Patrol: Page 49

Picking Our Targets

The sooner that cops embrace the notion that the person they may find themselves in a firefight in may look more like a grandfather than a gangster, the better able they will be to not only respond to the threat at the time, but deal with its aftermath.

A Turk and an Armenian go Out to Breakfast….

For all the cultural sensitivity training we're required to sit through, for all the tolerance we may espouse, we may just not be able to relate to some of our contacts as well as others might. That's why you should consider using a fellow officer of a similar persuasion, if possible.

Helping Yourself Out in Matters of Force

If there's ever a time for you to start thinking like a sergeant, a detective, and a lawyer, it's when you've just knocked some suspect on his ass.

The Challenge of Analyzing a Tragedy While We’re Still Grieving

Shortly after the murders of four Oakland officers by parolee Lovelle Mixon in March, I got a call from Police Magazine editor David Griffith. He wanted me to write a feature article on the Oakland incidents. To be honest I didn’t want to do it.

Kicking Up a Stink Over California Incident

Where are the media’s priorities? Did the officer’s actions really eclipse the actions allegedly perpetrated by the suspect? Why aren’t we seeing the truly offensive footage, that of motorists taking last second evasive actions to avoid being maimed and killed during the pursuit Rodriguez allegedly triggered?

Patience, My Ass. I Want to Arrest Somebody!

Periodically during the passenger's invective, I would step off to the side—always keeping a vigilant eye on the rider and passenger, of course—and whisper to my t.o., “Let me take him!” Each time the t.o. nodded me off without comment and continued methodically filling out his paperwork. I couldn’t believe it.

Have a Script for Field Interviews

Cops shouldn’t be shy about making inquiries into the affairs and possessions of those they deal with.

Could Your Vehicle Approach Get You Killed?

If an officer or his vehicle is immobilized because of haphazard parking on a hot call, other officers can effectively become trapped inside the kill zone because of an inability to back up or accelerate forward due to the incapacitated patrol unit.

The Hazards of “Low Risk” Calls

Annoying, "routine" calls can sometimes have significant consequences for the officers that respond to them.

Secure and Insecure Cops

Few things are more rewarding in one’s career than the opportunity to work among the quietly self-assured. Few things are more depressing than having to work around the desperately insecure.

What I Learned at TREXPO West

At first blush, one would be hard pressed to connect the dots between that Michael Keaton clunker of a film "Multiplicity" and TREXPO. Nonetheless, I found myself thinking of the cloning comedy throughout the three-day training conference and expo because if there's one frustrating thing about TREXPO WEST, it's one's inability to be at multiple places at once.

You Can Get Killed Just Because of Your Uniform

The idea of targeting cops is hardly a new one. Indeed, it may have reached its apex during the late sixties and early seventies with the advent of counter culture revolutionary groups such as the Weathermen, Black Panther Party and Black Liberation Army.

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