Author: Christopher Marier

Drexel researchers evaluated a 2014 program implemented by Kevin Bethel when he was deputy police commissioner that led to fewer arrests of students in schools. At the same time, violent crime dropped, contradicting many officers’ claims that a ‘get out of jail free card’ may lead youth to commit more crimes.   Full story: Philadelphia…

Less traffic enforcement by law enforcement may have caused the number of fatal traffic incidents to increase in Austin in recent years, according to an audit released by the city last week. In addition to looking at Austin, auditors looked at the resources of Dallas, San Antonio and Seattle, and found that each city has…

The annual U.S. firearm suicide rate in 2022 increased to the highest documented level since at least 1968, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention… Full story: Firearm suicides reached “unprecedented” high in 2022, CDC data shows – CBS News

With TPD about 150 officers below authorized strength, Chief Wendell Franklin said he adamantly opposes loosening prerequisites: “I would be pushing lower quality people through, and I just won’t do that.” Full story: Tulsa police won’t give up quality for quantity, chief says

After a burst of gun violence claimed 13 lives at Columbine High School in 1999, a difficult question confronted a Colorado judge: whether to order the release of autopsies sought by local media under the state’s public records law. The judge, Jose D.L. Márquez, decided to keep the graphic reports hidden, ruling that the rampage…

More cities across the U.S. are cracking down on homeless tent encampments that have grown more visible and become unsafe… Full story: Cities crack down on homeless encampments. Advocates say that’s not the answer

The National Transportation Safety Board recommended that all new vehicles come equipped with technology to make speeding difficult or impossible… Full story: Should cars have built-in speed limits? Some think it’s time

Many Americans think of school shootings as mass casualty events involving an adolescent with an assault-style weapon. But a new study says that most recent school shootings orchestrated by teenagers do not fit that image — and they are often related to community violence… Full story: Most school shootings aren’t mass killings, study finds, and…

The stabbing on Friday of Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer convicted of murdering George Floyd in 2020, at a special unit inside a Tucson, Ariz., prison is the latest in a series of attacks against high-profile inmates in the troubled, short-staffed federal Bureau of Prisons. The assault comes less than five months after…

A 58% majority of Americans think the U.S. criminal justice system is not tough enough in its handling of crime, marking a sharp reversal from the prior reading in 2020 when a record-low 41% said the same. Another 26% of U.S. adults currently say the system is about right, while 14% think it is too…