Fired Oakland Police Chief Echoes What Rank and File Cops Have Been Wanting for Years: Fire the Federal Monitors

Fired Oakland Police Chief Echoes What Rank and File Cops Have Been Wanting for Years: Fire the Federal Monitors

By Steve Pomper  Recently terminated (by a civilian commission) Chief of the Oakland Police Department (OPD) Anne Kirkpatrick and I would not agree on everything in policing. After all, we chose to serve different functions. She was a top administrator. I was a street cop (with a penchant for writing articles that pissed off city government). Read more »

9/11 Memorials and the Custodians Who Care

By Stephen Owsinski Ever wonder who is responsible for the maintenance of the 9/11 Memorial & Museum in New York City? Or any of the many other law enforcement monuments in front of police stations or sheriffs’ departments near you? The latter likely has a civic group in the area or a cop or two Read more »

Cool, Calm, Collected Cops Facing Roadside Lawyers

By Stephen Owsinski Watching even one video of a traffic stop or pedestrian encounter conducted by any police officer in America can provide a glimpse —a mere microcosm— of what cops deal with on the daily. Look at these encounters by police through an exponential lens, and it is not too inconceivable to see why Read more »

Blue Laws

By Steve Pomper A little change of pace, today to discuss something I’ve always found strange but interesting. I’ve also wondered what it was like for the cops who had to enforce these blue laws. These, often whacky, laws convey to modern Americans both the transient and lingering nature of religious, cultural, and politically partisan laws. Read more »

Stop & Frisk Keeps Cops and Communities Safe

By Steve Pomper The problem with a phrase like “stop and frisk” is it doesn’t infer preconditions. Such as an officer must have reasonable suspicion (based on objective and subjective criteria) to believe the likelihood of criminal activity exists before police can even stop a person, never mind frisk them. And though reasonable suspicion doesn’t rise Read more »

Chicago Mayor Blames Cops for this Year’s Deadliest Weekend

By Steve Pomper   Why doesn’t this surprise me? People lament the violence in cities that have been under one-party political rule for decades. But voters keep electing people who not only fail to make things better but also make things worse. Take Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot for example. Voters elected another cookie-cutter, anti-law and order Read more »