Crime – Page 11 – Shall Not Be Questioned

Taser Use Poll

The Volokh Conspiracy is running a poll to get a reader assessment of the following use of a Taser by DC Police:

Based on the information, that he was tearing down the signs and littering the streets with them, the police arguably had probable cause to arrest him for a crime. He resisted. So what’s the choice? Especially given two female officers and one male officer? The women certainly aren’t going to out wrestle an angry male. In my view, use of the Taser is appropriate, and you’ll notice it was quite effective at bringing about compliance.

The alternative is wrestling the guy to the ground, which is far more likely to result in injury to both officer and suspect.

UPDATE: A lot of folks seem to go with this:

Iâ€™ll buy that overwhelming force can sometimes be saferâ€¦.but tasking can KILL someoneâ€¦is that really a good idea?

Very rarely, yes. But wrestling people to the ground and using a baton can kill someone too, and is far more likely to result in injury than using a taser.

Philly’s Murder Problem

We’ve covered for months the fact that Philadelphia is cooking the books when it comes to reporting murders in the city. Even when murders are up over last year, they keep their little green downward pointing arrow posted.

Those are the current numbers. In the first 23 days of the year, Philly has had 27 murders. That’s 1.17 murders per day so far. But their little PR people want you to believe that crime is on the decline and everything is just fine as long as that little green arrow points down. Move along and don’t ask questions, sheeple.

Chicago Pulling a Philly?

Looks like Chicago is taking after Philadelphia, in terms of what you do, if you’re a politician trying to cultivate an image of a crime fighter, but crime keeps going up. You fudge the numbers.

Another Beating Victim in Philadelphia

This time a 64 year old man a gang just decided to beat for sport. Remember, this is the same city that decided to prosecute Gerald Ung for putting six bullets into the alpha male of an attacking gang. City officials are harder on defenders than on attacking criminals. This is getting so bad, it’s irresponsible of city officials for not encouraging people to get permits and arm themselves. Hell, if I were Nutter, I’d tell the Philadelphia police to set up a firearms training course to help citizens into LTCs. But I’ll eat my hat if I ever see that day.

Where’s His Candle?

A fatal beating of a Temple student in Old City. Old City used to be relatively safe, even at night. But Nutterville is looking progressively more like an asylum run by the inmates. It is extremely unwise to venture into Philadelphia, anywhere in Philadelphia, unarmed.

Blending Gas With “Rainbows and Unicorn Sweat”

Over at Volokh, some discussion about the EPA fining oil companies for failing to use cellulosic ethanol, a product which does not exist. Companies have been paying the fine. I’m wondering how this is constitutional, however. Can Congress claim the power to create a regulation under the commerce power that is impossible to comply with? Can Congress create any regulation that is impossible to comply with? As AEI noted, “Congress might as well have mandated oil companies blend gasoline with rainbows and unicorn sweat.”

My guess is, in this case, the fine is cheaper than fighting it.

Shooting in Near Mount Rainer Kills Ranger

I’m sure our opponents are going to make hay out of this, but this guy isn’t looking to me like he’s the type that’s going to give a crap whether guns are allowed in National Parks or not. The ranger shot was a mother of two.

Spin No One is Buying in a City Where No One is Accountable

As the Philadelphia Daily News was headed to print with the headline “Kill-adelphia: Yet again, city tops list of homicide rates,” they missed another homicide for their report. As I told Wyatt in response to that tweet, the city’s leaders think he’s using fuzzy math for considering year-over-year numbers. They only count from the very highest number and consider all numbers below it to be an improvement. Even as murder is on the rise, they use a “method” of counting that considers it down by double digits. The problem is that no one believes them, but the city voters aren’t willing to hold anyone accountable.

But John Coleman, shopping at the Uceta market yesterday, wasn’t buying the spin.

“They lyin’,” said Coleman, 25.

They use every excuse under the sun. You can’t track trends with year-over-year data. (Really? Yet, using the absolute worst year is a method for tracking long-term trends?) The city’s leadership says that the numbers aren’t accurate because they actually include every homicide, and they don’t think all of them count. Which ones don’t count?

“We’ve been pretty much flat for about two years, if you take the Gosnell numbers out,” said Everett Gillison, deputy mayor for public safety, who spoke for the Nutter administration.

What are “the Gosnell numbers” that shouldn’t count? That would be the doctor who murdered seven babies & one woman.

Of course, even though shootings are down, the lack of extreme gun control in the rest of the state is to blame, according to the head of the Philadelphia Police Department. The mayor’s spokesman says that the economy is to blame, as does a social worker interviewed in the article. It’s easier to blame everyone else for a city that chooses to do nothing to stop the culture of violence.

Promises are made by the city’s current leaders, but no one cares enough to hold them accountable.

Mayor Nutter, at a debate during his 2007 campaign, pledged that he wouldn’t seek re-election if the 2010 homicide tally was more than the 288 killed in 2002. Then at his inauguration in January 2008, he set what turned out to be an overly ambitious goal of slashing the city’s murder rate by 30 to 50 percent in three to five years. He won re-election this year.

He didn’t meet a single one of those promises, but there was never any doubt as to his chances to hold office this year. I think it speaks volumes that in the picture for the article that only two people in the crowd look upset at the body covered just a few feet from them. I think far too many residents in that city have simply decided to accept this level of crime as a way of life.

Blaming the Victims

There’s a fine line between teaching someone to be smart to avoid being a victim and actually blaming them for the crimes committed. But it looks like Harrisburg, Pennsylvania has not only crossed that line, it’s not even visible in their rearview mirror anymore. They actually criminalize potential victimhood.

Meanwhile, police have issued several citations to people who left vehicles running and unattended in the city during the past week, police Chief Pierre Ritter said.

Motorists are not allowed to leave cars running in Harrisburg if they are not in them, even out front of homes to prevent vehicle theft, Ritter said. Drivers with cars left idling and unattended will receive $90 fines.

Get that? It’s a crime to leave your car in a manner in which it could be stolen by a criminal. You will be punished because someone else might come along and make you a victim.

By this logic, what is Harrisburg’s next big idea to cut down on car theft? Fining those who buy nice cars. If they wouldn’t drive nice cars, then criminals wouldn’t be tempted to take them.

The next big crime fighting law proposed by Chief Ritter will be to cut down on rape. If we follow his justification above, he plans on fining women with vaginas in order to prevent rape. We can’t have those women with vaginas tempting potential rapists.

Belgian Mass Shooter

Extrano’s alley has a summary of the guy who went ape shit in Belgium and shot up the place. Not surprisingly, European elites are calling for more gun control laws, even though it seems apparent the weapons was procured and possessed illegally under Belgian law, and was not a type that would ordinarily be legal. He assembled it himself. But, you know, we’re all wacky for suggesting to our opponents that people will do this if you outlaw them.

You would tend to think that if gun control is going to stop anyone, it would be the mass shooter, who has limited access to black market sources, and is more likely to have to rely on the primary legal market to acquire firearms. But given that this happens in Europe, that doesn’t appear to be the case at all.