What I learned from an unfortunate incident with the NYPD
1–10 of 96 posts
Re: What I learned from an unfortunate incident with the NYPD
#2Part of the irony here is that Nick is one of the most respectable, least threatening, most "establishment" people I know -- he's worked in banking/gov security, and his goal in life is to be a CPA for startups.
If someone like that is getting fucked with by the biggest gang in NYC, you know there's a problem.
Re: What I learned from an unfortunate incident with the NYPD
#3Very interesting video - a law professor and a police officer explain how to deal with law enforcement in the US, mostly by not saying very much. I learned a lot watching it.
Re: What I learned from an unfortunate incident with the NYPD
#4Part of the irony here is that Nick is one of the most respectable, least threatening, most "establishment" people I know -- he's worked in banking/gov security, and his goal in life is to be a CPA for startups. If someone like that is getting fucked with by the biggest gang in NYC, you know there's a problem.
There are already too many cops, and they have to keep going back to the same trough to feed themselves. Solving murders, rapes, and robberies doesn't pay. Ticketing people for jaywalking, curfew, and traffic violations does. Also, to further the problem, the police have cash bonuses paid to them for exceeding their quotas with these tickets.
The police are there to preserve disorder, but they have lost sight of this. Now, there are two types of cops; the protect and serve kind, and the us against them kind. Sadly, the latter seems to be taking over. I'm afraid this doesn't end well. The nightmare scenario is some kid walking up to a cop on the 4th of July and asking for baseball cards with a toy in his hand that is mistaken for a gun.
The real question here is what are we going to do about it?
Re: What I learned from an unfortunate incident with the NYPD
#5Part of the irony here is that Nick is one of the most respectable, least threatening, most "establishment" people I know -- he's worked in banking/gov security, and his goal in life is to be a CPA for startups. If someone like that is getting fucked with by the biggest gang in NYC, you know there's a problem.
There are already too many cops, and they have to keep going back to the same trough to feed themselves. Solving murders, rapes, and robberies doesn't pay. Ticketing people for jaywalking, curfew, and traffic violations does. Also, to further the problem, the police have cash bonuses paid to them for exceeding their quotas with these tickets. The police are there to preserve disorder, but they have lost sight of this…
Empirical research disputes your assertion that there are too many cops:
http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2012/12/pol...
Re: What I learned from an unfortunate incident with the NYPD
#6Earlier quoted context omitted.
There are already too many cops, and they have to keep going back to the same trough to feed themselves. Solving murders, rapes, and robberies doesn't pay. Ticketing people for jaywalking, curfew, and traffic violations does. Also, to further the problem, the police have cash bonuses paid to them for exceeding their quotas with these tickets. The police are there to preserve disorder, but they have lost sight of this…
Empirical research disputes your assertion that there are too many cops: http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2012/12/pol...
NYPD is 10x too big. NYC is really a special case of infinite budget, powerful union, and external events (1970s/1980s crime wave, followed by 9/11) to justify it.
Other places have too few (Oakland PD should be at least 2x and really 5x what it has). The fundamental problem is poor places have less budget and also higher need for policing.
Various transit agencies, universities, etc. should probably not operate their own substandard police forces, but use non-sworn security and have a decent working relationship with the local PD.
Re: What I learned from an unfortunate incident with the NYPD
#7> “Is that a Muslim or Hipster beard?” by a crew of three NYPD officers in Times Square.
I'm very curious to hear the full story behind this one.
On a separate note - I used to work in Chelsea[0]. Two or three days of the week, as I was leaving the subway, I would see NYPD questioning and/or frisking a young, black man or women. I saw this happen for months, and never once was the person being questioned/frisked white, east Asian, or any other race.
Oh, and by the way:
> The main I didn’t file any kind of report or move forward at all was that I don’t have badge numbers.
NEVER ask a police officer for his/her badge number. Look for it and try to memorize if you want, but don't let them know you're trying to learn it. I know someone who ended up doing ~18 months in prison for doing exactly this. (The official charge was "obstruction of justice" and/or "resisting arrest", but that's basically all he actually did. Once it's clear to the cops that you're looking to report them, they'll do everything in their power[2] to punish and discredit you).
[0] Affluent, primarily white, gentrified (former) gayborhood, for those unfamiliar with NYC.
[1] This is not the same as the NYPD standing by the tables asking people to let them look through their bags (which you can refuse, by the way!)
[2] And possibly even things not in their power
Re: What I learned from an unfortunate incident with the NYPD
#8De Blasio unfortuantely hired back Bill Bratton, who defends stop and frisk:
Re: What I learned from an unfortunate incident with the NYPD
#9Earlier quoted context omitted.
Empirical research disputes your assertion that there are too many cops: http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2012/12/pol...
NYPD is 10x too big. NYC is really a special case of infinite budget, powerful union, and external events (1970s/1980s crime wave, followed by 9/11) to justify it. Other places have too few (Oakland PD should be at least 2x and really 5x what it has). The fundamental problem is poor places have less budget and also higher need for policing. Various transit agencies, universities, etc. should probably not operate thei…
It looks like NYC has ~40 police officers per 10k people(1). If you cut that by 90% to ~4 per 10k then NYC would have, by far, the smallest per capita police force for any American city. So really you're asserting that police forces are too large almost everywhere in the US?
EDIT: ~4 officers per 10k would also be lower than essentially any other country in the world(2).
1. http://www.governing.com/gov-data/safety-justice/law-enforce...
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_number_of_...
Re: What I learned from an unfortunate incident with the NYPD
#10Earlier quoted context omitted.
NYPD is 10x too big. NYC is really a special case of infinite budget, powerful union, and external events (1970s/1980s crime wave, followed by 9/11) to justify it. Other places have too few (Oakland PD should be at least 2x and really 5x what it has). The fundamental problem is poor places have less budget and also higher need for policing. Various transit agencies, universities, etc. should probably not operate thei…
It looks like NYC has ~40 police officers per 10k people(1). If you cut that by 90% to ~4 per 10k then NYC would have, by far, the smallest per capita police force for any American city. So really you're asserting that police forces are too large almost everywhere in the US? EDIT: ~4 officers per 10k would also be lower than essentially any other country in the world(2). 1. http://www.governing.com/gov-data/safety-ju…
Oh, I think you're correct; I was using the population of Manhattan only. Oops.