Know the Limits of Your First Amendment Rights
Law enforcement officers can be disciplined for speaking their minds. Here's a primer on how the First Amendment covers and doesn't cover you on the job.
April 24, 2020
Law enforcement officers can be disciplined for speaking their minds. Here's a primer on how the First Amendment covers and doesn't cover you on the job.
April 24, 2020
As a law enforcement officer, what can you say without negatively affecting yourself and your agency?
December 4, 2017
If you shot somebody tomorrow, how would the post you put online today read in the mind of Miss Mary Poppins sitting at her breakfast table?
September 9, 2014
Lone wolves operate on the fringes of extremist movements, with such loose associations being encouraged by terrorist organizations such as al-Qaeda and Hezbollah, and that makes them harder to detect.
October 17, 2013
Not only do social media help agencies establish better community ties, they also provide them with auxiliary networks of support personnel, informants, and sympathetic witnesses.
March 20, 2013
A law enforcement officer who is considering the pursuit of a degree through an online university needs to know the answers to the following questions before enrolling.
December 22, 2011
As a public servant you are under constant scrutiny and you are held to a higher standard of ethical conduct than other citizens; this higher standard also covers things like online social networking.
November 18, 2011
Just like every woman on every porn site is somebody's daughter, every bloody corpse on those graphic death sites is somebody's loved one.
March 11, 2010
Today's cops may still gather over a case of cold beer, but they also gather online using social networking tools such as MySpace and Facebook. Which is a problem for agencies and officers because what many users of social networks don't realize before its too late is that anything they do or say or write on these sites is done so in full view of the public.
December 10, 2009
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
Just because money is not available from your department doesn't mean that training becomes any less important. As a proactive officer, you know that you must remain current on your training if you are going to be effective on the street. This article is designed to help you locate free training resources and remain on the cutting edge of the law enforcement profession.
September 18, 2009
Twitter, MySpace, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, and thousands of other social networking Websites carry information that can be accessed by criminals and their attorneys, as well as by employers.
September 17, 2009
I find the world is filled with more and more "noise" that makes it difficult to find the actual "signal" that is the information we truly need.
July 21, 2009
"My brother told me, 'If you want everyone to love you, join the fire department. If you want half the people to love you but half the people to hate you, go ahead and be on the police department.'" — Officer Michael Pecha, Omaha (Neb.) Police Department.
April 1, 2008
Last year I devoted two columns to reviews of different computer forensics software. This month I’m revisiting computer forensics once again, but this time let’s look at a hardware device developed for the cybercrime investigator.
March 1, 2005