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March 11th, 2008

Cop in the Hood

Hood2.jpg Peter Moskos, an Assistant Professor of Law & Police Science at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice has written a book called Cop in the Hood: My Year Policing Baltimore’s Eastern District .

From George Pelecanos, writer and producer for The Wire: Cop in the Hood is a thoughtful, highly entertaining record of a police officer’s year spent patrolling one of the country’s toughest urban districts, delivered by Moskos, who wore the uniform. For those who are interested in crime and how things work, and for readers seeking a reasoned look at the war on drugs and its implications, this is the handbook.

I went down to Baltimore to interview the Chief of Police while I was doing research for my book, and I have to say, in many ways it looked like being a cop in Baltimore was a tougher job than being a cop in New York. (I’m sorry if this contributes to Baltimore’s bad image, something Moskos addresses on his blog.)

For more about this book and Moskos, click here for his blog. There’s a chapter from his book, and some very interesting daily commentary about current events relating to crime.

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February 5th, 2008

Cold Case Squads in Trouble?

USA.jpg “Cold case squads around the country are being cut back or eliminated as police departments face tightening budgets and shifting law enforcement priorities,” begins a February 1st USA Today article about cold cases.

Another article followed on February 4th. The comments section of both articles are worth reading.

(The picture is of Cpl. Duwana Pelton from the Orange County Sheriff’s Office in Orlando and appears in the first article.)

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January 22nd, 2008

Private Note to New York City’s Cold Case Squad:

YAY!!

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December 19th, 2007

Happy Holidays

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I’ve been posting this every year since I put up this site. This is from my collection from the Photo Unit at 1 Police Plaza. As always, it’s sad to see the WTC, but this remains one of my favorite shots. In New York City, Santa has a helicopter instead of reindeer! (All those spires, and chimneys and roofs of varying heights, it’s dangerous for the reindeer.)

Are we still under 500 murders for the year so far? Yay us for not killing each other so much this year! But for those who have lost people this year, I’m sorry they won’t be with you this holiday. Here is a bit from a poem called The Song of Shadows by Walter de la Mare:

Ghosts linger in the darkening air,
Hearken at the open door;
Music hath called them, dreaming,
Home once more.

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