All about Policing with a sprinkle of Criminal Justice – written by a Secret Contrarian
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The city’s most important shared spaces need a new strategy.
— Read on www.vitalcitynyc.org/nyc-department-of-sidewalks-agenda/
Twenty local police agencies have installed license plate readers and conduct thousands of searches a week of motorists — Cheektowaga in particular. Officials say the technology helps them fight crime, but critics call it unwarranted surveillance.
— Read on investigativepost.org/2026/07/16/drivers-beware-police-are-tracking-your-movements/
Camden, New Jersey’s homicide rate in 2025 was four times the national average – still high, but a marked change from when it was 18 times the national average in 2012.
— Read on theconversation.com/how-community-groups-activists-and-local-media-turned-camden-new-jersey-into-a-model-of-police-reform-282835
My essay on the topic collects the available empirical research. There is support for the theory that, as police across the nation pulled back from some forms of proactive policing after protests surrounding George Floyd’s killing in Minneapolis, homicides and gun violence increased as a result.
— Read on reason.com/volokh/2026/07/14/did-a-minneapolis-effect-and-later-de-policing-cause-firearms-crimes-to-spike-in-2020/
Open-source investigation documents many incidents of misuse and injuries across 16 U.S.
— Read on vcresearch.berkeley.edu/news/widespread-misuse-crowd-control-weapons-law-enforcement
Why youths are rampaging in cities across America—and how to stop it
— Read on www.city-journal.org/article/teen-takeovers-streets-us-cities-looting
A repository of studies, surveys, and reports on the disparate ways white, Black, and Latino people are treated by police, prosecutors, courts, and prisons
— Read on radleybalko.substack.com/p/a-guide-to-racism-in-the-criminal
The new body wouldn’t have the power to discipline officers but could gather complaints and information about misconduct and recommend reforms to city leadership. The proposal could be on the ballot for a referendum vote in November.
— Read on investigativepost.org/2026/07/09/buffalo-could-create-new-police-oversight-body/
A new study should lay to rest the debate over legalization.
Is banning drugs a bad idea? For decades, libertarians and progressives have insisted that prohibition creates more harm than it prevents, producing needless arrests and prison sentences while pushing users into the shadows where overdose is more likely. That argument won some purchase among the public: as of 2019, a majority of Americans endorsed making drug crimes into civil offenses instead of felonies, treating them more like minor traffic violations than something meriting prison time.
In 2021, the legalizer coalition got to run their experiment. That year, Oregon and Washington both effectively decriminalized the possession of small amounts of all controlled substances, replacing potential prison sentences with a regime of minimal fines. Proponents promised a steep decline in overdose deaths and improvement in public safety. But did that happen?
See the report HERE
The racial disparities, the arbitrary outcomes, the endless waiting and the risk of executing the innocent persist.
— Read on www.themarshallproject.org/2026/06/22/death-penalty-50th-gregg-georgia-executions
All about Policing with a sprinkle of Criminal Justice - written by a Secret Contrarian
News and professional developments from the world of policing
A veteran police chief committed to improving police leadership, trust, effectiveness, and officer safety.
Future of Policing 