13 ms·

An ex-cop's remorse

139 points by iamjeff 10y ago

rtb 10y ago
I've never seen "coöperator" spelled with a diaeresis before. Apparently it's a New Yorker house style: http://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/the-curse-of-the-diaeresis http://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/the-curse-of-t...
- maweki 10y ago
  As a German, I was thoroughly confused by that.
  - pmiller2 10y ago
    I am giggling right now imagining someone trying to pronounce that the German way. :)
    - deleted 10y ago
      [deleted]
    - wott 10y ago
      That's how I read it first. I had to move backwards a few words later :-)
  - Cthulhu_ 10y ago
    As a Dutchman, it looked natural to me. (coöperatie is the Dutch word for corporation and a fancy word for coöperation)
- arximboldi 10y ago
  Interesting! We have similar diaeresis in Spanish. But on the other hand, given English's spelling ambiguity and lack of overall consistency, I wonder what is the point of using this nowadays... But I guess, that article also wonders :D
  - deleted 10y ago
    [deleted]
  - wott 10y ago
    > We have similar diaeresis in Spanish. Besides ü?
    - arximboldi 10y ago
      You are right, only ü to break the gue and gui forms. The "diptongos" containing a weak-strong vowel combination may be broken into a "hiato" with an accent, such as: vía vs via.
- pge 10y ago
  This usage is correct but dropped by almost all publications, as it has fallebln out of usage (perhaps in the era of the typewriter which didn't have the necessary keys?). The New Yorker is one of the few major publications that still does it. The dieresis is used any time there are two consecutive vowels that are not voiced as a diphthong (the difference between cooperate and a coop where you keep chickens). "Cooperate" and "naive" seem to be the most common affected words (with the latter sometimes retaining the dieresis in publications that don't otherwise employ it).
  - grzm 10y ago
    I find language esoterica very interesting. The New Yorker uses diaeresis¹ with the prefix re as well, such as reëlect, reëstablish, and reëxamine.² http://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/the-curse-of-the-diaeresis http://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/the-curse-of-t... We do change our style from time to time. My predecessor (and the former keeper of the comma shaker) told me that she used to pester the style editor, Hobie Weekes, who had been at the magazine since 1928, to get rid of the diaeresis. She found it fussy. She said that once, in the elevator, he told her he was on the verge of changing that style and would be sending out a memo soon. And then he died. This was in 1978. No one has had the nerve to raise the subject since. --- ¹ Or should that be diæresis? ² Speaking of style guides: Ooh, look! An Oxford comma!
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
icantdrive55 10y ago
For those who don't want to read: 1. It's a story about a Hispanic male, most likely wrongly jailed. 2. It's about the remorse of a cop. 3. It's about the huge number of homicides in the 90's--in the Bronx--600. Now it's around 100. (That doesn't sound right? It must be more, or I got it wrong?) 4. It's about how cops put more resources into the murder of their own. Something I don't quite understand. They are paid public servants. They shouldn't be able to pick, and choose what's important? "The murder of a former cop electrified the Forty-seventh Precinct. The next morning, phones rang constantly as Potter’s former colleagues called in for updates. The N.Y.P.D. threw all its resources behind the investigation, putting some forty officers, including Forcelli, on the case. (For most murders, two was the norm.) The pressure to make an arrest was intense." 5. It's a well written story, as usual. The end where Garry befriends a stray cat got me. I was expecting a state penal regulation stating prisoners coudn't feed/keep stray cats, but it's o.k., according to this. That was the only bright spot in the article. I don't buy that police work has imporoved significantly since the ninties though. (I'm a little biased--maybe? I interned at a Coroner's office while in high school. I only saw great detective work one time. A female model, who specialized in nudes, was found dead. These dectives investigated it forever. Personally, I thought she just overdosed, but who an I? In all honestly, most people who died in my county died of natural causes, or suicide. Murder was very rare.)
nrjdhsbsid 10y ago
Holy shit
ara24 10y ago
> this was a case of mistaken identity. “I always > wondered—and it sounds weird—how did it feel to > these guys who arrest the wrong guy?” Forcelli > told me. “It feels terrible.” Sad Story, free Garry.
- taneq 10y ago
  Arresting the wrong guy would happen pretty often and shouldn't be a serious issue. Convicting the wrong guy, especially if you know they're the wrong guy even as 'due process' finds them guilty - now that's another issue entirely.
  - DugFin 10y ago
    Thing is, it arrest actually IS a problem. It's often said that any decent prosecutor can indict a ham sandwich. Throw in a dash of racism or classism, and you've got a recipe for sending lots of people to jail who didn't commit the crime. Every step of the way needs to responsible and honest in order to mitigate this problem as much as possible. Can't just let cops do whatever they please under the premise that the prosecutor's office will figure out the truth.
    - a3n 10y ago
      The mere arrest can totally disrupt your life. Lost job if you miss work. Loss of trust with friends and family. Lost money if you can afford bail. Confusion in your kids if you suddenly have to get someone to pick them up from school that day, and arrange for care. Record of arrest.
      - slededit 10y ago
        Bail is the opposite. If you can afford it you get the money back if you show up to your court date. If you can't you go to a Bail bondsman and pay 10% up front - but you don't get it back at all.
        10y ago
Pica_soO 10y ago
This job should be made a institution, a office of last appeals, allowing to reopen every case, should new evidence surface or the involved persons, methods and legal proceedings give cause for reasonable doubt.
- pmyteh 10y ago
  Yes. England and Wales have for a while had the Criminal Cases Review Commission. If they see a case that suggests a miscarriage of justice, even after twenty years or the exhaustion of appeals, they can send the case back to the Court of Appeal. It's done some good work.
  - dopamean 10y ago
    It sounds like if the Innocence Project were an official government entity.
clouddrover 10y ago
> colored by the cop dramas he watched growing up Well, I'd hope not. In general TV and movie cop dramas present exceptionally poor models of policing which emphasize aggression, violence, and a contempt for the public. The last thing I'd want is for any police officer to model themselves after those distorted depictions of what a cop should be.
- tbrake 10y ago
  Within the context of the article at large and his work in revisiting old cases and getting convictions overturned, I think the more likely reading of 'colored by the cop dramas he watched growing up' is that he's taking inspiration from the characters pursuing truth at all costs, with 'to hell with 'the system'' attitudes, etc.
- coldtea 10y ago
  >The last thing I'd want is for any police officer to model themselves after those distorted depictions of what a cop should be. Most real life cops are much worse (sexist, racist, aggressive, easy to lie/tamper if they don't like a suspect, easy to pull the trigger, etc). So even the average tv cop as a role model would be an improvement.
  - DrJokepu 10y ago
    I don't think that's true. This doesn't describe any of the police officers at London's Metropolitan Police Service (or the NYPD for that matter) I ever interacted with.
    - wavefunction 10y ago
      That clears it up then! I on the other hand have had plenty of questionable interactions with (and due to) police officers in different parts of the US, which have ceased once I hit middle age.
      - EpicEng 10y ago
willyt 10y ago
I hate to be the sanctimonious European on HN, but I was really surprised to read that 3 days and 2 detectives is all that is (or was) used to investigate a murder. From American films and tv we get the impression of maverick cops with this gung-ho attitude who investigate alone or with one partner. This article makes me wonder how close to reality is this?
- wavefunction 10y ago
  You really shouldn't base your understanding of a society on media presentations, other than perhaps very lightly. I just watched a Belgian crime show "La Treve" / The Break on Netflix, but it doesn't mean I assume every Belgium small town is rife with murder and intrigue.
  - talmand 10y ago
    Especially since most cop shows these days are just "murder of the week" drivel. I would like another Barney Miller type of show.
  - wott 10y ago
    Good, so you've seen one 10-episode Belgian series. We've seen hundred, thousands of of American series and movies (and books). After a while we begin to be able to pull out some constants that are represented, and more importantly and more interestingly, we become able to see the constants which are not purposely represented. You don't realise the massive power of the American cultural imperialism. It is a steamroller: most European people have a better knowledge of the police and justice systems of the USA than of their own country! (And that's not only about fiction but about the news: we also know better the political system and political life of the USA than the ones of our neighbouring countries. We still know our own better, luckily :-) )
    - frgtpsswrdlame 10y ago
      Is this really true? (I'm American.)
lbatx 10y ago
What's worse is that this is highly unlikely to be the only case in which Forcelli sent the wrong person to jail. I don't know if he's come to that realization yet.
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
nsxwolf 10y ago
What an incredible anti-cop dumpster fire this turned into.
- DannyB2 10y ago
  All police are represented by the worst of the police. Therefore it would be in their interest to weed out the bad cops. Instead, they line up and protect them. Thus they make the public perception of police even worse. It then becomes manifestly clear that the police are not about protecting the public. Especially from bad police.
  - nsxwolf 10y ago
    All Muslims are represented by the worst of the Muslims. All black people are represented by the worst of the black people. Therefore it would be in their interest to weed out their own worst members. Come on.
    - lb1lf 10y ago
      I think yours is a flawed analogy, but I am not sure I can articulate why - but here goes: Noone can force you to leave the Muslim or the black population; you are what you are, and so any suggestion that someone should be removed from that population is pointless (unless, of course, one thinks murder is an acceptable method; I am not suggesting that you do) The police (or engineers; nurses; judges; etc) are a professional body; it is in their best interest that certain minimum standards apply to all members, thus making the public trust the competence of any representative.
      - lbatx 10y ago
        I think you did a fine job articulating the difference. It's not the fact that there are bad apples people are angry about (we understand there are bad apples in every profession). It's the absolute lack of accountability that is the issue.
- soundwave106 10y ago

139 points by iamjeff 10y ago

rtb 10y ago

I've never seen "coöperator" spelled with a diaeresis before. Apparently it's a New Yorker house style: http://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/the-curse-of-the-diaeresis http://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/the-curse-of-t...

maweki 10y ago
As a German, I was thoroughly confused by that.
- pmiller2 10y ago
  I am giggling right now imagining someone trying to pronounce that the German way. :)
  - deleted 10y ago
    [deleted]
  - wott 10y ago
    That's how I read it first. I had to move backwards a few words later :-)
- Cthulhu_ 10y ago
  As a Dutchman, it looked natural to me. (coöperatie is the Dutch word for corporation and a fancy word for coöperation)
arximboldi 10y ago
Interesting! We have similar diaeresis in Spanish. But on the other hand, given English's spelling ambiguity and lack of overall consistency, I wonder what is the point of using this nowadays... But I guess, that article also wonders :D
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
- wott 10y ago
  > We have similar diaeresis in Spanish. Besides ü?
  - arximboldi 10y ago
    You are right, only ü to break the gue and gui forms. The "diptongos" containing a weak-strong vowel combination may be broken into a "hiato" with an accent, such as: vía vs via.
pge 10y ago
This usage is correct but dropped by almost all publications, as it has fallebln out of usage (perhaps in the era of the typewriter which didn't have the necessary keys?). The New Yorker is one of the few major publications that still does it. The dieresis is used any time there are two consecutive vowels that are not voiced as a diphthong (the difference between cooperate and a coop where you keep chickens). "Cooperate" and "naive" seem to be the most common affected words (with the latter sometimes retaining the dieresis in publications that don't otherwise employ it).
- grzm 10y ago
  I find language esoterica very interesting. The New Yorker uses diaeresis¹ with the prefix re as well, such as reëlect, reëstablish, and reëxamine.² http://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/the-curse-of-the-diaeresis http://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/the-curse-of-t... We do change our style from time to time. My predecessor (and the former keeper of the comma shaker) told me that she used to pester the style editor, Hobie Weekes, who had been at the magazine since 1928, to get rid of the diaeresis. She found it fussy. She said that once, in the elevator, he told her he was on the verge of changing that style and would be sending out a memo soon. And then he died. This was in 1978. No one has had the nerve to raise the subject since. --- ¹ Or should that be diæresis? ² Speaking of style guides: Ooh, look! An Oxford comma!
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]

icantdrive55 10y ago

For those who don't want to read: 1. It's a story about a Hispanic male, most likely wrongly jailed. 2. It's about the remorse of a cop. 3. It's about the huge number of homicides in the 90's--in the Bronx--600. Now it's around 100. (That doesn't sound right? It must be more, or I got it wrong?) 4. It's about how cops put more resources into the murder of their own. Something I don't quite understand. They are paid public servants. They shouldn't be able to pick, and choose what's important? "The murder of a former cop electrified the Forty-seventh Precinct. The next morning, phones rang constantly as Potter’s former colleagues called in for updates. The N.Y.P.D. threw all its resources behind the investigation, putting some forty officers, including Forcelli, on the case. (For most murders, two was the norm.) The pressure to make an arrest was intense." 5. It's a well written story, as usual. The end where Garry befriends a stray cat got me. I was expecting a state penal regulation stating prisoners coudn't feed/keep stray cats, but it's o.k., according to this. That was the only bright spot in the article. I don't buy that police work has imporoved significantly since the ninties though. (I'm a little biased--maybe? I interned at a Coroner's office while in high school. I only saw great detective work one time. A female model, who specialized in nudes, was found dead. These dectives investigated it forever. Personally, I thought she just overdosed, but who an I? In all honestly, most people who died in my county died of natural causes, or suicide. Murder was very rare.)

nrjdhsbsid 10y ago

Holy shit

ara24 10y ago

> this was a case of mistaken identity. “I always > wondered—and it sounds weird—how did it feel to > these guys who arrest the wrong guy?” Forcelli > told me. “It feels terrible.” Sad Story, free Garry.

taneq 10y ago
Arresting the wrong guy would happen pretty often and shouldn't be a serious issue. Convicting the wrong guy, especially if you know they're the wrong guy even as 'due process' finds them guilty - now that's another issue entirely.
- DugFin 10y ago
  Thing is, it arrest actually IS a problem. It's often said that any decent prosecutor can indict a ham sandwich. Throw in a dash of racism or classism, and you've got a recipe for sending lots of people to jail who didn't commit the crime. Every step of the way needs to responsible and honest in order to mitigate this problem as much as possible. Can't just let cops do whatever they please under the premise that the prosecutor's office will figure out the truth.
  - a3n 10y ago
    The mere arrest can totally disrupt your life. Lost job if you miss work. Loss of trust with friends and family. Lost money if you can afford bail. Confusion in your kids if you suddenly have to get someone to pick them up from school that day, and arrange for care. Record of arrest.
    - slededit 10y ago
      Bail is the opposite. If you can afford it you get the money back if you show up to your court date. If you can't you go to a Bail bondsman and pay 10% up front - but you don't get it back at all.
      - 10y ago

Pica_soO 10y ago

This job should be made a institution, a office of last appeals, allowing to reopen every case, should new evidence surface or the involved persons, methods and legal proceedings give cause for reasonable doubt.

pmyteh 10y ago
Yes. England and Wales have for a while had the Criminal Cases Review Commission. If they see a case that suggests a miscarriage of justice, even after twenty years or the exhaustion of appeals, they can send the case back to the Court of Appeal. It's done some good work.
- dopamean 10y ago
  It sounds like if the Innocence Project were an official government entity.

clouddrover 10y ago

> colored by the cop dramas he watched growing up Well, I'd hope not. In general TV and movie cop dramas present exceptionally poor models of policing which emphasize aggression, violence, and a contempt for the public. The last thing I'd want is for any police officer to model themselves after those distorted depictions of what a cop should be.

tbrake 10y ago
Within the context of the article at large and his work in revisiting old cases and getting convictions overturned, I think the more likely reading of 'colored by the cop dramas he watched growing up' is that he's taking inspiration from the characters pursuing truth at all costs, with 'to hell with 'the system'' attitudes, etc.
coldtea 10y ago
>The last thing I'd want is for any police officer to model themselves after those distorted depictions of what a cop should be. Most real life cops are much worse (sexist, racist, aggressive, easy to lie/tamper if they don't like a suspect, easy to pull the trigger, etc). So even the average tv cop as a role model would be an improvement.
- DrJokepu 10y ago
  I don't think that's true. This doesn't describe any of the police officers at London's Metropolitan Police Service (or the NYPD for that matter) I ever interacted with.
  - wavefunction 10y ago
    That clears it up then! I on the other hand have had plenty of questionable interactions with (and due to) police officers in different parts of the US, which have ceased once I hit middle age.
    - EpicEng 10y ago

willyt 10y ago

I hate to be the sanctimonious European on HN, but I was really surprised to read that 3 days and 2 detectives is all that is (or was) used to investigate a murder. From American films and tv we get the impression of maverick cops with this gung-ho attitude who investigate alone or with one partner. This article makes me wonder how close to reality is this?

wavefunction 10y ago
You really shouldn't base your understanding of a society on media presentations, other than perhaps very lightly. I just watched a Belgian crime show "La Treve" / The Break on Netflix, but it doesn't mean I assume every Belgium small town is rife with murder and intrigue.
- talmand 10y ago
  Especially since most cop shows these days are just "murder of the week" drivel. I would like another Barney Miller type of show.
- wott 10y ago
  Good, so you've seen one 10-episode Belgian series. We've seen hundred, thousands of of American series and movies (and books). After a while we begin to be able to pull out some constants that are represented, and more importantly and more interestingly, we become able to see the constants which are not purposely represented. You don't realise the massive power of the American cultural imperialism. It is a steamroller: most European people have a better knowledge of the police and justice systems of the USA than of their own country! (And that's not only about fiction but about the news: we also know better the political system and political life of the USA than the ones of our neighbouring countries. We still know our own better, luckily :-) )
  - frgtpsswrdlame 10y ago
    Is this really true? (I'm American.)

lbatx 10y ago

What's worse is that this is highly unlikely to be the only case in which Forcelli sent the wrong person to jail. I don't know if he's come to that realization yet.

deleted 10y ago

[deleted]

nsxwolf 10y ago

What an incredible anti-cop dumpster fire this turned into.

DannyB2 10y ago
All police are represented by the worst of the police. Therefore it would be in their interest to weed out the bad cops. Instead, they line up and protect them. Thus they make the public perception of police even worse. It then becomes manifestly clear that the police are not about protecting the public. Especially from bad police.
- nsxwolf 10y ago
  All Muslims are represented by the worst of the Muslims. All black people are represented by the worst of the black people. Therefore it would be in their interest to weed out their own worst members. Come on.
  - lb1lf 10y ago
    I think yours is a flawed analogy, but I am not sure I can articulate why - but here goes: Noone can force you to leave the Muslim or the black population; you are what you are, and so any suggestion that someone should be removed from that population is pointless (unless, of course, one thinks murder is an acceptable method; I am not suggesting that you do) The police (or engineers; nurses; judges; etc) are a professional body; it is in their best interest that certain minimum standards apply to all members, thus making the public trust the competence of any representative.
    - lbatx 10y ago
      I think you did a fine job articulating the difference. It's not the fact that there are bad apples people are angry about (we understand there are bad apples in every profession). It's the absolute lack of accountability that is the issue.
soundwave106 10y ago