The Big Uneasy: Public safety in New Orleans has gone from bad to much worse

” … This March, though, when four teens, aged 15 to 17—three of them girls—allegedly approached 73-year-old Linda Frickey as she sat in her car and forcibly carjacked her, dragging her, trapped in her seatbelt, for more than a block to her death by dismemberment, neighbors in the generally safe area greeted the murder resignedly. “It is disgusting,” said one—but apparently not shocking. A small-scale protest after the near-murder carjacking of another woman a month earlier garnered little official action. Top police officials say now that the city’s half-year murder count is “premature,” and they have further argued that it is “nearly impossible to police … the inability of individuals to settle their differences without resorting to violence.” As murderous carjackings have surged, affluent and middle-class residents, black and white, who once used questionable coping skills such as walking quickly—and fully armed—from their cars to their homes, no longer feel safe even doing that. People are terrified to get gas—even during daytime hours—or to stop at red lights.”

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Alex Murdaugh to be charged over double slaying of his wife and son, brother confirms

Alive, Murdered, unsolved, Murdered, unsolved, Jailed, awaiting trial

Disgraced South Carolina legal scion Alex Murdaugh will be charged this week over the double slaying of his wife and son, his brother confirmed Tuesday.

Investigators from the State Law Enforcement Division (SLED) visited Murdaugh’s younger brother, John Marvin Murdaugh, at home Tuesday to break the news, journalist and true crime author Vicky Ward revealed.

Officers “told the Murdaugh family that Alex Murdaugh would be charged this week with the murder of his wife and son,” Ward tweeted.

That is one messed up family.

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Toronto police still trying to identify man after ‘random’ assault at Kipling Station

Toronto police have released fresh images following an alleged “random” attack on a woman at Toronto’s Kipling Subway Station.

Police said officers responded to an assault at the station, which is located in the Dundas Street and Kipling Avenue area, around 11:15 a.m. on Thursday.

A man assaulted an 85-year-old woman and the victim was taken to hospital to be treated for her injuries, police said.

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Another Year, Another Bloody Summer

The surge in violent crime that began a few years ago continues. It will abate only when Americans demand and get action from local and national leaders.

The crime numbers we’ve seen already this year highlight the problem.

A serious upswing in violent crime often follows significant anti-police protests and less aggressive policing. Researchers call this the Ferguson Effect or the Minneapolis Effect.

The events of the summer of 2020 created a perfect storm. 

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The Exoneration Hustle: Are radical prosecutors freeing guilty murderers?

The headline is becoming more common: “Innocent Man Freed After Decades in Jail for Murder!” As a matter of statistical probabilities, it must be true that some innocent defendants are convicted. But experienced law enforcement officials are growing concerned that progressive prosecutors are freeing guilty murderers in their rush to enforce their own politics of decarceration and equity. A close look at how this exoneration hustle works is worth reviewing because the pattern becomes clear.

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No motive except violence: The twin brothers who planned the Victoria bank shootout

Precisely one week after a quiet Victoria street exploded into a shootout with heavily armed bank robbers, Saanich Police Chief Constable Dean Duthie told a Tuesday press conference it was sheer chance that the city’s tactical squad just happened to be nearby.

“I don’t want to even think about what could have happened if they had not been there,” he said.

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Former Ontario bureaucrats charged in alleged $11M COVID-19 fraud are headed back to court

The Ontario bureaucrats fired after the alleged theft of $11 million in provincial COVID-19 relief funds are headed back to court this week as criminal proceedings continue.

Sanjay and Shalini Madan, a married Toronto couple terminated from the public service in 2020 after the alleged fraud, will be in long trial assignment court on Wednesday.

They were charged last September by the Ontario Provincial Police, but their criminal trial might not begin in earnest until September 2023.

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Saanich, B.C. bank shooter was rejected by military, CAF says

One of the twin brothers who was killed in a shootout with police outside a bank in Saanich, B.C., last week had applied to join the Canadian Armed Forces but was rejected, a military spokesperson confirmed Monday.

Mathew Auchterlonie had tried to join the Canadian Army but did not pass the aptitude test, the national defence spokesperson said.

The spokesperson declined to say when he applied.

I’m afraid to ask what’s on the aptitude test.

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Brothers in botched B.C. bank robbery had become angry and radical, obsessed with guns and ‘government tyranny’

A portrait has begun to emerge of Mathew and Isaac Auchterlonie, 22-year-old brothers from central Vancouver Island who were named Saturday as suspects in a botched robbery last week at a Bank of Montreal branch in Saanich, B.C.

As children, according to their closest friends, they were shy, a little nerdy and liked fantasy novels and Star Wars figurines. One was rarely found without the other. Following graduation, they seemed to drop off the face of the Earth, ghosting their former friends. According to one of the brother’s online footprints, he was becoming increasingly angry and radical, obsessed with guns, explosives and perceptions of government tyranny.

One man’s perceptions are another man’s policy.

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Like just about everyone else in Canada … Justin Trudeau the frequent focus of Saanich bank robber Instagram posts

A now-deleted Instagram feed of one of the Saanich bank shooter suspects contains posts containing anti-government, and pro-gun content.

Twenty-two-year-olds Isaac and Mathew Auchterlonie are the two suspects identified by RCMP.

They were twin brothers, who former classmates say went to Frances Kelsey Secondary School in Mill Bay.

h/t RM

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Northrup’s line-of-duty death ‘still affecting’ fellow Toronto cops a year later

Toronto Police Det.-Const. Jeffrey Northrup was remembered by 52 Division on Saturday — the first anniversary of his death.

Northrup, 55, and his partner were investigating a stabbing in City Hall’s underground parking lot when it’s alleged the 31-year veteran was intentionally struck by a vehicle driven by Thornhill accountant Umar Zameer.

Very odd goings on.

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Police identify killed B.C. bank gunmen as 22-year-old twin brothers

Twin brothers from Vancouver Island have been named as the suspects who were killed in a police shootout during an attempted armed bank robbery in Saanich,B.C., this week.

On Saturday morning, RCMP released the names of the two suspects: 22-year-olds Mathew and Isaac Auchterlonie of Duncan.

Police said the suspects’ family is cooperating with the investigation.

Crazy.

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Three cops, K9 killed in Kentucky shootout

Three Kentucky police officers and a police canine were killed and at least four other officers were hurt in a shootout at a home of what cops called a “terrorist on a mission.”

Lance Storz, 49, was taken into custody after an almost five hour standoff with officers who had showed up at his door in rural Prestonburg with a warrant for his arrest in a domestic violence incident, according to reports.

Storz, who was armed with a rifle, opened fire and hit two officers in the Thursday evening incident, Kentucky State Police said.

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