Female searches can be problematic for cops of both genders. Male officers are hamstrung by an inability to conduct such pat-downs, and female officers by their male counterparts' need to bring them to the scene to do the job.
February 24, 2011
Attics, basements, closets, and crawlspaces all present great hazards to officers searching for concealed suspects.
November 18, 2010
Becoming a better cop may not ensure formal recognition such as a promotion, but it'll virtually guarantee it informally. It'll simultaneously help you to do your job faster and increase your prospects to work elsewhere.
November 12, 2009
Some cops could use a hug. Others could use a Huggy Bear. Like Starsky and Hutch's trusty tattletale, reliable informants provide us with a worm's eye view of their sordid social circles, a heads up on threats to officer safety, and the groundwork for search warrants. They hang in circles we wouldn't want to enter. There is no question that the access they have and the intelligence they acquire is often invaluable to law enforcement.
August 1, 2007
Interviewing a child is in some ways very similar to interviewing any crime victim but, in some ways, it's very different. The first hurdle is to get the child to open up.
June 1, 2007
There are many motivations for stealing cars. Some are taken by kids for so-called “joyrides.” Others are shipped to foreign countries and resold or chopped into parts. And more and more often, stolen cars are used to facilitate other crimes, including burglaries, robberies, assaults, and the transportation of narcotics and smuggled immigrants.
May 1, 2007
Burnout is a modern American pandemic. Almost anybody who works an office job in this country has, at one time during his or her career, experienced apathy and lethargy while on the clock.
December 1, 2006
Before you have to work with the press, you should become thoroughly familiar with two things: the law as it applies to journalists, and your agency’s policies and procedures for interacting with members of the news media.
October 1, 2006
One of the most stressful episodes an officer can face during his or her career is making the decision to shoot and dealing with the aftermath. Officer-involved shootings spawn a variety of questions, and many of them may be unanswerable.
July 1, 2006
How much is a cop’s safety worth? Despite safety concerns, due to shrinking budgets it’s becoming increasingly common for police departments to require officers to purchase their own body armor. Even when agencies pony up some money for ballistic vests, it’s usually not enough to buy the best of the best—which is what most officers want protecting them from bodily harm.
March 1, 2006
The looters hit the gun stores in New Orleans first, loading up with rifles and ammunition to better fend for the crimes to follow. Then they descended upon other stores. Before long, they moved from the business districts to nearby residences. And what Hurricane Katrina hadn’t ravaged or left destroyed, they did.
November 1, 2005
Somewhere between the images, the perceptions, and accusations lies a truth: If ever an entity embodied the philosophy of "hope for the best, but plan for the worst," it is the SWAT unit.
March 1, 2003