Policing Stories in the Press
Ta-Nehisi Coates at The Atlantic comments on a recent incident in which a 57-year-old school-teacher was tased after calling police to report a prowler.
New York Times reports on a section of Brooklyn that's become a focal point for NYPD's out-of-control stop and frisk tactics. "These encounters amounted to nearly one stop a year for every one of the 14,000 residents of these blocks." Yikes.
The controversy over last year's arrest of Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates is back in the press following the release of a new police report investigating the incident. Interestingly, the findings don't really address the issue of race, which is surprising given the role that racial tension played in the encounter and subsequent debate.
NPR had a great piece last week on the right of citizens to videotape police, featuring Radley and Carlos Miller. USA Today also has an excellent editorial defending the pratice of recording officers in public.
