Articles - Patrol

Whether a department's jurisdiction lies nestled among the cornfields of rural Nebraska or in the center of a major city, homemade explosives pose a very real and growing threat. But through business community involvement and greater training and awareness, some of these threats can be stopped dead in their tracks.

In his book, "Play," Stuart Brown, M.D., explains how play doesn't just reduce our stress and open our minds, it also exercises and grows our brains. Yep, to grow some brain, play a game.

Something like 38% of all 911 calls in New York City are now attributed to the phenomenon known as "butt-dialing." The New York City 911 operators receive 10.4 million calls a year and nearly 4 million of them are accidental. And the Big Apple is not alone in suffering from this problem. It's a nationwide plague caused by a little-known cellphone feature.

With the tax base shrinking in many of our jurisdictions and that depleting our budgets, all of us have been told to do more with less. The trick is to know what corners to cut and what corners might cut you back. Here's a look at five things you absolutely positively don't want to do on the job.

After issuing a series of decisions over the years that have been mostly deferential to custodial officials in managing their secure facilities, the U.S. Supreme Court has issued a new ruling on the constitutionality of visual strip searches of minor-offense arrestees.

Historically, the biggest hurdle with LED technology has been getting the "candela" or "candlepower" to compare to that of an incandescent. LEDs generally put out high "lumens," meaning they are really bright at close distances, but not as good at casting light in the distance. Streamlight figured out how to do both with this one.

Det. Brent Hoosac of the Jupiter (Fla.) Police Department was instrumental in uncovering a burglary ring that was involved in 75 high-end residential burglaries and stole approximately $15 million worth of property.

A mindset is developed when you employ a fixed mental attitude that predetermines your response to a given situation. For example, your attitudes toward something help develop your response or approach. Your mindset becomes your approach.

In last month's The Winning Edge article, I discussed how to anticipate and respond to ambushes when arriving on calls in an urban environment. In this related article, I will discuss how to handle ambushes while in your car.

Generally, I don't pay a lot of attention to the mutterings of extreme partisans on either side of the political divide. But a recent Rolling Stone interview with former Obama administration Green Jobs advisor Van Jones gave such insight into the brain waves of extreme leftists that it got me thinking.