Community for Cops
Active and retired officers offer straight talk to officers and deputies working the urban and rural beats of this country.
An organization recently made available to the media a significant database of social media posts—that they deem to be potentially offensive—from thousands of officers from places such as Philadelphia, Dallas, Phoenix, St. Louis, and elsewhere. Internal investigations have been launched at several of those agencies. Here's why cops need to use social media cautiously.
This week's column is about my deep appreciation for the family of the Thin Blue Line allowing me—a civilian scribe from a city and state not well known for supporting police—to be your adopted brother.
The threat of ambush is ever-present. There is a growing war on cops in America, and the probability of being the victim of such an attack is increasing. Be vigilant, always.
Memorial Day Weekend has effectively become the unofficial start to summer. So this is an excellent opportunity to offer some reminders on how to safely conduct your police business as the months get warmer and the vacationers hit the nation's highways and hotels.
During this one extraordinary week you will experience every emotion. In one moment you might be laughing with a group of cops and then mere moments later crying with one guy or gal who is overwhelmed with grief.
It would be a wonderful thing if the addition of a therapy dog to a department's ranks becomes as mundane as the acquisition of office supplies—there would be no headlines because it would not be news.
Earlier this week I attended the Axon Accelerate Conference in downtown Phoenix. The official theme was "Run In"—in recognition of the fact that police officers run toward danger while everyone else runs away. But there was another underlying theme, "Total Wellness" for law enforcement.
Jason Hoschouer—when he's not out on motor patrol in the San Francisco Bay Area—helps fellow LEOs with financial coaching. He's also written a book on the subject called "Badges & Budgets." Here is some of the wisdom he shares with his clients.
During the second full week of April, public safety agencies celebrate a group of individuals without whom public safety agencies would fail to properly function—dispatchers and call takers.
A police K-9 unit is instrumental in myriad missions, including drug enforcement, search and rescue, fugitive apprehension, and of course, public relations. So when a K-9 is injured or killed, they are treated with nearly as much reverence and respect as when a police officer suffers a similar fate.
