Category: Crime, Corrections, Law Enforcement
-
Hate ObamaCare? Try Social Media
By Peter Galuszka For all the chatter before the U.S. Supreme Court and pundits, ObamaCare has raised critical questions striking at the heart of individual rights and the Constitution. Yet there’s another, far more powerful and potentially more sinister force out there that is far more ominous along similar grounds: social media. True, “social media”…
-
Richmond’s Arab Spring
—
by
in Business and Economy, Children and Families, Courts and law, Crime, Corrections, Law Enforcement, Demographics, Economic development, Education (higher ed), Education (K-12), Electoral process, Energy, Government Finance, Health Care, Immigration, Infrastructure, Labor and Workforce, LGBQT, Money in politics, Planning, Politics, Social Services and Entitlements, UncategorizedBy Peter Galuszka What seems one of the wildest General Assembly sessions that ended on Saturday was actually a healthy display of democracy in action. It could presage a fundamental way that things are done in Richmond. True, a new Republican and conservative majority in the House of Delegates pushed odious wedge issues at the…
-
¡Viva la Revolución!
—
by
in Business and Economy, Children and Families, Consumer Protection, Courts and law, Crime, Corrections, Law Enforcement, Demographics, Disasters and Disaster Preparedness, Economic development, Education (higher ed), Education (K-12), Electoral process, Energy, Government workers and pensions, Gun rights, Health Care, Housing, Immigration, Infrastructure, Insurance, Labor and Workforce, Land use & Development, LGBQT, Money in politics, Planning, Politics, Poverty & income gap, Property rights, Public safety & health, Race and Race Relations, Regulations, Gov’t Oversight, Science & Technology, Social Services and Entitlements, Taxes, Transportation, Uncategorized, Water-waste waterEstimado Jefe! Usted nunca debe salir de la ciudad, señor! Ahora que usted está ausente, la revolución comienza! Amados lectores de ya no ver los artículos que glorifican a los ricos y privilegiados. Vamos a ayudar a la tierra y los pobres y redistribuir los fondos de cobertura. ¡Viva la Revolución!
-
The Cooch’s Personal Cops?
By Peter Galuszka Virginia’s zany attorney general wants to create his own armed, flying squad of crime-busters. In what could be a 21st century version of “Dragnet,” Kenneth Cuccinelli wants to create his own police force. He wants to arm 40 of the 83 members of his Medicaid fraud investigative arm. They’d have badges, too. Cuccinelli…
-
No More Welfare for Drug Abusing Moms
by James A. Bacon During my urban homesteading days in Richmond’s gritty Church Hill some 20 years ago, I lived on a block that, at any given point in time, had two or three crack houses. Gunshots were common background noise. There was a triple homicide in one house, and a separate triple shooting (only…
-
Good Bye and Good Riddance to 2011
by James A. Bacon Good riddance to 2011, 365 days of misery that brought us the Gulf Oil Spill, Quantitative Easing 2 and the bulge in Anthony Weiner’s briefs. Most distressing of all, the year marked another failure by the country’s political leadership to address the nation’s fiscal free fall and avert the hard, hard…
-
McDonnell Orders Closure of Mecklenburg Prison
Gov. Bob McDonnell has directed the Department of Corrections to close the Mecklenburg Correctional Center in Boydton. The decision was prompted by by Pennsylvania’s decision to remove nearly 1,000 prisoners housed under contract in Virginia, resulting in a loss of $20 million a year. Mecklenburg inmates will be transferred to the Green Rock Correctional Center…
-
New Studies, Reports and Inanity…
Motor Vehicle Dealer Internet Access Study Report to the General Assembly In 2011 the General Assembly adopted legislation requiring all newly licensed automobile dealers to have an Internet connection and email address. The Motor Vehicle Dealer Board even engaged the Point Management Group to conduct a study, which proceeded to document that all MVDB dealers…
-
The Wonk Salon, November 15, 2011
What Do We Do With Violent Sexual Predators When They Leave Prison? Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission Virginia’s methodology for assessing the risk posed by violent sexual predators when they leave prison is flawed, leaving it vulnerable to using out-of-date actuarial science and limiting input from qualified professionals. Challenges to Growth of Virginia’s Bioeconomy…
-
They Attack By Night
By Peter Galuszka It may go without saying that propaganda campaigns only tell part of the story. So it was in Richmond’s downtown Kanawha Plaza where a small band of “Occupy Richmond,” an offshoot of the national protest movement, had been camping since Oct. 15. This little group was protesting abuse of democracy and financial…
-
Older Is Wise Guy-er
The good thing about older prison inmates is that they tend to be less violent than their younger peers. It helps keep down on the guard-staffing expenses when the warden doesn’t have to worry about convicts knifing one another in the exercise yard or sexually assaulting the beta males in the showers. The bad thing…
-
Yet Another Mongolian Crossroads
By Peter Galuszka (Third in a series) ULAN BAATOUR, Mongolia — Flying into this capital city nestled among treeless, light brown mountains brought back memories of a grimy, industrial Soviet city from 30 years ago. Along the tarmac are rows of cannibalized Antonov 2 biplanes used as crop dusters after World War II along with…
-
The Wonk Salon, October 4, 2011
Yelp, Here Comes ILP (Intelligence-Led Policing) Rand Corporation Law enforcement has evolved from political policing to professional policing to community-based policing, and it’s morphing again — to Intelligence-Led Policing, which relies heavily upon database analysis. Rebuilding Wisconsin’s Interstates with Tolls Reason Foundation/Wisconsin Policy Research Institute Over the next 30 years, Wisconsin’s Interstate system will exceed…
-
The Wonk Salon, September 26, 2011
Many Parole Programs Still Winging It Urban Institute Evidence-based practices are making inroads in state correctional programs that oversee the release of 500,000 prisoners a year into the population. But many programs still appear to be flying by the seat of their pants. Want to Avoid Flood Damage? Elevate Your Stinkin’ House! Rand Corporation Want…
-
Charts of the Day: Crashes vs. Crime
by James A. Bacon It is axiom of the smart growth movement that, although fear of crime may predominate in the popular mentality, motor vehicle crashes represent every bit as much of a threat to peoples’ safety and well being. Because accidents are more likely to occur in the countryside and the ‘burbs (my term…