Responding to School Sieges

Features

For most Americans the September 2004 school siege and subsequent massacre in Beslan, Russia, was something distant, far away, and unreal. We tend to view most things that happen to others around the world with disinterest.

John Giduck

The Forgotten Casualties

Features

Not many people will ever forget that 2,752 people—including 23 NYPD and 37 Port Authority officers—were brutally murdered in New York on 9/11. But after five years, it appears many may be forgetting the men and women—including officers from the NYPD and Port Authority—who were injured and wounded that day.

Shelly Feuer Domash

The Harbinger

Features

When Russian special forces units stormed the terrorist held school in Beslan on Sept. 3, 2004, John Giduck was landing in Moscow with his Archangel tactical consultant team, which includes retired Soviet spetsnaz commandos. Giduck reached Beslan while the school was still smoking from the fires ignited by the terrorists’ bombs and bodies were still being removed. The experience changed Giduck’s life and led him to become one of the busiest law enforcement speakers and trainers in America.

David Griffith

Cool K-9 Gear

Features

Sometimes it’s hard to know what’s new in the world of K-9 gear. So to catch you up on the cool stuff that’s out there, here’s a look at some of the newest and most useful products available for your loyal partner in crime fighting.

Melanie Hamilton

Dangerous Lookalikes

Features

One of the things that makes Airsoft guns good training tools is the uncanny resemblance of these pellet-firing replica weapons to real firearms. Unfortunately, this attention to detail has led to tragedy not only in the training environment but also on the streets.

Kenneth R. Murray

How to Investigate a Meth Lab

Features

It is a damp night and the noxious fumes from a methamphetamine lab are snaking out through the surrounding neighborhood as the cook progresses. The neighbors downwind close their windows as their children complain of headaches, nausea, and sore throats from the acidic odors. The police are called and a patrol unit responds to check things out.

David Street

Get Real, America

Columns: Editorial

Five years. We’ve been officially under attack by Muslim terrorists for five years. Actually, they’ve been trying to kill us for a lot longer; it’s just we decided to take notice when they hit us really hard five years ago.

David Griffith

Climate Control

Columns: In My Sights

I was going through the owner’s manual on my truck the other day and noted the section titled “Climate Controls,” and it reminded me of another difference between crime fighters and the folks we protect. Not only do we run to the sound of the gunfire while others run away, but we have to get out of our damn cars no matter what the weather. One of the first calls in my career was traffic control at one of the busiest intersections in the city with the temperature hanging at 110 degrees.

Dave Smith

Kel-Tec PLR-16 .223 Handgun

Reviews: Arsenal

If there were a weapon that provided 60 percent more power than your standard sidearm yet weighed less than half of what a traditional AR-15 carbine does, without sacrificing accuracy, it would get your attention, right? Well, Kel-Tec has just introduced an AR-style pistol that weighs just over three pounds, takes M-16 mags, and possesses laser-like accuracy. After having fired nearly 1,000 rounds through my evaluation sample, I have to say that this pistol has got my attention.

Mike Detty

Seattle, Washington 03•17•2004

Departments: Shots Fired

Just before 11 a.m. on Saturday morning, March 17, 2004, a call went out: A man at the Miller Community Center on Seattle’s Capitol Hill was armed with a shotgun. Shots had been fired and someone was down.

Dean Scoville

Up Close, Personal, and Violent

Departments: The Winning Edge

It’s zero dark thirty and you’ve responded to a suspicious person call in the parking lot of a local bar frequented by members of the area’s one-percenter biker population. As you begin to field interview the subject, he suddenly closes the distance of your reactionary gap and is all over you. You try to hold him off, and his hand suddenly moves to a leather sheath on his belt and attempts to grab his blade.

Kevin R. Davis

First-Light USA Liberator Tactical Light

Departments: Blades & Tools

It’s not very often a better mouse trap comes along in the world of tactical illumination. Generally we see improvements of an existing idea, or a minor change; but First-Light USA delivers a truly revolutionary idea in the Liberator tactical light.

Scott Smith

Parole and Probation Searches

Departments: Point of Law

Most of the U.S. Supreme Court’s many rulings on Fourth Amendment issues dealing with the justification of warrantless searches and seizures have focused on either suspicion of criminal wrongdoing, or consent or exigency. But in a handful of cases, the court has considered another category of Fourth Amendment justification: basing a search or seizure on the suspect’s status as a parolee or probationer.

Devallis Rutledge

Normal (Ill.) Police Department

Departments: A Closer Look

All in all, life is pretty normal in Normal. The central Illinois town has seen five homicides in 10 years. And the methamphetamine epidemic hasn’t hit the town or its sister city of Bloomington yet. In fact, sales of a handful of rocks of crack cocaine still make newspaper headlines. When Illinois State University is in session, underage drinking and loud party calls are the order of the night, not armed robberies, car jackings, or driveby shootings.

Bryn Bailer

Book Review, “Terror at Beslan: A Russian Tragedy with Lessons for America’s Schools”

Web Only: Extra

Elliott E. Grollman

The Harbinger

Web Only: Extra

When Russian Special Forces units stormed the terrorist held school in Beslan on Sept. 3, 2004, John Giduck was landing in Moscow with his Archangel team of tactical consultants. Police Magazine editor David Griffith caught up with Giduck by phone as he was preparing to hit the road again, moving from agency to agency warning American cops that Beslan-type school sieges are coming to America.

David Griffith

What Police Officers Need

Web Only: Leadership 101

“Forward then. Forward! Let us go forward without fear into the future and let us dread naught when duty calls.” - Sir Winston Churchill

Roy E. Alston

The Power of Field Contacts

Web Only: Duty Tips

Dan Pasquale