The Policies of Justice and Injustice
Stand Your Ground Doesn’t Legalize Illegal Deadly Force
Serge and Clarke celebrate Easter. We have friends who have a blessed Ramadan. We have friends who we will wish Happy Passover in several weeks. We have re-uploaded an episode. We will be back next week with a brand-new episode. In rural New York, a 65-year-old man fired two shots from his porch killing a…
Read MoreIf Only There Was a Way for Civilians to Experience “Shoot Don’t Shoot.”
Law Enforcement firearms training has historically emphasized reaction time and marksmanship. But the decision to shoot or not shoot is the most fundamental choice the police officer faces in highly stressful situations. For the most part, civilians (who sit in judgment of the police) have not had large-scale access to simulator training. In this week’s…
Read MoreThe CSI Checklist Phone App is the Preeminent Tool for Criminal Investigators
There IS something new under the sun! Tom Mauriello, the mastermind of FORENSIQ, has organized decades of law enforcement expertise in a CSI phone app that is exceptional, affordable, and practical. Any criminal justice stakeholder can access an investigative blueprint for every type of investigation from arson to mass casualty event. In this episode of…
Read MoreMaryland Fights Crime by Taxing Law-Abiding Citizens and More
The Maryland General Assembly proposes an excise tax on the sale of guns and ammunition, the Howard County Council debates a ceasefire in Gaza, and several state senators propose to eliminate good time credits for a very small number of convicted felons. Is our government fiddling while our community burns? Serge and Clarke add their…
Read MoreTeach Your Children Well
In 1968, Graham Nash, later of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, wrote a song about the difficult relationship he had with his father who was sent to jail for receiving stolen goods. The song “Teach Your Children” has beautiful lyrics including this stanza: “Teach your children well, Their father’s hell did slowly go by, Feed…
Read MoreCop Flash Bangs Are Bad For Babies . . . or maybe not.
On the afternoon of January 10, 2024, more than 20 police officers in tactical gear carrying long arms and deploying flash bangs served a search warrant in Elyria, Ohio. Sure … the usual stuff. You know. The guy the police were looking for hadn’t lived at the residence the cops trashed for more than a…
Read MoreThe Baltimore Police Commissioner Orders Every Officer to Empathy Instruction.
Police Commissioner Worley has implemented 8 hours of empathy instruction for every Baltimore Police Officer. In this episode, Serge and Clarke discuss the instructions. Serge begins with the valid premise that it is a good idea for victims of trauma — like most police officers and many Baltimoreans–to learn to understand. On his part, Clarke…
Read MoreThe Dust Settles on Sexual Assault Forensic Examinations.
For three decades, the United States Congress has passed laws to fund forensic examinations in sexual assault cases. But it doesn’t seem to matter. The country is awash in untested rape kits while repetitive sex offenders continue to violate. In fact, Maryland leads the nation in rape kit backlogs at the forensic lab. But at…
Read MoreIs the federal government finally satisfied with the Derek Chauvin sentence?
After Derek Chauvin killed George Floyd, the federal government permitted anarchists to loot and burn communities across the country. The State of Minnesota successfully prosecuted Chauvin and he was sentenced to 22 years in prison. However, the federal government was not satisfied. A federal grand jury was convened. Chauvin was federally indicted. Chauvin pled guilty…
Read MoreIs it the Shoplifting Season, or Are We a Culture Devolving into Anarchy?
Who would have thought that in 2023, shoplifting could become a major crime in the United States? Wait — stop. Not everyone believes that shoplifting is even on the rise. But we do! In this episode, Serge and Clarke discuss the changing social conventions surrounding the crime of shoplifting as further evidence of a breakdown…
Read MoreThe Plot Thickens in the Kashef Khan MSP Termination Case
Kashef Khan was the Maryland State Trooper of the Year until he was fired for allegedly writing a false report. The “falsity” in the report was the location of a traffic stop which Khan accurately documented in many ways. Khan uploaded a slightly inaccurate longitude and latitude location from a reporting system that MSP admits…
Read MoreThe Curious Case of Marlon Koushall
You can always find three things in Baltimore: Natty Boh beer, Old Bay seasoning & ludicrous “justice.” In this week’s podcast, Serge and Clarke discuss the case of Baltimore Police Sergeant Marlon Koushall whose videotaped conduct during a late night arrest were simultaneously deemed completely consistent with the rules, policies, procedures and training of the…
Read MoreShould the FBI be Downsized or Deconstructed?
In this episode, Serge and Clarke discuss the popular idea among conservatives for downsizing the FBI and deconstructing it into as many as five independent investigative agencies, each with a focused interest in the type of cases being investigated. Clarke says, as it stands today, just writing the word FBI into the title likely invites…
Read MoreWTH is the Balkanization of Law Enforcement?
In three recent incidents, the police got it right and prevented serious mass casualty events. In this episode, Serge and Clarke discuss how the number of police agencies impacts the ability of sharing information and investigating criminal incidents. Clarke — but not Serge — thinks it is a miracle that the police got it right…
Read MoreTu Culpa Part 2 — Can an Attorney General Issue an Executive Bill of Attainder?
Tu Culpa is a Latin phrase meaning “your fault.” In part 2 of the podcast on the (Maryland) Attorney General’s Report on Child Sexual Abuse in the Archdiocese of Baltimore, Serge and Clarke and special guest FJ Collins, discuss whether the AG’s report is fair, the impact of expanded statutes of limitation, and whether the…
Read MoreTu Culpa — The Attorney General Points the Finger of Fault at the Archdiocese of Baltimore
Most Catholics, and many lawyers, know the meaning of the Latin phrase, “mea culpa.” The phrase is literally translated as “through my fault.” It is the foundation of a traditional prayer sometimes recited during the Penitential Act of the Roman Catholic Mass: mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa. Recently, Maryland’s Attorney General issued a…
Read MoreWould you like to pose for a picture with Danilo Cavalcante? Get in line.
The “picture of the week” was a group shot of heavily armed law enforcement officers surrounding the bleeding, captured and pathetic Danilo (or “Danelo”) Cavalcante in Chester County, Pennsylvania. Taking and posting the “trophy” photograph violated the rules of many of the law enforcement agencies that participated in the escapee’s capture. But lawmen breaking the…
Read MoreWhy has everyone heard of George Floyd and no one has heard of Ta’Kiya Young?
On August 24, 2023, a police officer of the 14-member Blendon Township (Ohio) Police Department shot and killed Ta’Kiya Young, a 21-year-old woman being detained for suspicion of shoplifting alcohol from a grocery store. The body worn camera evidence shows Young operating a vehicle in the parking lot of the grocery store during daylight hours.…
Read MoreHow to Make a Living While Under Federal Indictment and Ordered Not to Possess a Gun
In this episode, Serge and Clarke acknowledge that Frederick County, Maryland is openly competing with Baltimore City, Maryland for the most upside down criminal justice non-system in America. Frederick County Sheriff “Chuck” Jenkins is under federal indictment accused of lying about machine gun purchases, Jenkins was required to turn over all of his guns to…
Read MoreYou’re in trouble or, if you prefer, urine trouble.
In this—the 75th episode of Black and White and Thin Blue Lines—Serge and Clarke discuss the public nuisance offense of urinating in public in the context of two cases: one in Mississippi and one in Texas, You decide if race was a motivating factor for what happened. Also, “you’re in” and “urine” aren’t the only…
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