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One of the most widely recognized banes of the job among good cops is other cops’ inability or unwillingness to do their jobs. And nowhere is that inability and unwillingness more manifest than in that age-old ritual known as the "kiss off."
Read More →Basic search and raid principles remain essentially unchanged since Sun Tzu wrote “The Art of War” more than 2,000 years ago. Sir Robert Peel’s London Bobbies conducted searches and raids for criminals in the 1800s about the same way we do them now. And today, basic “hammer and anvil” (entry and containment) principles are universal. There have been some refinements, however. SWAT has created its own unique strategies and tactics, which vary among teams.
Read More →There are times when the information provided is too simplistic. While descending on a suspect who was hellbent on taking out his girlfriend and her family with an AK-47, we were advised that the suspect was "on the right side of the girlfriend’s house." Without a "You Are Here" marker painted on the street, we couldn't tell if it was the right side when facing the house or the right side when looking out of it.
Read More →Law enforcement trainers are constantly striving for more realistic training, because they know that the more real it is, the more officers will learn and retain. In the use of force arena, most training can be placed along a continuum, ranging from absolute safety on one end to absolute reality on the other.
Read More →On the surface, it would seem that pro football teams and SWAT teams are totally unrelated. After all, NFL football is only a game, and its players are among the highest paid people in America. Whereas pay is definitely not the primary reason that any of us chose law enforcement as our profession, and our life and death operations in SWAT are by no means a game.However, underneath the surface and beyond these differences, pro football and SWAT share very similar traits. What follows is a
Read More →Auto burglary and auto theft make up a huge portion of an officer's report writing time. Anyone who has ever worked dayshift knows how many of these calls come in as soon as people wake up and check on their vehicles (or where their vehicle was the night before). While taking these reports, we get to hear the "obvious" ways victims made their car look like a glowing beacon at night to burglars.
Read More →For more than a decade, Los Angeles street gangs have been killing about 550 to 600 people in L.A. County each year. What you probably don't know is that Mexican nationals, primarily illegal aliens, murder about an equal amount yearly. Many of these murders involve rivalries and vendettas that originated in states, cities, and ranchos in Mexico. They usually often involve Drug Trafficking Organizations (DTO).
Read More →Back when I was in the U.S. Army MP Corps we were taught to set aside time for personal equipment maintenance. I highly recommend you do the same. Warriors need to prepare for their calling; policework is no different.
Read More →Not everyone is graced with the skills necessary to identify and develop gang informants. It's like the ability to strike up a conversation with a stranger of the opposite sex when dating; some people just have that flirtatious flair, and some don't.
Read More →Every year around a half dozen law enforcement officers die in training accidents. While some of these deaths are related to fitness and health issues---for example an officer that dies after suffering a heart attack during a training run---there are at least two or three that die as the result of firearms or other use-of-force incidents while training.
Read More →Why do the otherwise productive anti-gang programs of New York, Chicago, Baltimore, and Philadelphia not work in Los Angeles? Why do these same cities seem overwhelmed by the flood of Southern California gang members?
Read More →Everyone has seen movies where the drill sergeant storms into the barracks and tells the recruits how it's going to be. Some of us lived this. For me, it was at Ft. Dix, N.J. Well, what do you need to do to get through the police academy and the FTO period? Simple; what I was told and what I tell every recruit: Get your life in order!
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