When I was growing up in Detroit in the 50s and 60s I, like everyone else across the nation, was well aware of the soaring crime in New York City. Detroit was no paradise either. In fact, crime comparisons between the two cities were often made.

In the ensuing years crime showed a marked decline in the Big Apple. But no longer. In fact, violent crime now occurs with regularity in neighborhoods like the Upper West Side and Times Square where it had been rare.

This was underscored by the shootings of three people, one of them 4-year-old girl, at…

A retired police chief and I had a conversation about the events leading to the shooting death of Daunte Wright by Kim Potter, a Brooklyn Center Minnesota police veteran who has now resigned. He had some interesting observations that I’d like to share.

The chief, who wishes to not be put in the spotlight so I’m not identifying him, says the genesis for the tragedy can be clearly seen on the body cam video. …

Every time there’s a well publicized controversial killing of a black man by a white police officer there are calls for police reform. But each time the focus on these pleas for change fades away with time. Will the killing of George Floyd be any different?

It’s a question that, admittedly, can’t be answered. But I sense attitudes are changing because of Floyd’s death.

Everyone by now has seen the killing of Floyd at the knee of then-Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin. …

Washington DC. Our nation’s capitol. And one of the most dangerous cities in the United States.

Neighborhood Scout rates DC’s crime index at 3 percent. With 100 percent being the nation’s safest city. This means Washington DC is safer than just 3 percent of the cities in the United States.

Yet today there’s another call to cut the size of the police department.

This comes just one day after five people were shot, two fatally, in a DC neighborhood.

One might argue that police patrols really can’t prevent shootings. But consider that police resources are stretched whenever there is a…

I can’t quite decide which political office to run for. But before I make up my mind, I know I have to consider what perks I can get from the job.

Before I delve any further into this enthralling subject I’ll point out that I’m writing about an hour into April first. So please take with a grain of salt anything I say.

But if I were to run for office, it seems to me I’d have to choose carefully. Do I want to run for Congress and increase my chances of being befriended by an attractive Chinese spy? …

I was speaking over the weekend to a friend in Vietnam and I told her that someday I’d like to visit southeast Asia. I asked her about life in Vietnam.

“I hate it here,” she said. “We don’t have freedom of speech like you do.”

So, naturally, I asked her if she’d move to the United States if given the chance.

“I’d never go to the United States,” she declared. “It’s not safe there for Asians.”

Without question attacks on Asians in the United States are way up. By 150 percent by one estimate. …