America’s Traffic Laws Give Police Way Too Much Power | TIME

We’ll never know what Philando Castile was feeling when the police lights first flashed across his rearview mirror on a balmy night in the summer of 2016. But we can be reasonably certain of what he wasn’t feeling: surprise. The traffic stop—ostensibly for a broken tail light—that precipitated his tragic death, and captured the nation’s attention, was nothing out of the ordinary for Castile. It was in fact the 46th time he had been pulled over. And while this figure may seem shocking to some, there is sadly nothing aberrational about it.
— Read on time.com/6175852/pretextual-traffic-stops/

California Law Enforcement Agencies Are Spending More But Solving Fewer Crimes | Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice

A new report finds that, despite record spending on law enforcement, crime-solving is at record lows.

** I bet there is more to this than the report reveals.
— Read on www.cjcj.org/reports-publications/report/california-law-enforcement-agencies-are-spending-more-but-solving-fewer-crimes

Is Crime Underreporting Getting Worse? – by Jeff Asher

One of the common responses to my piece from last week on the widespread — albeit preliminary — reported decline in murder and crime could be summarized in the below comment from Twitter: “How accurate can recent burglary/larceny crime stats be when we know they’re not being recorded in many locations where such theft won’t be prosecuted? I imagine the same goes for some other stats here.”
— Read on jasher.substack.com/p/is-crime-underreporting-getting-worse

High-profile incidents of police brutality sway public opinion more than performance of local law enforcement: Study

National media coverage of police brutality influences public perceptions of law enforcement more than the performance of people’s local police departments, according to data analysis from NYU Tandon School of Engineering, …
— Read on phys.org/news/2024-02-high-profile-incidents-police-brutality.html

Addictive Hypervigilance and Uncontrolled Police Use of Force by Jesse Cheng :: SSRN

Abstract
This theoretical chapter draws from Gilmartin’s (1986) conceptualization of police hypervigilance to present an “addictive hypervigilance” hypothesis of uncontrolled police use of force. The hypothesis proposes that officers can develop a behavioral addiction to a reactive, fight-or-flight physiological state that promotes the misperception of threats, impairing affected officers’ ability over time to exercise appropriate restraint in the use of force. Should the hypothesis prove valid, this chapter suggests that Gilmartin’s own clinical observations would require that hypervigilance’s fear-based, on-guard mentality be modulated through the deliberate cultivation of other professional roles.
— Read on papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm

Race & Policing | NAACP Bucks County

New Report Reveals Significant Racial Disparities in Bucks County Policing. The NAACP Bucks County 2023 Report on Reimagining Public Safety reveals racial disparities in enforcement as well as significant shortcomings in existing departmental policies. The report includes key findings and recommendations for improving the transparency and accountability of municipal policing in Bucks County.
— Read on www.naacpbucks.org/policing