Yesterday, Philadelphia City Councilman Bill Green tweeted something interesting to me: “Here’s the @TechnicallyPHL article I just referenced during the Police Dept budget hearing http://bit.ly/er1mnf” The article he referenced was some coverage I did of the Philadelphia Police Department using open source technology for its website and utilizing social media for canvassing communities for tips. [...]

The middle of the center section on the lower level of the Merriam Theater Tuesday night seemed well-acquainted. Across rows, middle aged men with ruddy cheeks talked about seeing each other last on trips to Key West, sneaking a six-pack into the historic theater and shared the kind of general chatter of people who knew [...]

It’s very easy to politicize what is around us. I fight that urge, too. Whenever accusations about cops and misdeeds make their way into headlines, most of us either rush to defend them or revile them. Wherever we rush to usually has to do with what camp we most align: either (A) policing is damn [...]

Update 11/22/09 @ 12:06 p.m.: Signs of this enforcement from Philebrity and the Inquirer. Philadelphia police are introducing a bicycle enforcement campaign beginning tomorrow in Center City. Forgive the lack of a direct focus on journalism, the future of news and my clips on this, but, as someone who uses bicycling transport fairly regularly (to [...]

For free daily newspaper Metro Philadelphia, today I covered a press conference and related fallout from Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter warning of the Plan C budget he says he’ll be forced to introduce if two provisions aren’t passed by the state legislature. I wrote a main brief on Nutter’s use of political theatrics: framing the [...]

I seem to recall seeing some petty ugly things written on Domeights, the online forum for the Philadelphia police community that was shut down by its owner after the threat of legal action. Of course, I also remember a lot of mundane content, jokes, commentary and other arcane back-and-forth that is the staple of most [...]

Update: 7:40 p.m. on April 23, 2009: The involved officer was suspended with intent to dismiss. That news also came from the Inquirer and Daily News. Update: 10:12 p.m. on May 6, 2009: Ms. McDonald was the feature of a cover story in the Northeast Times. The attention has probably subsided enough to write this [...]

God, I could get sick if I see someone else with an NYPD hat. But, Hell, kudos because that is brand development and, I’d bet, some additional revenue for those departments – even if lots of copycats are out there. I could only imagine the fear is police impersonation, but I have to believe you [...]