Black and White and Thin Blue Lines

In Baltimore County, Maryland a man has been arrested and accused of creating and publishing a recording that purported to be a high school principal making offensive racial remarks to the vice-principal. This is the new world of artificial intelligence and is the topic of a discussion between Serge and Clarke. Be assured: this episode is a genuine Black and White and Thin Blue Lines podcast. Avoid cheap imitations!

In part 2 of the podcast, Kenny Somers reflects on the arrest, his incarceration, and his thoughts on the past and future of Baltimore.

Imagine the following story. "John Doe" steals a car -- or more accurately, John Doe steals the same car two times. The car owner, Kenny Somers, a professional automobile recycler, recovers the car the first time and attempts to recover the car a second time. But John Doe has other plans and tries to kill Kenny Somers. Somers fights back and prevails. Police are called. While police are investigating, Somers kicks John Doe in the head as John Doe lay on a sidewalk. This is part one of a two part series of how the criminal justice non-system in Baltimore treated John Doe, Kenny Somers, and the responding Baltimore City Police Officer. This podcast is worth a listen!

Join Serge and Clarke as they share Nathan Steelman's experience sitting as a juror in judgment of a woman charged with domestic violence in Florida. You have heard the expression "I'd rather be judged by 12 than carried by 6." (Clarke disagrees: he would rather be carried by six than judged by 12). But as you will learn, that expression doesn't work in Manatee County, Florida. This episode is interesting, entertaining, and informative. Enjoy.

Serge and Clarke comment in the murder of Ofc. Diller and update the listeners on renewed efforts on the Columbia Project. Worth a listen.

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 young woman in a car who was lost and turned around in his driveway. In Missouri, an 84-year old man fired two shots from his front door injuring a teenager who rang his bell, mistakenly at the wrong address to pick up his younger brothers. In both cases, activists allege that stand your grounds laws are in part responsible for these tragic circumstances. Serge and Clarke discuss the cases and dismiss stand your ground arguments, but disagree on the lessons from these cases.

Law Enforcement firearms training has historically emphasized reaction time and marksmanship. But the decision to shoot or don't 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 episode, join Serge and Clarke and special guest Chris Mabe, a Maryland Realtor, to discuss Chris's recent experience at Guntry, an Owings Mills, Maryland Indoor Shooting Facility. Chris and some of his staff participated in Guntry's Simulator training course which is unusually realistic. In fact, it is painful to make the wrong decision in more ways than one.

At the request of a listener, Serge and Clarke offer their advice to young people without law enforcement experience who wish to apply to become police officers. People: this is solid advice from two men who have been there.

February 1, 2024 -- Prince George's County, Maryland. Prince George's County Police Officer Braxton Shelton is dispatched to a burglary in progress at an apartment in Suitland. He arrives within a minute of the dispatch, finds the apartment door ajar, and enters by himself. Seven seconds later Shelton fires one shot killing Melvin Jay, who almost certainly was lawfully in the apartment. Prince George's County Police Chief Malik Aziz released Shelton's body worn camera. The Office of the Attorney General's Independent Investigation Division is investigating the fatal shooting. Is this a case of a justified homicide or criminal, civil, and/or administrative misconduct? Serge and Clarke comment upon the case and Serge offers an idea he believes may have prevented the unfortunate outcome.

What is worse than a plethora of undereducated, jobless, and unfocused young men with semi-automatic handguns shooting at each other in cities across America? Answer: A group of undereducated, jobless, and unfocused young men with machine-guns shooting at each other in cities across America. Welcome to the $50 "Glock switch." This small, inexpensive, and easily obtained part turns a Glock semi-automatic pistol into an automatic pistol or "machine pistol." In this episode, Serge and Clarke discuss the increasing problem of the Glock switch.

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 Black and White and Thin Blue Lines, Tom sits down with Clarke and explains his incredible professional experience, the idea for a systemic approach to investigations, and the development of this modern technology.

The Black and White and Thin Blue Lines podcast began in spring of 2021 as the effort of Serge Antonin and Clarke Ahlers. The podcast concerns itself with issues of criminal justice, particularly at the intersection of race in America. Since then, Serge and Clarke have learned the technology of podcasting, produced and edited 100 episodes (to date), met wonderful guests and enjoyed the positive feedback of thousands of people who have listened to one or more episodes. First of all: thank you! In this episode, Serge and Clarke briefly reminisce about how the podcast came to be, and update our listeners on several of the important stories we have discussed in our podcast production. Serge and Clarke commit to more episodes to come and to continue to strive to be a voice of reason in the cacophony of criminal justice.

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 two cents in the latest episode.

Dateline Harlem: Friday night January 26, 2024 about 6:30 P.M. A NY City police officer stops city councilman Yosef Salaam for unlawful tinted windows on a BMW sedan. The officer was polite and professional and sent Mr. Salaam on his way after Salaam, the driver, identified himself as a city councilman. Professional courtesy? Presumably so. After all, why else would Mr. Salaam identify himself as a city councilman unless he wanted courtesy. But Salaam was not satisfied with professional courtesy. He thinks the stop was unwarranted and is reversing his decision to participate in police ride-alongs to better understand the job. Bottom line: no good deed goes unpunished.

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 them on your dreams, The one they pick’s the one you’ll know by.” In Michigan this week, the first of two trials of the parents of a convicted school shooter — Ethan Crumbley — began. Serge and Clarke discuss the legal issue of proximate causation and the morality play which is — like the song by Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young — about what James and Jennifer Crumbley taught their child Ethan.

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 year. Oh, and there was another hiccup. It seems the police deployed a flash bang grenade that blew out a glass window over a bassinet where a 17-month old baby was breathing on a ventilator. Not to worry. The Police Department issued a press release assuring the public that no baby was injured in the fiasco (because flash bangs don't use caustic chemicals). In other news, the baby was admitted to the hospital for treatment of his non-injuries. Don't let the baby's picture fool you; the child always looked like that. Clarke vents and Serge analyzes the unintended battery on the baby and the intentional assault on our intelligence.

Serge often observes that America is declining into anarchy. Clarke is sometimes pessimistic. Serge and Clarke bring their inclinations to the story of a young man who jumped the bench in a Las Vegas courtroom and beat up the judge who was sentencing him to prison for beating up a person with a baseball bat. What the heck is in the water in this country? Also, New York Governor declares war on shoplifting. Welcome Governor to the chaos you and others have created.

Almost six decades after the United States Supreme Court's landmark Miranda decision, police administrators in Maryland are claiming that a 2022 Maryland law that requires police adhere to Miranda during juvenile arrests is making their job more difficult. In a now familiar whine, our state and local governments blame their inability to fight crime on a document designed to protect citizens from the overreach of government. In this episode, Serge and Clarke discuss the Maryland Child Interrogation Protection Act. This episode is a counterbalance to official state propaganda.

Police Commissioner Worley has implemented 8 hours of empathy instruction for every Baltimore Police Officer. In this episode, Serge and Clarke discuss the instruction. 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 understanding. On his part, Clarke is a bit more "Doctor, Heal Thyself."

This week, the Mayor of Baltimore filed suit in federal court against the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. It turns out that ATF sends gun trace information to the Police Commissioner but does not send the same information to the Mayor. Rather than figure a workaround, the Mayor -- represented by Everytown Law -- filed suit. The lawsuit is largely a press release in the form of a lawsuit pretending that Mayor Scott is stymied in his war on crime by federal authorities. Serge and Clarke discuss this farce.