Category: Crime, Corrections, Law Enforcement
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Police Common Sense in Richmond
by Dick Hall-Sizemore A recent article in the Richmond Times-Dispatch brings news that contravenes two themes prevalent in Bacon’s Rebellion: the rising violent crime rate and the ineffectiveness of the Richmond city government. Despite having a police force with a vacancy rate of 20%, Richmond has seen a 35% drop in homicides and nearly a…
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New Census Bureau Numbers and the Southern Border
by James C. Sherlock I just received my “Happy New Year 2023” message from the Census Bureau. “As the nation prepares to ring in the new year, the U.S. Census Bureau today projected the U.S. population will be 334,233,854 on Jan. 1, 2023. Happy New Year 2023! This represents an increase of 1,571,393, or 0.47%,…
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RVA 5×5 – Holiday Briefing
by Jon Baliles It’s Friday! Which means this newsletter would normally be filled with stories and analysis about what is happening in the RVA region (not all of it good), with an honest and insightful take (so far as that is possible). For instance, this week we could have stories about: A non-profit that presented…
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Reparations for the Violators
by Dick Hall-Sizemore Governor Youngkin has proposed reparations for people who violated legal orders. Included in his budget proposal is a directive to reimburse all fines, fees, and interest imposed on individuals “due to violations of COVID-19 related practices, guidelines, rules or operating procedures” and to waive all such fines imposed. The budget language earmarks…
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Bad Times at Richmond Jail
by Jon Baliles If anyone knows what the hell is going on at the Richmond City Jail, please raise your hand. Stand up. Write it down. Grab the mic. Something. Anything. In a bizarre series of stories in recent days, people are dying, guards are getting beaten, and strange and awful things are happening at…
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The Perry Family Lawyers Up
by James A. Bacon In a news conference yesterday the parents of D’Sean Perry, one of three University of Virginia football players slain in a mass shooting last month, called for changes to gun laws and faulted UVa for failing to boot their son’s killer off campus. Said D’Sean’s father Sean Perry: “(We want) to…
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Virginia Beach Throws Millions At the Family of Donovon Lynch
by Kerry Dougherty Oh, look. Virginia Beach just agreed to make the family of the late Donovon Lynch millionaires. The city announced Tuesday that the Lynch estate is getting $3 million. The city council approved the payout. You remember Lynch, don’t you? He was the 25-year-old who was shot and killed by a police officer…
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Can Threat Assessment Teams Function in Schools Practicing PBIS?
by James C. Sherlock Last I read, Attorney General Miyares’ Loudoun County special grand jury is still empaneled. There is another matter worthy of investigation in the cases of the rapes of two school girls in Loudoun County high schools. That is the matter of the threat assessment teams (TATS) in each school. The special…
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To Address Root Causes of Crime, Ban Convenience Stores!
by James A. Bacon Now that the City of Richmond has expunged the scourge of the Confederate memorials that were blighting the eyes of residents — the last statue, of General A.P. Hill, was removed yesterday — City Council finally can turn its attention to less pressing matters such as violent crime and failing schools.…
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Buta Biberaj’s Hot Potatoes
by James C. Sherlock I admit it. I hope the cases against the two Loudoun County school officials actually go to trial. The indictments for misconduct by school system officials surrounding the rapes of two school girls seem to require it to assign accountability. But left-wing icon Commonwealth’s Attorney Buta Biberaj is in a hard…
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Violent Crime Wave? What Violent Crime Wave?
And this, my god. The rate of gun homicides among Black men is right back to where it was at the height of the early 90's wave of violence. Keep that in mind the next time someone tries to minimize the current resurgence. pic.twitter.com/GTFRzWCL5l — Alec MacGillis (@AlecMacGillis) November 30, 2022 Who’s more racist —…
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Handling Threats in Schools is Hampered by Progressive Cultures and Lack of Individual Initiative
by James C. Sherlock Virginia’s school threat assessment and mitigation processes are broken, putting entire school communities in danger. The University of Virginia shootings and the rapes at two Loudoun County high schools were each preventable had the focus been on intervention by authorities responsible to do so. It was clearly not. School cultures are…
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Grand Jury Report on Loudoun Schools Raises Threat Assessment Issue – Again
by James C. Sherlock Update Dec. 7 at 7:33: LCPS Superintendent Scott Ziegler was fired yesterday by the school board. That does not begin to resolve the issue of threat assessment. The University of Virginia Threat Assessment Team (TAT), with knowledge of a threat, failed to intervene before tragedy in the case of the student…
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We Don’t Pay Virginia Beach Cops Enough
by Kerry Dougherty On Monday, Virginia Beach Police Chief Paul Neudigate did something unusual: he released a video showing the fatal shooting of 28-year-old suspected car thief, Deshawn Whitaker, in a strip mall parking lot last week. Police are usually loathe to release dash cam and body cam footage in the immediate aftermath of…