Getting Schooled
In the hierarchy of transgressions, we never pay more than when we pay for the unsatisfactory explanation. Sometimes it’s smart to be smart, act smart, and explain accordingly.
December 4, 2013
In the hierarchy of transgressions, we never pay more than when we pay for the unsatisfactory explanation. Sometimes it’s smart to be smart, act smart, and explain accordingly.
December 4, 2013
Being in Condition Yellow has allowed me to identify a thief before he acted on his intentions, a would-be assailant before he launched his attack. It has given me pause to re-evaluate the decision to pet a dog, or patronize certain establishments.
August 9, 2013
Of the components of the will to survive, none is more important than mindset. How often have we seen a man of lesser skillsets come out the survivor of some confrontation simply because he refused to go down?
June 5, 2013
Unlike most cornered suspects, the active, retired, or terminated cop who fights his former peers does so with a weapons cache that is wholly different from that of the usual suspects, one that comes with the experience, training, and tactical awareness unique to those who have worked in the profession.
May 21, 2013
If he worked in one of those small towns that prohibits the exhibition of elephants in a city park on the Sabbath, you could bet that he'd somehow find a way to be booking a pachyderm into evidence Sunday night.
May 2, 2013
It's been said that the street cop wears many hats: psychologist, sociologist, counselor, arbitrator; electrician, firefighter, judge, jury, and even executioner. But how much formal training has he or she been exposed to in these various capacities?
March 12, 2013
There are things that I have wondered about such as those occasions when I found myself second-guessing a last second decision not to stop a car near the end of my shift: What might I have missed out on? Invariably, there is no answer to this question.
December 6, 2012
Recently, I had a dream in which I was once again working patrol. But rather than writing or dictating our reports, we were drawing them.
November 16, 2012
That oath did not spare the lives of some officers who failed to live up to it. I will refrain from listing their names herein as they have already paid the ultimate price for their reticence to do what obviously had to be done.
May 14, 2012
Hard-earned insight into the vagaries of the human mind can only take the average officer so far. As the psychological impairments of those he or she comes into contact with become more acute, it's less likely that an officer will be successful dealing with them.
March 19, 2012
A person has to know their limitations. No less than Dirty Harry has expressed his opinion on the matter, and I like to think most cops adhere to the philosophy.
February 23, 2012
I thought it was universally understood throughout our profession that when we fail to train, we train for failure.
March 29, 2011
Many people who probably could have kicked my ass backed down simply because they thought I was meaner and tougher than I was simply because I acted like it.
December 14, 2010
When a person jumps to his death, we don't persecute the sidewalk, but time and again, society will blame the cop.
April 30, 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