Patrol: Page 29

Sometimes Police Must Be Warriors to Be Guardians

What has been lost in this discussion of warriors and guardians is that our officers often are thrust into the role of warrior to fulfill their obligation as guardians.

2015 07 06 1455 Tulsa Chief Chuck Jordan

Welcome to Law and Disorder

Anyone who has spent time working the street knows that the danger to cops' careers comes in many forms and while we have brought the number of police officers killed in the line of duty down to an annual figure in the 120s, we are losing thousands to termination and even worse, suicide. These are difficult statistics to hear but they are reality…our reality.

Police Officers Disproportionately Killing Black Men Another False Narrative

Of the 1,491 persons who died as a result of police uses of force, 61.4% were white males, 32.2% were black males and 3.2% were males from other races. Females dying as a result of a police use of force comprised the final 3.2% of deaths.

How Can You Trust the Judgment of a Police Commission That Applies the Wrong Legal Standard?

The Los Angeles Board of Police Commissioners’ act of finding one officer in the Ezell Ford shooting case “out of policy” for shooting Ford as he tried to take the officer’s gun is a bizarre, ill-considered decision that demonstrates the Commission’s complete misunderstanding and erroneous application of case law, and will have terrible public safety consequences. When an officer has to choose whether or not to be proactive at the risk of possibly losing his or her career, we can only assume the

Remove the Incentive to Serve and You’ll Get No Service

Police officers have begun to take a serious look at what has happened to their once proud profession and, at least in Baltimore, they have made a choice, they are not taking risks anymore.

What's Missing from the National Narrative on Improving Police Community Relations

Where is the public's ownership of these poor life decisions? Why aren't the parents, the political leaders, the community activists, the media talking heads, celebrities, nationally prominent athletes and the jet-setting, race-bating civil rights "activists" such as Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton extolling our children and citizens NOT to make these very obvious and poor life choices?

Time to Thank the Sheepdogs

I have had co-workers—I have had friends—shot, killed, spit upon, bitten, and even stuck with a needle used by an intravenous drug user. Missing time with your family to investigate a crime against someone you have never met? That may sound crazy to some. But I guess peace officers are different—actually, I know they are.

The One Key Lesson Baltimore Cops Didn’t Learn from the L.A. Riots

Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake gave instructions to police that protesters be given “space” to exercise their right to free speech. But in doing so, she admitted, “we also gave those who wished to destroy space to do that as well.”

PTSD: Breaking the Silence

We may think we can control our grief, our terror, or our shame by remaining silent, but naming offers the possibility of a different kind of control.

Bessel van der Kolk's book, The Body Keeps The Score: Brain, Mind and Body in the Healing of Trauma, is a New York Times bestseller.

Lobby to Invest in Infrastructure

Law enforcement agencies, like other government agencies or private sector groups, lobby for funding and power from political authorities. Comparatively little effort has gone into ensuring that the infrastructure that allows us to enforce the law and to lead civilized lives stays in good shape.

Washington Post Columnist: "Hands Up, Don't Shoot" a Lie

Brown never surrendered with his hands up, and Wilson was justified in shooting Brown.

How One City Kept the Peace After a White Cop/Black Suspect OIS

"It was a classic example of what Force Science teaches about how shots often end up in the back," he notes. "An officer decides to shoot when he is facing a deadly threat, as McMillin was. But by the time the bullets impact, the suspect has begun to turn in flight, and the rounds strike in the back. With action and reaction times, it's unavoidable."

Muskogee PD patch. (Photo: City of Muskogee)

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