Not Worth the Paper It's Printed On

Earlier this month the US Department of Justice issued a report asserting that the Albuquerque Police Department has established a pattern and practice in the use of excessive and fatal force that violates the Constitutional rights of those shot or injured by police officers.

The DoJ reviewed 20 fatal shootings by Albuquerque Police between 2009 and 2013 and concluded that in the majority of cases the level of force used was not justified because the person killed by police did not present a threat to police officers or the public. The DoJ also reviewed the use of nonlethal force involving significant harm or injury to people by APD officers and concluded that there was a similar pattern of excessive force and lack of justification.

Naturally, this has stirred up quite a controversy in New Mexico, with strongly held opinions and high emotions on all sides.  There have been anti-police protests, pro-police rallies, raucous confrontations, solemn news conferences, and little agreement.

But now, some dimbulb has begun circulating flyers in the city that read “Save a Life, Kill a Cop.”

From nearly 2,000 miles away we can hardly claim to be well acquainted with all the issues in Albuquerque.  But we can sum up those flyers in three words:  Stupid, stupid, stupid.

Deja Shoe

Today we learned of a criminal who apparently knows only one crime:  Robbing a shoe store.  One specific shoe store.

In 1999 he robbed the Stride Rite shoe store in Toms River, an act for which he was arrested, charged, and convicted.  He then served 15 years in jail.

His 15 year sentence was completed last week and he was released.  A free man, the very next day he returned to the same Stride Rite store and robbed it again.

An act for which he was arrested, will be charged shortly if not already, and in all likelihood will be convicted.  Unless he pleads not guilty by reason of insanity.  Which is plausible.

Two for the Price of One

A while back we wrote about a guy who was arrested twice in the same day.

Today we have a new story about a bright light who was not only arrested twice in the same day, he was arrested the second time without having left police headquarters following the first arrest.

The first arrest was the result of officers responding to a call concerning a fight, at which Our Hero was taken into custody and charged with possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose.  The weapon in question was a crowbar and the unlawful purpose was threatening another man with bodily harm.

Once processed for the arrest and released, this rocket scientist began threatening two of the officers who had arrested him.  Belligerent, he was taken back into custody and charged with a disorderly persons offense for the loud and threatening behavior.

This time, instead of being process and released, he was taken to jail and held on $1,500 bail.

We should note, while oftentimes the subject of one of these dumb criminal stories is a younger person, this guy was AARP-eligible at age 55.  How he made it to 55 with his demonstrated capacity for rational thought, we don’t know.

Why the Word "Idiot" was Invented

This week in southern New Jersey a 18-year-old whiz kid arrived for a court hearing while in possession of 43 bags of heroin.

For this, and unrelated to the reason for his scheduled court appearance, he was charged with possession of heroin and possession of heroin with the intent to distribute.  He was given lodging at the Atlantic County Justice Facility.

Calling this guy “stupid” is being polite.  And yet, we have a certain appreciation for morons who save the police the trouble of apprehending them on the street.

A Tragic Coincidence

On Monday of this week, two separate incidents occurred in Morris County (where the Badge Company of New Jersey was based for many years), each of which claimed the life of a retired NYPD officer, both of whom served in the borough of Staten Island, both of whom had been honored during their careers for actions in apprehending armed suspects, and each of whom was within a year of the other's age.

The first incident was a highway crash on Route 80 in Parsippany Monday afternoon that killed 52-year-old Peter McPolin, a retired NYPD Sergeant.

The second incident was an apparent domestic dispute Monday evening in Flanders that resulted in the shooting death of 51-year-old Patrick Gilhuley, a retired officer with the NYPD Housing Division.

The coincidences are many, the circumstances tragic.

Remembering an Innovator

“Scared Straight” was an Oscar-winning documentary from 1978, filmed inside East Jersey State Prison – then known as Rahway State Prison.

The film depicted a group of young offenders and their court-ordered meeting with convicts living in the prison.  Over the course of the film, the group of inmates, all serving life sentences and calling themselves the “Lifers,” transformed the swaggering and self-confident criminals-in-the-making into frightened teenagers with an entirely new outlook on their futures.

The Lifers accomplished this by pulling no punches.  In a brutally candid meeting, the Lifers berated and terrified the youths in an attempt to scare them out of pursuing a life of crime.

It was groundbreaking, and it was highly effective.

This past weekend, one of the prime movers behind the program and the film, died.  Former Woodbridge police Chief Anthony W. O’Brien passed away at the age of  87.

Chief O'Brien joined the Woodbridge Police Department in 1957 and was appointed deputy chief in 1972. In 1974, he was appointed chief and served as chief until his retirement in 1991.

Along with Judge George Nicola and correctional officials at the prison, O’Brien helped created the Lifers Program from which the original "Scared Straight" was filmed.

The film inspired sequels and a television series.  The original "Scared Straight” film can be found on YouTube.  It stands the test of time.

The Last Gasp of Carbon Motors

We thought that we had heard the last of Carbon Motors, about which we have blogged previously, when the company went belly-up last year after the US Department of Energy rejected its request for a $310-million loan.

But there remains one final nail to be put in the coffin, and that nail is an auction of the company’s assets – including the operational but not street-legal prototype of the E7 police car, the only one ever built. The car is going to auction on January 23, according to Indianapolis-based Key Auctioneers.

The E7 was to be a purpose-built police car, rather than being a modified regular production car.  The company claimed that it surveyed thousands of law enforcement officers and incorporated their ideas into the design, including cutaway seats that accommodate police officers' bulky gear, rear-hinged rear doors for safer suspect insertion, a rear compartment that could be washed out with a hose, and a twin turbo-charged six cylinder diesel engine intended to take the E7 to a top speed of over 150 mph while delivering fuel efficiency 40% greater than existing police cruisers.

The company further claimed to have received upwards of 20,000 commitments to buy the car once production began, from agencies in every state and from dozens of foreign countries.  Production was to take place in a former Visteon plant in Connorsville, Indiana.

But now, the sole E7 will be offered at auction along with other Carbon Motors assets, including intellectual property, computers and a trade show booth.  Since the company listed $21.7 million in liabilities in its Chapter 7 bankruptcy filing, it seems unlikely that the sale of the E7 and the other assets will pay off the full amount.  This despite the company’s attorney stating that the car is being marketed to "very well moneyed car enthusiasts" such as comedian Jay Leno.

If someone as visible as Jay Leno ends up with the car then we will certainly be seeing it again... but not on patrol.