys and girls are being raised in broken homes -- brokenness stemming from the fact that fatherlessness often creates imbalance.

Read full article...

Are Black Mothers Failing to Raise Their Sons?
LaShaun Williams
Fri, 30 Dec 2011 13:58:00 GMT

Study: Black Children Form Identity Through Race, Not Language; Opposite for Whites

Study: Black Children Form Identity Through Race, Not Language; Opposite for Whites

Black children in the same age group tend to form their identity more strongly by the color of their skin than a shared language, according to a new study, while the opposite was true for White children. A study published in the November issue of Developmental Science and conducted by University of Chicago researchers Katherine Kinzler [...]

Study: Black Children Form Identity Through Race, Not Language; Opposite for Whites
The Admin
Fri, 30 Dec 2011 23:27:07 GMT

African-American - News

African-American - News December 31, 2011

 

State adds 13 historical highway markers
State adds 13 historical highway markers (Richmond Times-Dispatch)
This contemporary illustration of the pre-Civil War escape from slavery by Henry "Box" Brown shows his "resurrection" in Philadelphia after being mailed there from Richmond in a wooden box 3 feet long and 2 feet wide.

Historic Firsts Detailed in Former Mayor's New Memoir (NBC Dallas)
Odom was the first African-American elected official in Orange County, Texas in 1965.

Tonia Hughes sparkles in Cinderella (Insight News)
If it is in fact how we react to life's most challenging experiences that make us who we are, than singer/actress Tonia Hughes is definitely one of the rarest of diamonds.

Lifelong Illness Led West Hartford Woman To Help Others (The Hartford Courant)
For Janis Spurlock, being born with a serious medical condition was a catalyst that prompted her to help other sick people either those like her with sickle cell disease , or people living with AIDS/HIV. "She turned what might have seemed [a] limiting situation into the empathy that taught the folks she worked with how to live with chronic ... (more)

Black community celebrates Kwanzaa Dec. 26-Jan. 1 (The Toledo Journal)
As an African American and Pan-African holiday celebrated by millions throughout the world African community, Kwanzaa brings a cultural message which speaks to the best of what it means to be African and human in the fullest sense.

Ron Paul's Viciously Homophobic Statements Revealed (EDGE)
As Ron Paul campaigns for the GOP presidential nomination, statements attributed to him in newsletters are coming back to haunt him.

Vivian Named SCLC V.P.
Vivian Named SCLC V.P. (Public Broadcasting Atlanta)
During the civil rights movement, non-violence was the main strategy against racial discrimination.

Occupy, civil rights groups join at NC event (SavannahNow)
Members of a traveling Occupy group met Thursday with civil rights leaders in Greensboro and announced marches reminiscent of the one in Selma in the 1960s in an unusual confluence of interests of blacks and the mostly white anti-Wall Street movement.

Michigan Chronicle Publisher Sam Logan, 78, earned Detroiters' respect (Detroit Free Press)
Whether he was regarded as a friend or foe for his editorial stances, Sam Logan often earned the trust, respect and admiration of his contemporaries no matter where he stood on sensitive political, educational and social issues of the day.

Reminder: Don't Shoot Your Gun In Air To Ring In The New Year

Reminder: Don't Shoot Your Gun In Air To Ring In The New Year

Reminder: Don't Shoot Your Gun In Air To Ring In The New Year Tomorrow night is New Year's Eve and though the town seems empty now, New York City, and Times Square especially, will soon be filled with celebrating folks. So naturally, Police Commissioner Ray Kelly wants people to remember to please, not fire their firearms into the sky to celebrate 2012. "Obviously, we urge people not to do that. The bullets come down and hit people," he told reporters Thursday. Guns aren't firecrackers! [ more › ]
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Reminder: Don't Shoot Your Gun In Air To Ring In The New Year
Garth Johnston
Fri, 30 Dec 2011 21:34:55 GMT

Friday, December 30, 2011

May Police Cut a Drug Baggie off a Suspect’s, uh, Nether Regions?

May Police Cut a Drug Baggie off a Suspect’s, uh, Nether Regions?

Seriously. It’s a question that needed answering. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit has ruled that using a knife for such a delicate deed is too dangerous.

The case involves a Baltimore man arrested and convicted of possession with intent to distribute cocaine base. Volokh Conspiracy and walshslaw have discussions on the opinion here and here.

The Fourth Circuit, in sum, found that an officer’s use of a knife to cut a sandwich baggie of crack off his penis, an act performed at night on a public street, was unreasonable.

The man, Joseph Edwards, had tried to have the evidence suppressed while his case was in federal district court, arguing that officers’ search inside his underwear was unreasonable under the Fourth Amendment.

The trial judge rejected the motion, concluding that Edwards’s pants were only pulled out, not down, and that no members of the public caught a glimpse of his man parts. He entered a conditional guilty plea and was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

The Fourth Circuit, however, said that even assuming that the search was justified in the first place, the court must consider whether the contraband was seized in a manner that “poses an unnecessary risk of harm to the person being searched.” The ruling wipes out the district court’s ruling and could lead to the government dropping its case.

“The government provides no reason whatsoever why the concealed contraband, once the police had determined that it clearly was not a handgun, could not have been removed under circumstances less dangerous to Edwards,” the court said, in an opinion by Judge Barbara Milano Keenan, an Obama appointee. “We conclude that Bailey’s use of a knife in cutting the sandwich baggie off Edwards’ penis posed a significant and an unnecessary risk of injury to Edwards, transgressing well settled standards of reasonableness.”

Keenan was joined in the opinion by Judge Diana Gribbon Motz, a Clinton appointee. They suggested alternatives to cutting the baggie with a knife — including untying, removing, or tearing it, or using blunt scissors to do the job.

Judge Albert Diaz, another Obama appointee, dissented.

“Simply put, in assessing whether the police acted reasonably, we need not ignore Edwards’ decision to store drugs in a rather unconventional location. Indeed, our cases recognize that context matters in assessing reasonableness under the Fourth Amendment, as we have upheld intrusive searches when justified by the circumstances,” He wrote. “Based on the location of the contraband . . . there was simply no delicate way to seize it.”

May Police Cut a Drug Baggie off a Suspect’s, uh, Nether Regions?
Joe Palazzolo
Fri, 30 Dec 2011 19:07:26 GMT

Taliban to get official headquarters as U.S. tries to reach peace deal

Taliban to get official headquarters as U.S. tries to reach peace deal

The Afghan Taliban may soon get an official headquarters as part of American efforts to reconcile with the insurgent group. The U.S. is also discussing the possibility of releasing five Taliban-affiliated Afghan prisoners from Guantanamo Bay, The Associated Press reported.

Taliban to get official headquarters as U.S. tries to reach peace deal
BRADEN GOYETTE
Fri, 30 Dec 2011 22:05:51 GMT

New drug Spice proliferating in U.S. military, officials admit; can cause hallucinations

New drug Spice proliferating in U.S. military, officials admit; can cause hallucinations

Synthetic marijuana led to more than 1,000 investigations in 2011

BY Nina Mandell
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Friday, December 30 2011, 10:37 AM

Synthetic marijuana known as Spice can cause hallucinations.

Schorle/wikipedia.com

Synthetic marijuana known as Spice can cause hallucinations.

A new drug that can leave its users hallucinating for days is spreading through the military ranks at an alarming rate, military officials admitted.

The drug, a synthetic marijuana known as Spice, has led to the investigation of 700 Marines and Navy sailors this year — up from 29 two years ago. The Air Force has punished 497 airmen so far this year alone as well, The Associated Press reported.

"You can just imagine the work that we do in a military environment," said Mark Ridley, deputy director of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, told the AP, adding that the military has a zero tolerance policy for drugs.

Spice can make users paranoid, hallucinate, suicidal and can cause long bouts of psychosis, among other symptoms.

It's also been increasingly popular to mainstream drug users.

Much like “bath salts,” another dangerous new drug, Spice was available legally in some states until this year.

In March, the Drug Enforcement Administration banned it for at least a year after health officials warned it was sending more people to the hospital with strange symptoms.

"People are going to emergency rooms because of Spice," Tamar Wilson, staff attorney with the Colorado District Attorneys' Council, told the Denver Post in February. "This is not a marijuana substitute, though that may be why people initially try it. Young people are getting it and bringing it to schools. We realized it really is a significant problem."

With News Wire Services

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/drug-spice-proliferating-u-s-military-officials-admit-hallucinations-article-1.998798#ixzz1i2x4FPjc

New drug Spice proliferating in U.S. military, officials admit; can cause hallucinations
Rafael Martínez Alequín
Fri, 30 Dec 2011 19:08:00 GMT

Verizon dumps $2 “convenience” fee

Verizon dumps $2 “convenience” fee

Verizon Wireless on Friday backed down on a decision to charge its customers a $2 “convenience fee” for one-time online and phone bill payments. The quick reversal followed a harsh customer backlash and scrutiny by regulators.

Verizon dumps $2 “convenience” fee
ELIZABETH LAZAROWITZ
Fri, 30 Dec 2011 21:33:00 GMT

Museum of the City of New York

Museum of the City of New York   Museum of the City of New York

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

The Museum of the City of New York will be closed on Sunday, January 1 and will reopen Monday, January 2 at 10 am.

We look forward to seeing you in 2012!

    Holiday Hours:
    Saturday, December 31, 10 am - 6 PM
    Sunday, January 1, CLOSED
    Monday, January 2, 10 am - 6 PM
CLOSED NEW YEAR'S DAY

[Merrymakers in New Year Saturnalia], 1942, photographer unknown, from the Museum of the City of New York's Photography collection.


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