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Special Units

Articlesby Al ValdezJune 1, 1998

Beating the Devil

The term, ritual crime, is often associated with occult religion.  Such crimes may include: graffiti, animal mutilations, kidnap, substance abuse, sexual abuse, child molestation, grave-site desecration and murder.

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Articlesby Al ValdezMay 1, 1998

When Tragedy Struck, the Army Was There to Help

To my horror, the first sergeant told me that my son, who is active-duty enlisted with the 43rd Engineers in the United States Army, had been shot in the head and was not expected to survive.

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Articlesby Dan KalkApril 1, 1998

SWAT Teams Need Strong Leadership

No police department would ever consider sending police officers onto the street without proper training or equipment to handle routine calls.  Without hesitation, police department send their officers to state-of-the-art equipment. This is equally true when it comes to training and equipping high-risk or specialty units such as SWAT teams, gang units, repeat offender units and emergency response teams.

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Articlesby Dale StocktonApril 1, 1998

SWAT's Small-Town Question

Whether you work for a metropolitan police department with thousands of officers or small-town agency with only a handful of personel, an incident requiring the response of a special weapons team can happen in your town. How prepared are you and your agency?

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Articlesby Al ValdezApril 1, 1998

Interpreting That Writing On the Wall

Graffiti continues to be used as a written form of communication between street ganges. An observant patrol officer, police investigator, probation/parole officer, school teacher and gang member can read graffiti and collect valuable information about past, current and future gang activities.

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Articlesby Al ValdezMarch 1, 1998

American Graffiti Revisited

Today, tagging has become an international issue and taggers can be found worldwide.  From a law enforcement perspective, it is difficult, at best, to monitor and track all of the individual taggers and tag crews.

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Articlesby Greg MeyerApril 1, 1997

LAPD Faces Urban Warfare In North Hollywood Bank Shoot-Out

Imagine yourself working uniformed patrol at 9:15 a.m. on a warm sunny day and you suddenly find yourself in Beirut, Bosnia, or back in the Mekong Delta. You go from thinking about where you'll stop for the next cup of coffee, to having your black-and-white shot up with full automatic AK-47 rounds.

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Articlesby Robert L. SnowApril 1, 1997

The Birth and Evolution of the SWAT Unit

It wasn't the tower sniper incident alone, however, that finally convinced America's police departments that SWAT teams were needed. Other events occuring across the country also had their breath.

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Articlesby Al ValdezDecember 1, 1996

Conducting Effective Witness Interviews

The ultimate goal of a gang investiga­tion is to find the truth. What happened? Who did it? How? As law enforcement officers, how do we arrive at the truth? What is our part in the game plan? Here are some suggestions that may be useful for patrol personnel, detectives and fol­low-up investigators when dealing with witnesses and victims of gang crimes.

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Articlesby Laura E. QuarantielloDecember 1, 1996

Gang Tracking: War on Gangs Goes Hi-Tech

Loco wears his scar almost like a first-place ribbon. The curved line of flesh that arcs around his left, eye like a backward "c" has been his badge of honor for years, the mark of a gangster who has made it, who is not afraid to put himself in harm's way for the glory of the hood or the repu­tation of his gang.

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