Category: Cops

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Cops You have to be kidding, right!?!

God help us all if this is a widespread idea!

Why NYC crime policy-makers are now ignoring data

By

March 11, 2023 2:00pm

Over the past decade, the NYPD and other city agencies have replaced their reliance on data with feelings when developing anti-crime strategies — and even progressive Mayor Eric Adams cannot seem to stop them.
Over the past decade, the NYPD and other city agencies have replaced their reliance on data with feelings when developing anti-crime strategies — and even progressive Mayor Eric Adams cannot seem to stop them.

Last month, at the City University of New York, I lectured about how evolutions in data-led policing strategies helped New York City reduce annual murder numbers from 2,245 in 1990 to just 292 in 2017 — and from 93 annual fatal police shootings in 1971 to just six a half-century later.

At the same time, city jail and New York State prison populations have also seen their numbers more than halved.

My presentation was layered with both data and descriptions of the tensions inherent in researching neighborhood crime dynamics.

Following my talk, I invited students to discuss these notable statistical shifts.

What I heard from those bold enough to actually speak floored me: They told me it was racist to use data to discuss policing.

All the more so, because I’m a white woman.

The "war on data" made its biggest inroads during the administration of former NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio, who prioritized feelings and emotions over cold, hard facts during debates about his landmark prison reform initiatives.
The “war on data” made its biggest inroads during the administration of former NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio, who prioritized feelings and emotions over cold, hard facts during debates about his landmark prison reform initiatives.
Natan Dvir for NY Post
The resulting policies saw New York develop a prison system-overhaul plan that — surprise! — was far too modest to house all of the city's inmates.
The resulting policies saw New York develop a prison system-overhaul plan that — surprise! — was far too modest to house all of the city’s inmates.
AP

I shouldn’t have been surprised.

From outraged Gen-Zers to hardened politicians, deploying data — rather than relying on one’s own “lived experiences” — is now verboten when engaging with “triggering” topics such as race or human behavior.

Blame it on former Mayor Bill de Blasio for popularizing such feelings-based tactics.

Over the course of his second term, he sufficiently flouted data and numbers to commit New York to replacing its beleaguered jail system with a new one far too modest to house all inmates.

Later, in his showpiece 2021 NYC Police Reform and Reinvention Collaborative Plan, he heavily based NYPD policy and priority shifts on the personal experiences collected from 85 group feedback sessions rather than relying on facts or figures.

In one such session, I observed a 20-something advocate instruct NYPD First Deputy Commissioner Benjamin Tucker that “young people” should lead policy, while an anthropology professor suggested anthropology was key to reimagining law enforcement.

Bafflingly, such proposals were treated as expert analysis.

Nowhere has the lack of data been more pronounced than in the impact of 2017's new "Raise the Age" legislation, which overhauled how young people are prosecuted in New York, while almost ending any form of data collection around their crimes.
Nowhere has the lack of data been more pronounced than in the impact of 2017’s new “Raise the Age” legislation, which overhauled how young people are prosecuted in New York, while almost ending any form of data collection around their crimes.
Shutterstock

This feelings-first/facts-second mentality is not just limited to our former mayor.

It has also helped bolster weak criminal justice policies, one-dimensional media reporting and a generation of youth incapable of interpreting reality through rigorous examination.

It also represents an alarming reversal to the city’s decades-long approach to criminal-justice policy.

Federal mandates in the 1960s required police departments to begin collecting crime stats.

Over the next 20 years, the NYPD tallied key data points such as the number of officer firearm discharges and response times to crime-in-progress calls.

And in the 1990s, CompStat — which tracks crime and holds precinct commanders accountable for their numbers — pushed police to identify more nuanced patterns in this data, such as when shootings coincided with illegal dice games.

These insights enabled cops to disrupt lower-level offenses, while preventing more serious crimes.

The arrival of the "COMPSTAT" system in NYP police precincts a few decades back was a major improvement in system-wide data-collection strategies. If only those in charge would put all that data to good use.
The arrival of the “COMPSTAT” system in NYP police precincts a few decades back was a major improvement in system-wide data-collection strategies. If only those in charge would put all that data to good use.

Indeed, it was by digging doggedly into the stories behind those numbers that the city achieved its most remarkable declines in crime, police aggression and incarceration.

But today, even relative progressives like Mayor Adams are having little luck with data.

Last month Adams requested data-driven legislative changes that would help keep the 327 shoplifting recidivists responsible for 30% of the city’s retail theft from causing more mayhem.

But his proposal was dismissed—a pattern that will likely persist unless our data-hostile climate changes.

Data is also becoming more difficult to come by following a suppression in record-keeping as a result of the 2017 Raise the Age legislation.

The law obscures case outcomes for approximately 83% of felonies and 75% of violent crimes committed by 16 and 17-year-olds.

This makes it virtually impossible not only for crime victims and prosecutors to know case outcomes, but for policy analysts to use hard evidence to measure the legislation’s impact.

COMPSTAT's arrival followed two decades of beefed up data collection that helped lead New York to some of the lowest criminal and incarceration rates in the decades that followed.
COMPSTAT’s arrival followed two decades of beefed up data collection that helped lead New York to some of the lowest criminal and incarceration rates in the decades that followed.
Christopher Sadowski

This erosion of deep insight by relinquishing the demand for detailed data has also crossed over into how criminal justice-policy is reported.

The New York Times ran an op-ed last month sloppily claiming “2022 had the most police killings on record with Black people disproportionately more likely to be killed by police than white people.”

But this echo-chamber claim, also trumpeted by The Guardian and Bloomberg, is based on a record-keeping that only began in 2013.

Were police killings significantly higher in prior years? Definitely. Has evidence to date conclusively established racial bias as the reason for racial disparities among victims of police officers lethal force?  Nope.

So collectively uncomfortable have we become demanding real investigation that policymakers can safely claim just about anything.

Since New York state bail reform, the reoffending rate has only been 1% or 2%, say our Senate majority leader and city comptroller.

But how are they basing this measurement? On the small population of persistent reoffenders whom the legislation impacted? No.

Are they counting each incident if an individual reoffends multiple times? No.

Instead, they are counting whether or not a person reoffends — as opposed to the number of times he reoffends in total.

Although he may be relatively progressive, Mayor Adams has seen "woke activists" quash his attempts to position data before "lived experiences" when dealing with criminal recidivism.
Although he may be relatively progressive, Mayor Adams has seen “woke activists” quash his attempts to position data before “lived experiences” when dealing with criminal recidivism.
Paul Martinka

This city used to care about intelligent, informed policymaking – because we cared about actual New Yorkers’ outcomes.

Now we only care about whose version of reality sounds (or feels) the least racist—and go with whatever policy they insist on.

The city achieved truly meteoric declines in violence, imprisonment and use of police force by letting the data tell us nuanced — sometimes unintuitive — stories.

If we keep muffling that data, we will never see those wins again.

Hannah E. Meyers is the Director of Policing and Public Safety at The Manhattan Institute.

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All About Guns Cops

Stupid Self-Defense Mistakes That Could Cost You Your Freedom

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All About Guns Cops You have to be kidding, right!?!

Anti-tank weapon seized from passenger’s baggage at Texas airport By MaryAnn Martinez

A bazooka-like weapon powerful enough to take down a military tank was seized from a passenger’s checked baggage in Texas because the traveler had failed to declare the weapon to authorities, the Transportation Security Administration said.

The 84 mm caliber anti-tank rifle was discovered Monday by TSA screeners checking bags at San Antonio International Airport, the agency tweeted.

The firearm is similar to an M3 Carl Gustaf and can be legally owned in the Lone Star State, although it requires an extensive background check.

The TSA does allow guns on planes, but only if they are in checked bags. Any traveler with a firearm must also declare it to the airline when their luggage is handed over, TSA explained. Weapons must also be unloaded and in a hard-sided, secured case.

The 84 mm caliber anti-tank rifle was found by TSA in San Antonio.
TSA_SouthWest
Aerial view of San Antonio International Airport
TSA screeners at San Antonio International Airport found the weapon, which hadn’t been declared to authorities.
Getty Images

“It’s really alarming for anyone who wants to travel with that kind of weapon to not follow the rules that are set,” TSA Spokeswoman Patricia Mancha told local station KENS 5. “They’re not difficult. They’re not a secret.”

The rifle is so large it usually requires two people to operate — one who aims and fires it and a second who acts as a loader and carries ammunition.

“We don’t see that caliber of weapon very often, thank god,” Mancha added.

The case has been handed over to the San Antonio Police Department, which will determine if the passenger will face charges.

The 100th Infantry Battalion fire a Carl Gustaf 84mm Anti-Tank weapon during a multiple weapons test in the Glen of Imaal, Co. Wicklow
The bazooka-like weapon (seen in action above) is powerful enough to take down a tank.
PA Images via Getty Images
TSA Spokeswoman Patricia Mancha told KENS 5 the San Antonio Police Department will determine if the traveler will face charges.
TSA Spokeswoman Patricia Mancha told KENS 5 that the San Antonio Police Department would determine if the traveler will face charges.

The number of firearms found in carry-on baggage across US airports has steadily increased. More than 6,500 were found in 2022, according to TSA figures.

Out of the top 10 airports where federal authorities find guns in carry-on bags, three are in Texas: Austin, Dallas and Houston.

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All About Guns Cops You have to be kidding, right!?!

Bare-Naked Lady Wielding Frying Pan Shot By Virginia Homeowner by KIMBER PEARCE

Paula Michelle Locklear. (Photo: Carroll County Sheriff’s Office)

A Virginian homeowner shot a woman last week when she broke into his house stark naked and attacked him with a frying pan, say authorities.

Police arrived on the scene that night to discover the woman, 35-year-old Paula Locklear, with a gunshot wound to the leg. After investigating the incident further, they “determined that the shooting was the result of a breaking and entering.”

According to the New York Post and other sources, the homeowner heard a noise, and upon entering his kitchen, found “an unclothed female” who began hitting him with his own cast-iron pan.

The victim successfully locked her out on the back porch but authorities say that Locklear then found the electrical breaker and turned off the electricity to the house.

She began to beat on the window, yelling that the homeowner had better “get out of his house or she would kill him”.

When Locklear resumed beating on the door that she had originally entered through, the homeowner was forced to fire a shot, hitting her in the leg.

The homeowner is not currently being charged, says Fox News, with authorities deeming it a self-defense shooting.

The Carroll County Sheriff’s Office stated that Locklear is being charged with “breaking and entering with a weapon, assault and battery, and damage of property.”

Locklear was brought by officials to a hospital to be treated for her wound before being incarcerated in the county jail.

The homeowner made a tough call but ultimately it comes down to self-defense and he was lucky to have been prepared for any situation.

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A Victory! All About Guns Cops

A 71-year-old Philadelphia man shoots back at armed robbers, sends them fleeing By Cam Edwards | 8:30 PM on March 03, 2023

71-year-old Philadelphia man shoots back at armed robbers, sends them fleeing
AP Photo/Matt Rourke
Police in Philadelphia are looking for two suspects who targeted a 71-year-old man walking home with Chinese food late Thursday night but quickly fled after the man pulled a gun of his own and returned fire.

The victim told police that the two men popped out of an alley as he was walking by and tried to rob him at gunpoint, which is when he reached for his revolver.

According to police, the victim pulled out a revolver and exchanged gunfire with the suspects. He was struck once in the ankle and later transported to Temple University Hospital.

The suspects, two males in black clothing, were last seen fleeing on foot through an alley. Two spent shell casings from the suspects’ firearm or firearms were later found on the scene by investigators.

Police say it’s unknown whether the 71-year-old struck either assailant, but even he missed ‘ clear that they had no interest in sticking around to continue their attempted robbery.

 

 

You think Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney will have anything to say about this armed citizen being able to defend himself? Yeah, me neither, despite the fact that the mayor regularly bemoans the state’s gun laws; recently claiming, for instance, that it’s easier to buy a gun than booze in the City of Brotherly Love.

Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney said that as he sought to buy Prosecco from a suburban Wegmans this weekend, he watched an elderly man jump through hoops to buy eight bottles of wine — restrictions the mayor said the state legislature has been unwilling to place on the sale of firearms.

“If we control guns like we control the sale of liquor and wine, we’d be in much better shape than we are now,” Kenney said. “It’s ridiculous. It’s ridiculous.”

The anecdote described by Kenney was among the most colorful ways the Democratic mayor has found to slam the state legislature and the federal government for what he has repeatedly said is a failure to limit access to guns.

Most criminals don’t get their guns at retail. A 2016 survey of prison inmates conducted by the federal Bureau of Justice statistics found that just 10% of those who used a gun in the commission of their crime acquired it from a firearms retailer, with less than 1% coming from purchases at gun shows. The top source for firearms among the inmates surveyed was the underground market; responsible for almost half (43.4%) of all acquisitions.

Gun control laws aimed at guys like the 71-year-old armed citizen aren’t going to have any impact on the armed robbers who picked him as their intended victim. If Kenney and other city officials were serious about fighting crime, they’d be implementing strategies like targeted deterrence and working to improve the abysmally low clearance rates for both fatal and non-fatal shootings. In 2020 just 36.7% of homicides resulted in an arrest, and only 18.9% of non-fatal shootings ended up with one or more suspects arrested and charged.

Philadelphia’s violent criminals are literally getting away with murder more than half the time, and there’s only a 1-in-5 chance that they’ll be arrested if their victim survives being shot. It’s no wonder that there’s a growing number of Philadelphians like this 71-year-old man who are choosing to bear arms for their own safety. Philly can be a dangerous place, and with politicians like Kenney intent on infringing the rights of residents in the name of public safety instead of addressing the real issues, that’s sadly not going to be changing for the better anytime soon.

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Allies Cops Good News for a change! I am so grateful!! Interesting stuff Leadership of the highest kind Paint me surprised by this Real men

INSURRECTION! COUNTY SHERIFFS IN TWO STATES JUST SAY ‘NO’ TO GUN CONTROL WRITTEN BY DAVE WORKMAN

You cannot make this up, and even if you could, the actual facts would read like something out of a really strange movie script about good versus just plain dumb.

When Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker last month rushed to sign a brand new gun control bill before the Legislature adjourned (only to re-convene about 24 hours later), something happened nobody saw coming. County sheriffs up and down the Prairie State loudly declared they would not enforce the new law, which banned so-called “assault weapons” and “high-capacity magazines.” It requires current owners to register their guns with the Illinois State Police.

How this may play out is ripe for speculation. By the time you read this, at least one federal lawsuit involving the Illinois State Rifle Association, Second Amendment Foundation and Firearms Policy Coalition will have been filed. There could be more. It all means that the new Illinois law might be headed for a collision with the Constitution’s Second Amendment.

This certainly appears to be what the sheriffs of at least 80 Illinois counties were thinking when they posted letters saying essentially the same thing.

“As your duly elected Sheriff,” the letter says, “my job and my office are sworn to protect the citizens … This is a job and responsibility that I take with the utmost seriousness. The right to keep and bear arms for defense of life, liberty and property is regarded as an inalienable right by the people of this country …”

“Therefore, as the custodian of the jail and chief law enforcement official, I proclaim that neither myself nor my office will be checking to ensure that lawful gun owners register their weapons with the State, nor will we be arresting or housing law-abiding gun individuals that have been arrested solely with non-compliance of this Act.”

Published reports, and reliable sources, confirm Pritzker was furious when the sheriffs went public with their opposition. When he intimated the lawmen would lose their jobs, at least two different Illinois sources told me between laughs that the governor does not have the authority to fire elected sheriffs.

Meanwhile, Out West

 

When sheriffs in Washington State got wind of the gun control package put forth by Gov. Jay Inslee, which also involves a ban on semi-auto rifles, the Washington State Sheriff’s Association circulated a letter signed by Kittitas County Sheriff Clay Myer —president of the group — and it was not congenial.

“Governor Inslee,” Sheriff Myers wrote, “has announced plans for significant new restrictions on the ownership of firearms by law-abiding Washingtonians. We, members of the Washington Sheriffs’ Association, believe the proposed restrictions will serve to erode constitutionally protected rights without addressing the root causes of violent crime. We are particularly concerned with the proposed so-called ‘assault weapons ban’ and ‘permit to purchase’ laws.”

A few paragraphs later, Myers put it bluntly: “The rise in violent crime that so concerns citizens has happened even as regulations and restrictions on firearm ownership have grown. Of course, this is because the people who commit violent crimes simply don’t concern themselves with obeying rules about guns.”

Murder and mayhem is up in Washington, and so is the number of concealed pistol licenses. As the year wrapped up, there were just short of 697,000 active CPLs in circulation, according to data from the state department of licensing.

It’s not the first time county sheriffs have “just said no.” Back in 2018 and early 2019, many Washington sheriffs announced they would not actively enforce provisions of Initiative 1639, an extremist gun control measure passed by voters.

Some sheriffs in New York State say they will not “aggressively” enforce that state’s new gun law, which is being challenged by at least two federal lawsuits. A few sheriffs in Oregon have said essentially the same thing about provisions of Measure 114, the gun control initiative passed there last November.

A Good Man Gone

The problem with being an old gun guy is that it becomes more frequent we must say “goodbye” to a good friend, who happens to have also been just a plain good person.

Robert E. “Bob” Hodgdon, whose family name is part of the fabric of American metallic cartridge reloading, passed away Jan. 13. Having been born in August 1938, Hodgdon had a good run that covered a lot of ground. He and his brother, J.B. helped build the company founded by their father, Bruce Hodgdon, and today that name is iconic in the industry for the variety of reloading propellants for rifles, shotguns and handguns. According to an obituary the family posted, he “also assisted with the design and lead the team constructing the Pyrodex Plant in Herington, Kan. in 1979 and helped to design and build The Bullet Hole, a 44-station indoor shooting range in 1967.”

I served with Hodgdon on the NRA board of directors more than 20 years ago, and you could not find a more devoted fellow where perpetuation of the shooting sports, and protection of the Second Amendment, was concerned. He was a kind and gentle soul, a person you’d be delighted to share a campfire with, and someone who was as devoted to his family as his professional pursuits. He was father to four children, Chris (Adele) Hodgdon, Heidi (Erwin) Rodriguez, Stacie (Bryant Larimore) Hodgdon and Alisa Hodgdon — and grandfather of 11 and great-grandfather to eight.

A native of Kansas, he grew up in suburban Kansas City. He attended Baker University in Baldwin City, Kan., and graduated Summa Cum Laude from the University of Kansas. He served in the U.S. Air Force and the Air Force Reserves.

He served as president of Hodgdon for more than 20 years and then as board chairman from 2014 to 2017.

Hodgdon volunteered in several civic organizations, and was a member of the Westside Family Church in Lenexa, Kan.

Additionally, he was a founding member of the National Shooting Sports Foundation, a member of the Kansas State Rifle Association, and founding member of the Kansas Sportsmen’s Alliance.

Men like Bob Hodgdon are very rare.

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All About Guns Cops Grumpy's hall of Shame

Bodycam Footage Shows Takedown of Florida Gunman Who Killed 9-Year-Old Girl by KIMBER PEARCE

A 9-year-old girl was killed last week when a young man went on a shooting spree that ultimately killed three and injured two more.

Keith Moses, the 19-year-old suspected gunman, is being held without bond at the Orange County jail for his involvement in the string of shootings in Pine Hills, Florida.

Among those killed were a 9-year-old girl and a Spectrum News 13 reporter.

The incident happened on Wednesday afternoon when Moses allegedly shot four people within 15 minutes, per NBC News.

The arrest report shows that he left the scene where the first victim, Nathacha Augustin, was killed earlier that morning and went to 9-year-old T’Yonna Major’s backyard, where he allegedly shot her and her mother.

When interviewed, T’Yonna’s mother said she had been napping when her daughter ran into her bedroom, shouting, “He shot me!” After suffering a bullet wound to the arm, the mother took her daughter and they hid in the bathroom.

According to reports, the shooter entered her house through a sliding door, which was normally locked.

Less than five minutes later, news reporter Dylan Lyons and his photographer Jesse Walden arrived to cover the initial homicide investigation, and Moses is accused of shooting them as well.

Lyons died within the hour, and T’Yonna died in the hospital two hours later.

In the past few days, video has also been released with footage from police body cameras during the arrest of Moses.

The victims’ families are seeking justice, and deputies are still investigating the motive. They claim there is no connection between the victims of this tragedy.

This was a series of incredibly unfortunate and heartbreaking events. It is also a reminder to us that we should always be prepared, for we never know when a disaster could happen, affecting us or our family.

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All About Guns Cops

Another Gee Whiz!

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Allies Cops Well I thought it was neat!

JAMES SMITH AND THE MORBIDLY CURIOUS CASE OF THE REGURGITATED SHARK ARM WRITTEN BY WILL DABBS, MD

The tiger shark eats most anything it can catch.

On Thursday, April 25, 1935, a proof reader for The Sydney Morning Herald named Narcisse Leo Young was out enjoying the collection of exotic fish at the Coogee Aquarium and Swimming Baths near Sydney, Australia. Their accumulated menagerie was impressive for its day. The newest addition was an 11.5-foot Tiger shark that had been caught by an angler a week before some two miles out to sea. All were mesmerized by the massive beast as it cruised menacingly around its ample tank.

Narcisse saw the big shark begin to behave erratically. The beast suddenly wretched and deposited some unfortunate guy’s left arm in the pool. Aquarium personnel duly retrieved the ghastly limb. She later reported that the stench was “frightful.”

The arm was duly presented to police on the justifiable assumption that its former owner might yet have a vested interest in it. A forensic analysis showed that the stump had been severed cleanly with a cutting tool. There the case likely would have languished had it not been for a certain distinctive tattoo.

Adorning the unfortunate man’s severed limb was a crude depiction of two boxers in mid-punch. There was also a short length of rope tied around the wrist. While the arm had clearly seen better days, the tattoo remained both unique and intact. The authorities documented the curious ink extensively.

Three days after the shark’s unfortunate performance it was sacrificed for the greater good. Here the tale gets even weirder. Inside the creature was found a smaller shark that had apparently done the actual arm eating.

 

Behold the regurgitated shark arm. This distinctive tattoo gave
police insight as to the arm’s original owner.

 

The fingers were surprisingly intact, so the cops were able to retrieve usable fingerprints. The prints were traced to a small-time thug named Jim Smith, who had gone missing nearly three weeks before. His wife Gladys and brother Edward positively identified the tattoo.

Jim Smith was a known associate of a crooked local businessman named Reginald Holmes and a former soldier-turned-criminal named Patrick Brady. Holmes was a boat-builder by trade who used his fast powerboats to retrieve cocaine shipments dropped from passing ships to make a little dark money on the side. These three model citizens supported themselves by running a variety of rackets ranging from check forgery to insurance fraud.

The criminal fraternity is a fickle thing indeed, and the successful businessman Reginald Holmes had the most to lose. Diligent police work uncovered some compelling circumstantial evidence tying the now unarmed (an intentionally awkward metaphor) Smith with the veteran Brady, as well as some good old-fashioned blackmail of the bent businessman Holmes. Now distraught over the inevitable brewing scandal, Reginald Holmes retired to Sydney harbor aboard one of his boats and shot himself in the forehead with a .32-caliber automatic pistol.

Alas, the synergistic combination of Holmes’ thick skull and his little mouse gun resulted in nothing more than a flattened slug and a killer headache. Reggie Holmes was knocked into the water by the blow but revived in short order. He then remounted his personal speedboat and led the harbor patrol on a merry chase for several hours before finally being apprehended.

What likely got Jim Smith in deep with the criminal Brady in the first place was his reported cooperation with police as an informant. Now, Reginald Holmes saw a cozy relationship with law enforcement as his lifeline out of this mess. The following month he spilled the beans to Detective Sergeant Frank Matthews.

 

 

It seemed that Brady had indeed killed and dismembered the hapless Jim Smith. Always game to optimize his return on investment, Brady then materialized at Holmes’ domicile with Mr. Smith’s severed arm in tow. He brandished the appendage to prove he was serious and then purportedly demanded Holmes pay him 500 pounds. Brady left the arm at Holmes’ place as a token of his sincerity. Not wishing to alarm the missus unduly, Reggie Holmes drove to nearby Maroubra and disarmed himself in the ocean. It was here that the sharks apparently first became involved.

A few days later, the businessman Holmes was found dead in his car of an apparent suicide. This time he had been shot three times in the chest. Though sometimes forensic evidence can indeed be difficult to interpret, even I know that it is nigh impossible to commit suicide by shooting yourself three times in succession. Holmes had an appointment to testify against Brady later that day. It was here the lawyers got involved.

Brady’s Solicitor, Clive Evatt, asserted that his client could not be convicted of murder on the strength of a single severed arm barfed up by a shark with gastrointestinal issues. He alleged that the arm “did not constitute a body” and that many people were thriving who had lost an arm or worse. With the prosecution’s star witness now finally demised, the case imploded, and Brady walked free.

Patrick Brady maintained his innocence for the next 30 years. In the spring of 1965, he died peacefully at the Concord Repatriation Hospital in Sydney at the age of 76. Recent analysis has posited that Holmes actually hired a hitman to end his own moral misery and that Brady had indeed been innocent of that particular crime, at least. Despite some diligent Googling, I was unable to ascertain a final disposition on the arm.

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Cops

Crime Index by City 2023