Officers responded to a robbery at about 7:30 p.m. Friday at the Westside branch of Whitewater Commercial Bank, which is located at Sentry Foods at 1260 W. Main St., Whitewater, a news release from the Whitewater Police Department said. The suspect reportedly was carrying a brown paper grocery bag and a computer bag containing two…
Police
Police, Press Release
24th Annual Wisconsin Troopers’ Association Art & Essay Contest
by JOHN ADAMS •
Police, Politics
Arizona Republic: Pima County Sheriff Should Remember Duty
by JOHN ADAMS •
Indeed. On Saturday afternoon, with his friend Gabby Giffords in surgery fighting for her life, Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik railed against the tense partisan politics – “the anger, the hatred, the bigotry” – that prompted the mass murders outside Tucson, in his view. And, jarring as such claims may be, we understood. Or tried…
City, Crime, Police
Repetitive Failures from the Wrong Approach
by JOHN ADAMS •
Following a house party at which over one-hundred people were cited for underage drinking, Whitewater’s long-tenured police chief, James Coan, announced that two people hosting the party would be cited for violations amounting to six-thousand dollars apiece. (What they’ll actually pay may be a different matter.) See, Residents fined $12,000 from party bust. (I’ve written…
City, Police, University
The Weak Reasoning of Prohibitionism
by JOHN ADAMS •
A few weeks ago, Whitewater police cited one-hundred thirty-two underage drinkers at a house party in Whitewater. Thereafter, Whitewater’s police chief acknowledged that information about the party came from ‘undercover students,’ an acknowledgment that’s just foolish and tone-deaf. (Yes, Coan’s actually quoted calling them ‘undercover students,’ by the way.) I wrote about Coan’s remarks, in…
City, Police
The Utter Foolishness of Jim Coan’s Prohibition
by JOHN ADAMS •
There’s a story at the Gazette that’s both fine in its information, and revealing in how predictable Whitewater’s police chief, Jim Coan, is. He’s as unthinking and foolish as ever. Recently, Whitewater’s police broke up a drinking party at a house in Whitewater, and cited over one-hundred partygoers for underage drinking. As I’ve mentioned, I’m…
City, Crime, Police
Filling Up Prisons Without Fighting Crime: Mark Kleiman on American’s Criminal Justice System
by JOHN ADAMS •
When you look around your community, do you feel that politicians’ and bureaucrats’ policies have reduced crime, or do you feel that they’re merely treading water, with every supposed ‘victory’ followed by subsequent crimes? Even small communities spend big sums on crime-fighting, but many of these efforts make no dent in crime. Carrying on as…
Police, Politics
Small-town Bureaucratic Persistence in Edgerton, Wisconsin
by JOHN ADAMS •
Over in Edgerton, Wisconsin, a place even smaller than my town of Whitewater, there’s been a sensible decision to “hold off on discussions over buying a new police dog until fall 2011, when the city plans for its 2012 budget.” See, Edgerton Delays Dog Decision. Edgerton’s former police dog bit a police officer from another…
Law, Police
Balko on Concealment and Dishonesty in Northern Virginia
by JOHN ADAMS •
The battle for openness in government is a difficult but necessary one. In some parts of the country, notably northern Virgina, some police departments are doing everything they can to prevent greater openness. Radley Balko of Reason writes about how departments in that state batten on the legitimate need for public safety to justify their…
Law, Liberty, Police
Instapundit – A Prosecutor on the War Against Photography
by JOHN ADAMS •
The principal attribute of a campaign against photography, or the encroachment on private property rights (see, “Is a Man’s Home Still His Castle? – Washington Examiner“) is that officials aim to take from American citizens rights that Americans now have, and have historically had. This is the dark – and reactionary — side of contemporary…
Law, Laws/Regulations, Police
Reason.tv: Five Ways the Drug War Hurts Kids: A Conversation with Neill Franklin of LEAP
by JOHN ADAMS •
City, Police
Whitewater’s Police Commission Meeting for 8-4-10
by JOHN ADAMS •
There’s a Police Commission meeting tonight in Whitewater, at 7 p.m. The agenda for the meeting appears below. First the agenda, and remarks thereafter. One standard for residents, an easier one for officials. At the bottom of the August 4th agenda, one reads that on August 2nd it was August 2, 2010 Emailed/mailed to PFC…
Beautiful Whitewater, City, Law, Police, Politics
Citizens’ Complaints and the Reaction of Misguided, Selfish Officials
by JOHN ADAMS •
Here’s a question about (limited) government: If the residents of a town want an official fired, is the fundamental problem that they’re asking that he be fired, or the reason that they’re asking? In the Township of Linn, not far from Whitewater, a group of residents want the police chief fired. They’ve filed a complaint…