Results for “police”
716 found

Let the Dog Out!

by  Alex Tabarrok in

Dog the Bounty Hunter was arrested and jailed recently on charges related to his capture of Andrew Luster in Mexico.  Here’s a couple of paragraphs from a long-term project:

Andrew
Luster had it all, a multi-million dollar trust fund, good looks, and a bachelor
pad just off the beach in Mussel Shoals, California. Luster, the great-grandson of cosmetics
legend Max Factor, spent his days surfing and cruising the clubs. His life would have been unremarkable if sad had
he not had a fetish for sex with the unconscious. When the first woman alleged rape, Luster
claimed mutual consent but the videotapes that the police discovered when they searched
his home told a different story. Eventually
more than ten women came forward and Luster was convicted of twenty counts of
rape and sentenced to 124 years in prison. There was only one problem. Luster could not be found.

Shortly
before he was expected to take the stand, Luster withdrew funds from his stock
accounts, arranged for his dog to be taken care of and skipped town on a one
million dollar bail bond. The FBI put
Luster on their Most Wanted list but months passed with no results. In the end, the authorities never found him.  But Luster but he was brought to justice – by
a dog. Duane Chapman, now known by the
title of his television show, Dog: The Bounty Hunter, had been tracking Luster
for months. He picked up clues to his whereabouts
from old phone bills and from Luster’s mother who inadvertently revealed that
Luster spoke fluent Spanish. Finally, a
tip from someone who had seen Dog on television brought Dog to a small town in Mexico with great surfing. Days later Dog spotted Luster at a taco stand and made the arrest.

Unfortunately for Dog, bounty hunting is illegal in Mexico and the US authorities, who in my opinion are embarrassed by their failure to capture Luster, haven’t tried to intervene with the Mexican government to let the charges drop in the interests of justice.

For more on the effectiveness of bounty hunters versus the police see my paper.

China story of the day

by  Tyler Cowen in

A county in southwestern China has killed as many as 50,000 dogs in a
government-ordered campaign following the deaths of three local people
from rabies.

The five-day massacre in Yunnan province’s Mouding county that
ended on Sunday spared only military guard dogs and police canine
units, the Shanghai Daily reported, citing local media.

Dogs being walked were taken from their owners and beaten to death on the spot, it said.

Other killing teams entered villages at night creating noise to get
dogs barking, then homing in on their prey. Owners were offered five
yuan (34p) per animal to kill their own dogs before the teams were sent
in, it said. (AOL News)

The pointer is from EffectMeasure.

Overkill

by  Alex Tabarrok in

My research on bounty hunters shows that they are more effective than the police in recapturing criminals.  I’m often asked (and sometimes told), however, about the potential for abuse and mistaken arrests.  No one ever bothers, however, to ask how bounty hunters compare on the abuse score with the police.  My suspicion is that the bounty hunters would come out better because they know that a mistake can put them out of business while the police may routinely break down the wrong door under cover of law.

Some data on the potential for abuse and mistaken arrest or worse from the police is provided in a new Cato report, Overkill: The Rise of Paramilitary Police Raids in America, by Radley Balko.  The report notes:

Over the
last 25 years, America has seen a disturbing militarization
of its civilian law enforcement, along
with a dramatic and unsettling rise in the use of
paramilitary police units (most commonly called
Special Weapons and Tactics, or SWAT) for routine
police work. The most common use of SWAT
teams today is to serve narcotics warrants, usually
with forced, unannounced entry into the
home.

These increasingly frequent raids, 40,000 per
year by one estimate, are needlessly subjecting
nonviolent drug offenders, bystanders, and
wrongly targeted civilians to the terror of having
their homes invaded while they’re sleeping, usually
by teams of heavily armed paramilitary units
dressed not as police officers but as soldiers.

Along with the paper is an interactive map showing hundreds of mistaken raids over the past several decades, a number of which lead to the deaths of innocents.

How can Mexican corn be left to rot?

by  Tyler Cowen in

Larry White quotes the NYT and asks:

"Every year, nearly three million tons of harvested Mexican corn is left to rot because it is too expensive to sell."

How on earth could this be true? Does it mean that the mere cost of
transporting the corn from farm to market exceeds the market value of
the corn? (Seems impossible, given that Mexico pays prices that cover
the cost of importing corn from the US.) If so, why did anyone bother
to harvest the corn, and before that to grow it in the first place?

I would not vouch for Mexican government statistics.  But I do know that large amounts of corn rot in rural Mexico.  The corn is grown for immediate consumption.  The rainfall is highly uncertain so farmers plant far more than they need to eat in a typical year.  (Where is micro-insurance?  But note the shadow value of family labor is often low, so why not plant more?  Plus it keeps disputed claims to land active.)  In most years there is a great deal of corn "waste," but the precautionary growing has some efficiency properties.  The remaining corn is fed to the pigs or dogs or simply left to rot.  There are relatively high fixed costs to entering more formal corn markets, most of all transporting the product (i.e., the police will demand bribes), plus the extra corn would not yield very much. 

Few of these rural growers import corn from the United States.  And it is not hard to believe that mass-shipped corn from the USA is cheaper in Chihuahua than corn shipped up from rural Guerrero.

Note also that many of the very poorest Mexicans grow corn for their own consumption and thus tariff-free corn importation from the US will expand their opportunity set; it will not "put them out of business."

The Nutty Professor

by  Alex Tabarrok in

Here’s an amazing piece of the life of Timothy Leary from the NYTimes book review of Timothy Leary: A Biography.

…he finally went to jail, and was likely to be kept there for years
before he would be considered for parole. Characteristically, he
compared himself to "Christ . . . harassed by Pilate and Herod." In a
twist that could have occurred only in 1970, a consortium of drug
dealers paid the Weather Underground to spring Leary from the
California Men’s Colony at San Luis Obispo – he pulled himself along a
telephone cable over the fence, then was picked up by a car – and
transport him to Algeria. He duly issued a press statement written in
the voice of the Weathermen, the money line of which was: "To shoot a
genocidal robot policeman in the defense of life is a sacred act."

But
when he and his wife, Rosemary, arrived in Algiers, they found
themselves wards of the exiled Black Panther leader Eldridge Cleaver,
who was probably smarter than Leary, possibly crazier, and had little
use for him. As Leary acknowledged, rather shrewdly: "It was a new
experience for me to be dependent on a strong, variable, sexually
restless, charismatic leader who was insanely erratic. I usually played
that role myself."

Rental markets in everything

by  Tyler Cowen in

Some husbands in western India are renting out their wives to other
men, cashing in on a shortage of single women available for marriage,
according to a news report Monday.

Atta Prajapati, a farm worker who lives in Gujarat state, leases out
his wife Laxmi to a wealthy landowner for $175 US a month, the Times of
India reported, citing unidentified police officials. A farm worker
earns a monthly minimum wage of around $22. Laxmi is expected to live
with the man, look after him and his house, and have sex with him, the
report said.

Here is the story.  Might we call this temporary polygamy?  For the pointer I thank Pablo Halkyard and also SunCraig.

Suite Francaise

by  Tyler Cowen in

The entire village was waiting for the Germans.  Faced with the idea of seeing their conquerors for the first time, some people felt desperate shame, others anguish, but many felt only apprehensive curiosity, as when some astonishing new theatrical event is announced.  The civil servants, police, postmen had all been ordered to leave the day before.  The mayor was staying.  He was a placid old farmer with gout; nothing flustered him.  With or without a leader, things in the village went on much the same…everyone agreed that the army had failed and there was nothing more to be done; they had no choice but to give up.  The room was filled with chatter.  It was stiflingly hot.

That is from Suite Francaise, by Irene Nemirovsky.  This remarkable work is one of the important French-language novels of the twentieth century; it deserves all the raves.  Yet it was just discovered and published; sadly the author died at Auschwitz in 1942.  Here is the story of the book.  I know of no better treatment — fiction or non-fiction — of living under a conquering army.  Highly recommended.

Why I love the suburbs

by  Tyler Cowen in

1. We live 30 minutes from Washington but we also have a fox in the backyard.  Deer are a frequent sight as well.

2. Chinese restaurants are usually better in the suburbs these days.

3. Driving is fun and a good way to experience music.  MR readers know I favor a (revenue-neutral) gas tax.  My worry is that car culture makes people more individualistic and thus I have some reluctance to tax this trend.  Try Chuck Berry’s "No Particular Place To Go."

4. A few weeks ago, the first Fairfax County police officer died in the line of duty.  That’s the first ever.  In New Jersey, where I grew up, you might speak of the first local cop to die today.

5. Many of my friends who live in Manhattan lose interest in global travel or never acquire it.  Sadly they feel they already have everything they need from the world right at home. 

Natasha and I talk of retiring in New York City.  But are we up for it?  I’ve started subscribing to New York magazine.  Sometimes it is interesting; more to the point I can pretend I might someday live there.

I’ll cover Jane Jacobs soon.

Musical profiling

by  Tyler Cowen in

I am in trouble:

Security staff at a British airport stopped a businessman from catching a flight because the songs he had asked a taxi driver to play on the car stereo made the driver suspicious, police said.

The songs: "London Calling" by The Clash, and "Immigrant Song" by Led Zeppelin, here are the offending lyrics and the story.

Addendum: Daniel Strauss Vasques points my attention to a slightly different version of the story, where the guy was just singing along.

Libertarian red meat

by  Tyler Cowen in

Last month, police in Fairfax, Va., conducted a SWAT raid on Sal Culosi Jr., an optometrist suspected of running a sports gambling pool with some friends. As the SWAT team surrounded him, one officer’s gun discharged, struck Culosi in the chest and killed him.  In the fiscal year before the raid that killed Culosi, Virginia spent about $20 million marketing and promoting its state lottery.

Here is the Cato link, and thanks to Chris Masse for the pointer.

At the Bastille

by  Alex Tabarrok in

As I arrived at the Bastille Metro a mass of students exited, marched across the 5 lane roundabout and sat down.  Chaos ensued.  Unfortunately for them the road was so wide they could manage a blockade only 2 to 3 students deep.  This was not enough as angry young french men with jobs drove their mopeds through the crowd kicking the students along the way.  Apparently the workers of the world are not united, at least not in France.  Unable to maintain their ranks the protest fell apart.  Today, however, some 40,000 students protest across France and the police presence in Paris remains strong. 

Here is my previous post describing the economics behind the protests.

At the Sorbonne

by  Alex Tabarrok

French riot police stormed the Sorbonne on the weekend, ousting students who had barricaded themselves in the first occupation since the events of 1968.  I am in Paris (did you guess?) and the police presence at the Sorbonne is impressive, but student protests continue in the streets. 

     The students are protesting a new labor law which would make it easier to fire workers under the age of 26.  Of course, this would also make it easier to hire young workers who currently have an unemployment rate of 23 percent.  You cannot have it both ways; raise the cost of firing and you raise the cost of hiring.  In my opinion, the Sorbonne students need a little less Foucault and a little more Bastiat. 

Or perhaps the students know more economics than I credit them with.  Under the current law it is costly to fire anyone but the effect on hiring is not symmetric.  The workers least likely to be hired are those who are perceived, rightly or wrongly, as a risk.  The fear of hiring effect falls not on the privileged students at the Sorbonne (trust me today’s protesters were tres chic), but on young French North Africans whose unemployment rate exceeds 30 percent. 

Thus, paradoxical as it may seem, today’s protests by the Sorbonne elite are a cause of the riots of late last year. 

Who will guard the guardians?

by  Alex Tabarrok in

From Cory Doctorow at Boing Boing Blog:

A CBS undercover reporting team went into 38 police stations in Miami-Dade and
Broward Counties in Florida, asking for a set of forms they could use to
complain about inappropriate police behavior. In all but three of the stations,
the police refused to give them forms. Some of the cops threatened them (on
hidden camera, no less) — one of them even touched his gun.

officer: Where do you live? Where do you live? You have to tell me
where you live, what your name is, or anything like that.

tester: For a complaint? I mean, like, if I have —

officer: Are you on medications?

tester: Why would you ask me something like that?

officer: Because you’re not answering any of my questions.

tester: Am I on medications?

officer: I asked you. It’s a free country. I can ask you that.

tester: Okay, you’re right.

officer: So you’re not going to tell me who you are, you’re not going to tell
me what the problem is.You’re not going to identify yourself.

tester: All I asked you was, like, how do I contact —

officer: You said you have a complaint. You say my officers are acting in an
inappropriate manner.

officer: So leave now. Leave now. Leave now.

Prudie blows it again

by  Tyler Cowen in

The question: I have a friend who is a functional alcoholic. Every day after work he stops by a bar, and within two hours consumes two pitchers of beer. Needless to say he drives home. He’s not sloppy drunk, nor does he exhibit signs of being drunk, but I’m sure his reaction time is impaired. Two years ago he was arrested for drunk driving. After hiring a lawyer who used to work as a police officer, he got the charges dropped to reckless driving. The lawyer advised him that next time he is pulled over not to submit to any tests, but to request a lawyer. He was pulled over again last week and did as he’d been advised. He spent the night in jail, allowing the alcohol level in his blood to drop, making it pointless to test him. I don’t want to see him get away with this anymore. I don’t know what to do. I fear that confronting him will do nothing. I feel if I make an ultimatum in regard to our friendship, he will choose alcohol, which won’t stop his drinking and driving. Part of me wonders if I should anonymously inform the police of information that would help prove their case against my friend, but I feel this would be a huge betrayal. I just want to stop this behavior and help him avoid harming an innocent bystander.

—Afraid for a Friend

Read Prudie’s answer here, but basically she says lie in wait for him at a bar and then call in the police to track him and arrest him.  I suggest a different approach…

1. He shouldn’t be your friend in the first place.

2. Turning him in to the police will make him your ex-friend.  That is in some ways a good start, but I suggest you have only weak duties to help your "soon to be ex-friends." 

3. If you wish to help innocent bystanders, forget about your friend and stand outside a popular bar with a cell phone.  Or work overtime and invest the money in third world micro-finance.  There is no good consequentialist reason to target your friend’s drinking and driving.  (Did I just call him your "friend"?)  It is unlikely that is the area of your greatest effectiveness, especially since the guy doesn’t care much about you.

4. What is she trying to get out of her system?  Has he neglected her in favor of the alcohol?  Often you can infer the real motivations by taking the opposite of the "pen name," in this case "Afraid for a Friend."

Let us do one more: 

Question: I have a fiance who has an anxiety problem for which he takes medication. He wants to bring his guitar with him on our honeymoon because he said since he can’t bring his piano (he’s a classically trained pianist), he needs some instrument to play. He said that he needs the guitar or else he will feel anxious, because he would not have any instrument to practice. It irks me to no end that if he doesn’t have an instrument and he’s sharing company with me, that’s what he’s focusing on even though we’re watching TV or at dinner, etc. When we have gone away for a weekend and he has not brought his guitar, he drinks instead. He does not get drunk, but he does drink enough over time that the alcohol keeps him from "performing." Is it selfish to want to have my honeymoon with just my husband and not have him leaving to go to another room to practice for a couple hours? I want undivided attention! Yet, I don’t want to have him drinking and not able to perform, nor yearning to play an instrument while he is with me. Shouldn’t I be enough, at least for our honeymoon?

—Feeling Not Important Enough

Prudie says you are a pain in the neck and you should split with a man you obviously do not love or even like.  I’ve been known to offer this advice myself, but let’s give it another spin.  There is a reason why "Feeling Not Important Enough" made a bad choice in the first place.  If she splits with him, she will be "drawing from the urn without replacement," as they say.  And what a very special urn it is.  Should she think that simply making another choice will yield something much better?  At least this first pick a) plays at least two musical instruments, and b) is taking medication, which is more than you can say for the median impotent, nervous, obsessive-compulsive, alcoholic musician.