de-policing
n.— «Crime rates are up from last year. Arrests, traffic stops and gun recoveries are down. And while there is dispute over the precise reasons, the union representing police officers in this city says it is partly because officers are doing their jobs gingerly, out of fear that the controversial police superintendent won’t back them if they face misconduct charges. The slowdown is known as “de-policing,” and Mark Donahue, president of the Fraternal Order of Police, says it could result in more crime and more guns on the streets.» —“Chicago Crime Up As Police Clash With New Boss” by Kari Lydersen Washington Post Sept. 20, 2008. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Martha recently found a 1938 letter that her grandfather sent to the local police chief in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley. It concerns a suspected thief who her grandfather thought might be persuaded to confess because, he wrote,, the young man surely...
Do you refer to your dog or cat as “somebody”? As in: When you love somebody that much, you don’t mind if they slobber. In other words, is your pet a somebody or a something? Also, for centuries, there was little consistency in the...