In The Federalist yesterday, Right on Crime policy analyst Derek Cohen tackles Rolling Stone’s unsurprisingly uninformed and overheated argument against police officers.

Few individuals outside of the music editorial realm consider Rolling Stone a reliable source of journalistic content. In recent years the publication’s rank amateurism has been made patently evident in its coverage of the nation’s criminal justice system. Whether a quixotic exercise in the apologetics of a butcher or whole-cloth fabrication of a serious crime, the magazine has managed to persistently reestablish “rock bottom.”

There was little surprise, then, when a piece entitled “Policing is a Dirty Job, But Nobody’s Gotta Do It: 6 Ideas for a Cop-Free World” appeared in mid-December. Author José Martín, the writer who brought you an impassioned defense of arson and destruction, suggests six policies and programs that would eliminate the need for law officers.

Superficially, a few of these suggestions have merit. Some are even empirically supported and actively advocated by conservative reform efforts. However, it takes little more than a cursory glance to see that Martín’s advocacy for these reforms is based more on their view through a filter—one established by clinging to a pre-established narrative—than upon any critical reading.

Continue reading at The Federalist.