David Thacher
@dtha15.bsky.social
Professor studying police history, police reform, policy responses to serious mental illness, ethics. Richard Olney & John Dewey stan. Dad to a danseur and a goalie; married to a historic preservationist
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~dthacher/index.html
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~dthacher/index.html
Pinned
David Thacher
@dtha15.bsky.social
· Dec 2
The invention of urgency: the transformation of the police role in society’s response to mental illness, 1900–1970
This paper reconstructs the history of the police role in society’s response to mental illness in the United States through roughly 1970. By examining a range of archival materials (including ethno...
www.tandfonline.com
📢 New paper: The Invention of Urgency: The Transformation of the Police role in Society’s Response to Mental Illness, 1900–1970📢
The roots of the current crisis around behavioral health crisis response lie much further back than we've realized, certainly before the era of deinstitutionalization.
The roots of the current crisis around behavioral health crisis response lie much further back than we've realized, certainly before the era of deinstitutionalization.
Reposted by David Thacher
Back when Texas still had small government Republicans, some of them passed a bill to give cities discretion to issue citations instead of arresting ppl for 7 common misdemeanors, including pot possession. Now wd be a good time for towns that didn't utilize that authority to rethink their stance.
For a wide range of misdemeanors, police can issue a summons rather than making an arrest. That option is becoming the final firewall against increasingly aggressive DHS efforts to gain access to local jails.
Citation In Lieu of Arrest
With community-police relations in the spotlight and key policy groups recommending the increased use of citation, now is an important moment to consider the use and impact of citation policies, to me...
www.theiacp.org
February 4, 2026 at 5:06 PM
Back when Texas still had small government Republicans, some of them passed a bill to give cities discretion to issue citations instead of arresting ppl for 7 common misdemeanors, including pot possession. Now wd be a good time for towns that didn't utilize that authority to rethink their stance.
For a wide range of misdemeanors, police can issue a summons rather than making an arrest. That option is becoming the final firewall against increasingly aggressive DHS efforts to gain access to local jails.
Citation In Lieu of Arrest
With community-police relations in the spotlight and key policy groups recommending the increased use of citation, now is an important moment to consider the use and impact of citation policies, to me...
www.theiacp.org
February 4, 2026 at 4:59 PM
For a wide range of misdemeanors, police can issue a summons rather than making an arrest. That option is becoming the final firewall against increasingly aggressive DHS efforts to gain access to local jails.
I am lost, what did I miss
www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...
www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...
February 2, 2026 at 9:17 PM
I am lost, what did I miss
www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...
www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...
This is extortion.
Tom Homan says he will scale back federal agents in Minnesota — if they have access to jails
In his first press conference since taking over federal immigration operations in Minnesota after the killing of two U.S. citizens, border policy advisor Tom Homan said street operations in the state ...
www.latimes.com
January 29, 2026 at 5:21 PM
This is extortion.
What Federal Immigration Enforcement Is Doing Isn’t Policing—and It Isn’t Normal
Very useful piece by leading experts that forcefully and concretely explains why ICE's tactics and its approach to accountability are beyond the pale.
Very useful piece by leading experts that forcefully and concretely explains why ICE's tactics and its approach to accountability are beyond the pale.
What Federal Immigration Enforcement Is Doing Isn’t Policing—and It Isn’t Normal
This opinion piece by policing experts Seth W. Stoughton, Ian T. Adams, Geoffrey P. Alpert, Gil Kerlikowse, Maureen Q. McGough, and Jeffrey J. Noble addresses federal immigration enforcement tactics u...
verdict.justia.com
January 29, 2026 at 5:09 PM
What Federal Immigration Enforcement Is Doing Isn’t Policing—and It Isn’t Normal
Very useful piece by leading experts that forcefully and concretely explains why ICE's tactics and its approach to accountability are beyond the pale.
Very useful piece by leading experts that forcefully and concretely explains why ICE's tactics and its approach to accountability are beyond the pale.
Reposted by David Thacher
Schrödinger’s Second Amendment:
- carrying a gun is a mandatory prerequisite for the government to respect your rights.
- carrying a gun immediately invalidates your rights and the government can execute you on the spot.
- carrying a gun is a mandatory prerequisite for the government to respect your rights.
- carrying a gun immediately invalidates your rights and the government can execute you on the spot.
January 24, 2026 at 8:41 PM
Schrödinger’s Second Amendment:
- carrying a gun is a mandatory prerequisite for the government to respect your rights.
- carrying a gun immediately invalidates your rights and the government can execute you on the spot.
- carrying a gun is a mandatory prerequisite for the government to respect your rights.
- carrying a gun immediately invalidates your rights and the government can execute you on the spot.
Reposted by David Thacher
The American Federation of Government Employees, which represents border patrol officers at the National Border Patrol Council, calls on Kristi Noem and Stephen Miller to resign or be fired
January 27, 2026 at 2:07 AM
The American Federation of Government Employees, which represents border patrol officers at the National Border Patrol Council, calls on Kristi Noem and Stephen Miller to resign or be fired
Reposted by David Thacher
In today's @nytimes.com, @barryfriedman1.bsky.social and I argue that, with no *other* means of pursuing accountability for lawlessness by ICE, local/state prosecutions become not just legally viable, but necessary—both to punish past abuses and to deter future ones:
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/26/o...
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/26/o...
Opinion | Local Prosecution Is the Answer to Federal Lawlessness
www.nytimes.com
January 26, 2026 at 11:56 AM
In today's @nytimes.com, @barryfriedman1.bsky.social and I argue that, with no *other* means of pursuing accountability for lawlessness by ICE, local/state prosecutions become not just legally viable, but necessary—both to punish past abuses and to deter future ones:
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/26/o...
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/26/o...
One thing about this line ("where's the local PD?") is that there are now ~3,000 ICE agents in and around Minneapolis. Are the ~800 MPD cops supposed to follow them around clearing a path for them? Can the feds always just force local police to support their priorities, damn the city's own?
Minneapolis, MN -
Very developing situation here. FPS agents ran into the hotel. Tear gas deployed. Hotel patrons forced to put their hands up. One agent’s nose bloodied.
Very developing situation here. FPS agents ran into the hotel. Tear gas deployed. Hotel patrons forced to put their hands up. One agent’s nose bloodied.
January 26, 2026 at 11:12 PM
One thing about this line ("where's the local PD?") is that there are now ~3,000 ICE agents in and around Minneapolis. Are the ~800 MPD cops supposed to follow them around clearing a path for them? Can the feds always just force local police to support their priorities, damn the city's own?
IACP, welcome to the resistance
www.theiacp.org/news/officia...
www.theiacp.org/news/officia...
IACP Calls on White House to Convene Joint Federal–State–Local Discussion on Public Safety
Click the title above to learn more
www.theiacp.org
January 25, 2026 at 4:51 AM
IACP, welcome to the resistance
www.theiacp.org/news/officia...
www.theiacp.org/news/officia...
We drove to Grand Rapids yesterday to visit my brother in law in the hospital. On the way there he texted: "Turn around there's a storm coming!" We visited him anyway but then went straight home instead of continuing to Grand Haven to stay w/ his mom. We'd have been heading back when this happened 😬
Drone footage shows a massive pileup involving more than 100 vehicles in Michigan, with injuries reported as hazardous winter conditions grip the area.
January 20, 2026 at 3:30 AM
We drove to Grand Rapids yesterday to visit my brother in law in the hospital. On the way there he texted: "Turn around there's a storm coming!" We visited him anyway but then went straight home instead of continuing to Grand Haven to stay w/ his mom. We'd have been heading back when this happened 😬
If law enforcement fails to monitor/record its own actions (and refuses to submit sworn statements) the courts aren't going to take their claims seriously.
(from the Minneapolis case yesterday: law.justia.com/cases/federa...)
(from the Minneapolis case yesterday: law.justia.com/cases/federa...)
January 19, 2026 at 4:23 PM
If law enforcement fails to monitor/record its own actions (and refuses to submit sworn statements) the courts aren't going to take their claims seriously.
(from the Minneapolis case yesterday: law.justia.com/cases/federa...)
(from the Minneapolis case yesterday: law.justia.com/cases/federa...)
"In the last 45 years I’ve been studying these events, I’ve seen nothing like what we’re experiencing today." Geoff Alpert is not prone to inflammatory overstatement.
In Minneapolis, a Pattern of Misconduct Toward Protesters
www.nytimes.com
January 19, 2026 at 4:02 AM
"In the last 45 years I’ve been studying these events, I’ve seen nothing like what we’re experiencing today." Geoff Alpert is not prone to inflammatory overstatement.
Renee Good’s Family Should Be Able to Sue the Officer Who Killed Her www.nytimes.com/2026/01/14/o...
Opinion | Renee Good’s Family Should Be Able to Sue the Officer Who Killed Her
www.nytimes.com
January 15, 2026 at 3:35 AM
Renee Good’s Family Should Be Able to Sue the Officer Who Killed Her www.nytimes.com/2026/01/14/o...
Reposted by David Thacher
I tried to turn my rage yesterday into something that brings us some light. For @newrepublic.com, I wrote about how 2020 prepared Minneapolis for the current crisis of Trump's DHS. newrepublic.com/article/2050...
Minneapolis Knows How to Resist This Violence
From George Floyd to Renee Good, the city has become all too familiar with fatal violence by law enforcement—and it knows exactly how to respond.
newrepublic.com
January 9, 2026 at 6:18 PM
I tried to turn my rage yesterday into something that brings us some light. For @newrepublic.com, I wrote about how 2020 prepared Minneapolis for the current crisis of Trump's DHS. newrepublic.com/article/2050...
Reposted by David Thacher
Jeff Landry is the Governor of Louisiana.
KERNEN: Europeans are talking about it almost being like Vladimir Putin and Ukraine.
JEFF LANDRY: I disagree. When has the United States engaged in imperialism? Never. Europe has engaged in imperialism. The reason the Danish have Greenland is because of imperialism.
JEFF LANDRY: I disagree. When has the United States engaged in imperialism? Never. Europe has engaged in imperialism. The reason the Danish have Greenland is because of imperialism.
January 6, 2026 at 2:40 PM
Jeff Landry is the Governor of Louisiana.
When the original version of this "Procedural Justice Training Works" study came out in PNAS a couple of years ago I posted the thread below on twitter. I'm going to re-post here because as far as I can tell the same questions apply to this new study.
Training police (🇺🇸) on procedural-justice techniques (e.g. explaining the rationale for police actions) led to improvements in just treatment of people stopped, with the effect not varying by ethnicity of the person.
(Note, though, small sample size)
(Note, though, small sample size)
doi.org
December 16, 2025 at 3:58 PM
When the original version of this "Procedural Justice Training Works" study came out in PNAS a couple of years ago I posted the thread below on twitter. I'm going to re-post here because as far as I can tell the same questions apply to this new study.
I'm like a proud father link.springer.com/article/10.1...
![The normative case study has been proposed as one approach to support navigation of public values [48, and in education, 49]. These are case studies that aim to outline real situations and the values underpinning choices that might be made, through an assessment of the normative features of those cases. As Thacher [48] outlines, these cases can draw attention to thick ethical concepts, such as ‘courage’ or perhaps more salient in the case of AI, ‘creepy’. What distinguishes thick ethical concepts like creepiness, is that they are both descriptive (they describe an ethical standard, perhaps of privacy and autonomy in this case), and evaluative (they ascribe a particular judgement in their application). When we say a technology is creepy, we are doing more than just describing the applicable ethical-legal principles of privacy or autonomy, we are also making a particular kind of evaluative judgement regarding the technology. The normative case study is intended to describe cases as a way to bring into focus the ways they are imbued with values, and in this way to help us probe, navigate, and perhaps change these values.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:mr5zsc6bxs6czgluep26vejd/bafkreihldg542ovio2amgwyh7fjugso5v5up5vfzrwrw6k6cthpx3dardq@jpeg)
December 11, 2025 at 3:57 AM
I'm like a proud father link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Michiganders, it's NUTCRACKER time again! This coming weekend at the fantastic Potter Center in Jackson (it isn't as far as you think...). With live music from the JSO--don't settle for piped-in Tchaikovsky!--and of course starring LUCAS as Flower King, Coffee Pas, Rat King, & more.
Tickets here:
Tickets here:
The Nutcracker
www.jacksonsymphony.org
December 10, 2025 at 12:45 AM
Michiganders, it's NUTCRACKER time again! This coming weekend at the fantastic Potter Center in Jackson (it isn't as far as you think...). With live music from the JSO--don't settle for piped-in Tchaikovsky!--and of course starring LUCAS as Flower King, Coffee Pas, Rat King, & more.
Tickets here:
Tickets here:
Hell yeah, who else is going????
(I will then visit their birthplace, on their 50th birthday, for the @glepha.bsky.social conference in September!)
(I will then visit their birthplace, on their 50th birthday, for the @glepha.bsky.social conference in September!)
mekons | Events - Bell's Brewery
This is an 18+ seated event | 17 and under admitted with a parent or guardian Advance tickets may also be purchased in person at the General Store by card only (no cash) Sonic adventurers, punk rock...
events.bellsbeer.com
December 8, 2025 at 4:04 AM
Hell yeah, who else is going????
(I will then visit their birthplace, on their 50th birthday, for the @glepha.bsky.social conference in September!)
(I will then visit their birthplace, on their 50th birthday, for the @glepha.bsky.social conference in September!)
📢 New paper: The Invention of Urgency: The Transformation of the Police role in Society’s Response to Mental Illness, 1900–1970📢
The roots of the current crisis around behavioral health crisis response lie much further back than we've realized, certainly before the era of deinstitutionalization.
The roots of the current crisis around behavioral health crisis response lie much further back than we've realized, certainly before the era of deinstitutionalization.
The invention of urgency: the transformation of the police role in society’s response to mental illness, 1900–1970
This paper reconstructs the history of the police role in society’s response to mental illness in the United States through roughly 1970. By examining a range of archival materials (including ethno...
www.tandfonline.com
December 2, 2025 at 3:29 PM
📢 New paper: The Invention of Urgency: The Transformation of the Police role in Society’s Response to Mental Illness, 1900–1970📢
The roots of the current crisis around behavioral health crisis response lie much further back than we've realized, certainly before the era of deinstitutionalization.
The roots of the current crisis around behavioral health crisis response lie much further back than we've realized, certainly before the era of deinstitutionalization.
Through the early 18th century sheriffs and constables would serve warrants at church services because it was an easy place to find people, but everybody thought it was outrageous so the colonial legislatures banned it.
From the description, this particular incident appears to be a targeted enforcement operation; they were looking for a specific person. That he was at church at the time is no longer an obstacle under this administration.
Fifteen-year-old Miguel Vazquez was one of the people who took off running when federal agents arrived. “I thought, ‘Wait, why am I running? I’m a citizen,’” Vazquez said.
newrepublic.com/post/203321/...
newrepublic.com/post/203321/...
November 19, 2025 at 3:13 AM
Through the early 18th century sheriffs and constables would serve warrants at church services because it was an easy place to find people, but everybody thought it was outrageous so the colonial legislatures banned it.
Reposted by David Thacher
Desert sunflowers and purple verbena on a wet sand dune this morning (Photo: Sicco Rood).
November 17, 2025 at 2:44 AM
Desert sunflowers and purple verbena on a wet sand dune this morning (Photo: Sicco Rood).
🚨 PSA if you're in Detroit: If you didn't see this tonight, see it tomorrow.
They are doing Firebird. THEY ARE DOING FIREBIRD!
All the NYC peeps are excited, "Ooh DTH is reviving Firebird Spring 2026!" That's sweet.
In Detroit, we already saw it. It's fantastic.
detroitopera.org/show/dance-t...
They are doing Firebird. THEY ARE DOING FIREBIRD!
All the NYC peeps are excited, "Ooh DTH is reviving Firebird Spring 2026!" That's sweet.
In Detroit, we already saw it. It's fantastic.
detroitopera.org/show/dance-t...
Dance Theatre of Harlem - Detroit Opera
Dance Theatre of Harlem is a Detroit favorite returning to the Detroit Opera House after their 2023 performances. Arthur Mitchell created the company in New York City after making history in 1955 as t...
detroitopera.org
November 16, 2025 at 5:45 AM
🚨 PSA if you're in Detroit: If you didn't see this tonight, see it tomorrow.
They are doing Firebird. THEY ARE DOING FIREBIRD!
All the NYC peeps are excited, "Ooh DTH is reviving Firebird Spring 2026!" That's sweet.
In Detroit, we already saw it. It's fantastic.
detroitopera.org/show/dance-t...
They are doing Firebird. THEY ARE DOING FIREBIRD!
All the NYC peeps are excited, "Ooh DTH is reviving Firebird Spring 2026!" That's sweet.
In Detroit, we already saw it. It's fantastic.
detroitopera.org/show/dance-t...
Reposted by David Thacher
Detroit City Council President Mary Sheffield will become the first woman to be mayor of the city.
Mary Sheffield wins big, becomes Detroit's first woman mayor - Detroit Metro Times
Detroit City Council President Mary Sheffield will become the first woman mayor of the city after handily defeating Rev. Solomon Kinloch Jr. in Tuesday’s general election.
www.metrotimes.com
November 5, 2025 at 2:22 AM
Detroit City Council President Mary Sheffield will become the first woman to be mayor of the city.