Category: Crime, Corrections, Law Enforcement
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Norfolkโs Creepy License Plate Cameras in Court
by Kerry Dougherty In an age when it seems every house has a Ring-style doorbell, every business has closed circuit cameras both inside and out, it seems almost futile to argue that drivers shouldnโt expect to go through a digital license plate line-up every time they leave their driveways. Yet two modern day Don Quixote-types…
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Data Shows Murder Drop in Virginia Ceasefire Cities
by James A. Bacon In a column last month, I asked if Virginia Ceasefire, a collaboration between the Attorney General’s office and 14 urban police departments, had succeeded in combatting violent crime. I was responding at the time to a gauzy video and vacuous website highlighting the program but providing no hard data demonstrating the…
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Stealing From the Poor
by Kerry Dougherty Thereโs a special place in Hell for those who steal from the poor. Thatโs what happened this week when thieves broke into a Habitat for Humanity van and stole $5,000 worth of tools. Ironically, this hit the news on October 1. Former President Jimmy Carterโs 100th birthday. Carter, the second worst president…
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More Crime Than They Said
by Dick Hall-Sizemore It turns out that the Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) campus is not as safe as itย purports to be. Federal law requires institutions of higher education to publish the number of crimes committed on, and adjacent to, campus.ย The Richmond Times-Dispatch reports today that the university has discovered that it has been significantly…
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Ceasefire Virginia Sounds Great. But Does It Work?
๏ปฟ by James A. Bacon Attorney General Jason Miyares has released a video about his Ceasefire Virginia initiative, a collaboration between the AG’s office and local police to reduce violent crime. The video caught my attention because its production values are slicker than anything that I recall coming out of the AG’s office before. Some…
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MS-13 Gang Member Welcome at Loudoun County High School
by Kerry Dougherty Lord knows, we tried to warn the good people of Loudoun County. We told them that Aaron Spence — formerly the Virginia Beach schools chief — was not a great hireย Pity they didnโt listen. Emmy-award winning TV journalist Nick Minock is now reporting that Loudoun schools will allow a student to…
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Atlantic Park Part 11, Epilogue: Costs, Real Costs and Lessons Learned
Presentation to the Virginia Beach City Council May 28, 2024
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Police Can and Should Cooperate with ICE, Miyares Says
by James A. Bacon State law enforcement officials have the authority to cooperate with federal Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials in detaining illegal immigrants, said Attorney General Jason Miyares in an AG opinion released yesterday. Moreover, he added, they have a moral obligation to do so. But Virginia law enforcement is not required to…
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Jamming Statistical Square Pegs into Round Holes
by James A. Bacon Another day, another study highlighting a racial “disparity.” In this case the study, published by Julian, a civil-rights and international andย internationalย human-rightsย organization, focuses on racial disparities in traffic-stop outcomes in Virginia. The findings have been uncritically reported by Radio IQ — headline: “Race is a factor when police stop drivers in more…
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Hate Crimes or Thought Crimes?
by James A. Bacon I can’t believe Governor Glenn Youngkin signed House Bill 18 yesterday, reaffirming his commitment in the words of his press release, to keep communities safe by combating “bigotry.” Even Attorney General Jason Miyares signed on. What a disappointment. “We come together as Virginians to sign legislation that builds the framework to…
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Chesapeake’s Monkey Torture King
by James A. Bacon I devote much of my writing on this blog to calling out the freaks and nihilists on the far left. Normally, I’m content to let regime media do the same for the wackos on the far right. But once in a while, a story about derangement on the right crops up…
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About Those Police Manpower Shortages…
by James A. Bacon Virginia voices calling for the defunding of police departments have quieted in the past year or two, but the manpower shortage in Virginia’s law-enforcement agencies persists. According to data released in the Virginia State Police “Crime in Virginia 2023″ report, police and sheriff departments, the state police, university police, and miscellaneous…
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Assaults on Police Officers Up in 2023
by James A. Bacon Is the level of crime in Virginia getting worse or getting better? The answer depends largely on what metric you use. If you focus on the declining number of homicides between 2022 and 2023 (the year for which statewide Virginia data have just been released), then it definitely looks like violent…
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2023 Crime Rate: Homicides Down But Otherwise Little Change
Homicides in Virginia were lower in 2023 than the year before but aggravated assaults were up, and the overall number of criminal incidents climbed slightly, according to data published in the Virginia State Police’s “Crime in Virginia 2023″ report. The number of homicides (murder and non-negligent homicide) fell to 520 in 2023, reversing a surge…
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What the H-E-Double Hockeysticks?
by James A. Bacon The Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) maps cities, counties, and states across the country whose practices obstruct immigration enforcement and shield criminals from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Types of obstruction include not complying with ICE detainers, imposing unreasonable conditions on detainer acceptance, denying ICE access to interview incarcerated aliens, or…