Tag: How-To Guides: Page 17

Patrol

How to Justify Officer Safety Searches

On average, 60,000 officers are assaulted on the job every year. That's an average of 164 per day. The risk level you face on the job makes it important not only to resist complacency and to follow prudent tactics, but also to understand how to ensure that your interactions with suspects are constitutionally justifiable, so that you are never forced to choose between being safe and being sued.

September 30, 2007

Training

Put it in Writing

There is one simple reason that you should have a written training plan: limited resources. You have to plan how you will allocate your limited resources of time and money, so that your department gets the most bang for its buck.

September 3, 2007

Patrol

How to Photograph Injuries

I've taught forensic photography to police officers for more than 10 years, and I always start my presentations with the notion that good photographs start even before the camera is out of the bag. You have to have the proper mindset because images documenting injuries are some of the most important photos we take.

August 31, 2007

Patrol

How to Photograph Injuries

POLICE

Accurately capturing the results of abuse is integral to documenting many crime scenes. I've taught forensic photography to police officers for more than 10 years, and I always start my presentations with the notion that good photographs start even before the camera is out of the bag. You have to have the proper mindset because images documenting injuries are some of the most important photos we take.

August 31, 2007

Patrol

How to Develop Informants

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.

July 31, 2007

Patrol

How to Respond to Excited Delirium

Because you, as law enforcement officers, are often required to control subjects in various stages of agitation, it is important for you to understand that some of these subjects will be in a state of extreme physiologic stress. This state is often called "excited or agitated delirium."

June 30, 2007

Patrol

How to Interview a Child

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.

May 31, 2007

Patrol

How to Interview a Child

POLICE

Investigators face formidable challenges when interviewing child victims, especially in sex crime cases. 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.

May 31, 2007

Patrol

How to Spot a Stolen Car

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.

April 30, 2007

Training

How to Get the Most Out of Online Education

There’s one question that all prospective students ask before they sign up for a program that will allow them to complete their college degree online: Is this really any good? Scott Harr has a clear answer: “For some students, it’s better.”

March 31, 2007

Weapons

How to Evaluate Ammunition

Imagine for a moment that you are a law enforcement administrator who is responsible for evaluating ammunition for your agency. The decisions you make can have a profound effect on the safety of your sworn personnel and the civilian population that they serve. The same is true if you are an individual officer who is allowed to use personally owned firearms and ammunition on the job. You have a responsibility to select the best ammunition available.

February 28, 2007

Patrol

How To Lift Fingerprints

As the responding patrol officer it’s your job to properly process the crime scene, including locating, printing, collecting, and documenting all fingerprint evidence on scene — not necessarily an easy task.

January 31, 2007