Free Republic

Hate crimes documented by police disproportionately list Black people as attackers, according to a new report by several civil rights groups for better protections under hate crime laws. Released Wednesday, the report is a comprehensive national review of hate crime laws that shows where laws variate. It also cited widespread flaws in data collection and reporting. Though the majority of hate crimes in the U.S. are committed by white people, motivated by racial or ethnic bias, the crimes disproportionately reported Black Americans as the attackers.... ..."These repeated disparities ... show that — despite the fact that people of color are...

“There has been in this province a history of systemic racism, and we have to do better,” [Mayor] Savage said at the time. “This announcement sends a positive message,” said Akwasi Owusu-Bempah, a sociology professor at the University of Toronto. “I have no doubt that what we call defunding of police … will take hold in Canada.” That money will be spent on housing, social services and a safety task force. In the same vein, police should not be expanding their duties to include what the military is trained to do, because it transforms peace officers into soldiers who see...

Proudly labeling Camden's transformation as the result of disbanding its police force isn't the whole story. Camden reorganized and grew its police force. Proponents of defunding or disbanding police departments are lauding Camden, New Jersey, as a model for the nation. They suggest that the rapid decline in the city’s crime since it disbanded its police department in 2012 proves the merits of their position.We can discern the truth by analyzing the policies Camden implemented after it disbanded its police department and measuring how well they worked.It bears noting up front that in spite of the heartening declines in crime...

Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D.-Ill.) is urging President Donald Trump to help reduce “shootings and homicides” in Chicago by increasing federal investment in housing, economic development, job training, education, public health and “community policing.” “As you prepare your Fiscal Year 2020 Budget Request, I urge you to use this budget framework as an opportunity to support efforts to help reduce gun violence in Chicago, rather than scapegoating the city’s challenges to promote ideological political agendas,” Durbin told Trump in a letter sent on Dec. 13. “I urge you to prioritize federal support and resources that will help Chicago reduce...

The New York City Police Department unveiled a new policing strategy Thursday meant to keep crime low while also improving the at-times strained relationship between officers and the communities they serve. The program, dubbed “One City: Safe and Fair Everywhere,” is being launched after an 18-month department review by Police Commissioner William Bratton. He declared the plan will give New Yorkers “a more intimate” relationship with police officers by fixing cops in particular neighborhoods, allowing them to get to know local residents. Some officers will now patrol the same beat day after day, building a rapport with residents who would...

Vice President Joe Biden has told a crowd at an NAACP event in Detroit that law enforcement officers and the people they are sworn to protect need to “see each other” to know one another. Referencing outrage over the treatment of black men by police, Biden pointed to the successes of federally funded community policing programs that required officers to meet with residents and business owners in their patrol areas. “Everyone has a right to be treated with dignity and respect and the only way that happens is if we see one another. And that only happens if we know...

Call it Common Core for police. But the White House, in cahoots with the Department of Justice, has set in motion a plan that will expand federal control of community police forces, via standards handed from above called the “Task Force on 21st Century Policing.” The plan was released Monday, Infowars reported. And its gist? Like Common Core, the education plan criticized by opponents as little more than a federal mandate that’s tied to funding, the just-released police plan would force local law enforcement agencies to follow federally set standards in return for receiving federal tax dollars. “The U.S. Department...

Federal cash for Justice Department’s COPS program used for drones.President Obama has used the Ferguson and NYPD controversies to campaign for increased community policing tactics. But on his watch, federal funding for such initiatives has plummeted and money has been mishandled or diverted to such things as drones that have done little to further the cause, a Washington Times review of federal documents shows. The declining reach of the Justice Department’s Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) program is laid bare by the results of its 2014 efforts: it managed to spend only $124 million to fund 944 community policing officers...

...An unhinged, knife-wielding man about to jump from the top of a Bronx apartment building [August 8th] was coaxed off the ledge by a cop offering him a cigarette, authorities said. :snip: Cops from an NYPD Emergency Services Unit were dispatched to the scene near W. 183rd St. in University Heights and began a rapport with Paulson - who had a knife in his hand - but he refused to come down. He wasn't menacing the cops with the knife, he just ignored them," said one witness, who asked not to be named. After nearly an hour, cops struck up...

Vigilantes attacked a Beaver County man Tuesday because he allegedly tried to lure two children into his Economy Village home, Ambridge police said. Police who found the bleeding man, Kenneth Newingham, outside his home later charged him with attempted luring. The suspect told police he did not know his attackers and no charges have been filed in connection with the beating. Investigators said Mr. Newingham, 43, had been inviting children to his home since last month. Only once did any of them accept, police said. On Tuesday evening he tried to lure a 10-year-old boy and an 8-year-old girl who...

FORT WORTH -- A Fort Worth police officer arrested last week on accusations he spanked the rear of a woman he caught engaging in sexual conduct in a car in Oakhurst Park was charged with official oppression. If convicted of that charge, a Class A misdemeanor, officer Craig Murrah faces up to one year in jail and a $4,000 fine. Prosecutor Kurt Stallings confirmed Thursday that Murrah had been officially charged but said the case will also be presented to a grand jury. Police have said that at about 1 a.m. on June 22, Murrah found a couple engaging in...

KABUL, Afghanistan - Afghan President Hamid Karzai said Sunday his government will give weapons to local tribesmen so they can help fight the biggest increase in Taliban violence in years. [0] A U.S.-led coalition soldier and seven Afghan civilians were killed in the latest violence in the country's south, which has been hardest hit by the surge in insurgent attacks. Speaking to a group of tribal elders from eastern Afghanistan, Karzai said he did not want to form militias that could clash with rival tribes. "We just want to strengthen the districts to safeguard them from terrorist attack," he said....

“The news for New York City is spectacular," New York’s Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg told a City Hall press conference on May 24. He and New York Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly [Email him] were claiming credit for new FBI crime stats showing major crimes—murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, car theft, larceny and arson—dropping 5.8% in the city in 2003. New York’s crime rate now ranks it 211th of the 230 U.S. cities with 100,000-plus population—behind Omaha, Nebraska and Wichita, Kansas. Unfortunately, there must have been at least one skeptic at the press conference. Hizzoner reportedly “bristled” at suggestions that...