Law Officer

October 2009 Volume 5 Issue 10

Feature: Contact & Cover

Command & cover tactics, properly executed, could mean the difference in whether your officers make it home at the end of a rough shift.

September 2009 Volume 5 Issue 9

Officer Down: The Guy Smith incident

Officer Guy Smith found himself in the fight of his life during an off-duty assignment at a grocery store, but because he took his job seriously and came prepared, he lived to fight another day.

August 2009 Volume 5 Issue 8

Feature: Stunning Shotguns

Several new shotgun munitions deliver safe, predictable results.

July 2009 Volume 5 Issue 7

Identifying & Documenting Gang Members

The role of supervisors: field interview reports can make all the difference in documenting criminal gang activity.

June 2009 Volume 5 Issue 6

Mobile Forensics

Computer hard drive forensics has for a long time been more about the process and less about what is extracted from the device. The same may soon hold true for mobile phones.

May 2009 Volume 5 Issue 5

Bullies: Bad Behavior in the station

It seems that we’ve learned to be careful about making sexual or racial references, and we’re even learning to be appropriately sensitive, or at least better informed, about issues of sexual orientation, physical handicaps and religious freedom, to name just a few areas.

April 2009 Volume 5 Issue 4

In-Car Video: Compelling Evidence

These videos provide late-night entertainment for millions of television viewers. They also offer compelling evidence for criminal investigations.

March 2009 Volume 5 Issue 3

Stolen Car King

In eight years with the Arizona Department of Public Safety, Officer Dave Callister has developed a reputation for finding the bad guys, especially those driving stolen cars.

February 2009 Volume 5 Issue 2

Your Eye in the Sky

In the past 10 years, thanks in large part to the military surplus program, more law enforcement agencies are starting their own aviation units to take advantage of this strong and powerful asset.

January 2009 Volume 5 Issue 1

Low Light Threat Management

Is it conceivable that one may attempt to merely activate the light and unintentionally fire the gun? In the perfect storm of stress and confusion, the answer, unfortunately, is yes.

December 2008 Volume 4 Issue 12

Officer Down: The Peter Soulis Incident

Up to this point, he'd been fighting a commendable, though primarily defensive battle. But now, infused with the realization that Palmer had to be stopped and that only he could do it, he went on the offensive.

November 2008 Volume 4 Issue 11

The Small Flashlight Advantage

Even if you work steady day tours or are handcuffed to a desk, there's simply no excuse for not having a light. Lights give us the ability to make informed decisions.

October 2008 Volume 4 Issue 10

Driving Simulation

Far too many agencies have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars for a piece of equipment that sits idle.

September 2008 Volume 4 Issue 9

DNA on Guns

How do you render the firearm safe and still manage to preserve firearms, latent fingerprint and DNA evidence?

August 2008 Volume 4 Issue 8

Psychic Detectives

Psychic detective use by police agencies has been well documented for some time. The results, however, are open to endless debate.

July 2008 Volume 4 Issue 7

Technology: Digital Cameras

Six questions to ask before you buy. This is an expanded version of the article that appeared in the print version of the magazine, with more photos and a glossary. 

June 2008 Volume 4 Issue 6

Officer Down

The first thing Sergeant Marcus Young noticed about the man coming toward him was the intensity of his features...

May 2008 Volume 4 Issue 5

Grant Writing

Failing to dot the “T’s” and cross the “I’s” can cost both money and time.

April 2008 Volume 4 Issue 4

Boating Under the Influence

“It was the BUI from hell,” says Lieutenant George Pottorf of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), recalling an arrest he made for boating under the influence (BUI).

March 2008 Volume 4 Issue 3

Bullet-Proofing the Mind

Researchers have long debated how to best help officers with job stress and the after effects of life and death experiences sometimes encountered on the job.

February 2008 Volume 4 Issue 2

Swat Training

All SWAT members should know the birth of SWAT began Aug. 1, 1966, in Austin, Texas, when Charles Whitman climbed the tower at the University of Texas.

January 2008 Volume 4 Issue 1

On Scene in New Orleans

If you've never attended an IACP confrence, do yourself a favor and put it on your calendar for next Nov. 8-12, in San Diego. It's truly the world's largest law enforcement technology marketplace.

December 2007 Volume 3 Issue 12

Snagged & Dragged

Virtually all dragging incidents occur at a driver-side window encounter.

November 2007 Volume 3 Issue 11

Plainclothes Survival: Investigator Survival

Why would anyone wear  Italian loafers to a gun fight?

October 2007 Volume 3 Issue 10

After the Fight

Take a couple slow, deep breaths.  Calmly get on the radio and get the calvary coming.

September 2007 Volume 3 Issue 9

DNA: Technology the street cop can use

How should you approach a situation in which you suspect fingerprint evidence is also present?

August 2007 Volume 3 Issue 8

Doing DUI

In 2006, Officer Armando Plascencia of the Orange Police Department made 325 DUI arrests, setting a record for the number of DUI arrests made in one year.

July 2007 Volume 3 Issue 7

Fast, Furious and In Your Face

The statistics show the average shooting distance will occur from between the width of a police cruiser and the length of a police cruiser.

June 2007 Volume 3 Issue 6

Airborne feature

The number and variety of calls air support can assist go way beyond pursuits and missing-person searches.

May 2007 Volume 3 Issue 5

House clearing

By recognizing critical cues officers can more quickly and appropriately apply tactics to manage situations.

April 2007 Volume 3 Issue 4

I Learned About Policing From That

 As I looked up, I saw a crazed man standing at my patrol car’s taillights firing rounds at me from an AR-15.

March 2007 Volume 3 Issue 3

Ground-Combat Survival

When you get knocked to the ground, what, exactly, will you do?

February 2007 Volume 3 Issue 2

Swat Team Excellence

We had it all—with the exception of the knowledge, skills and training needed to be a SWAT team in more than name only. 

January 2007 Volume 3 Issue 1

Tech Beat: Taking THE RIDE

In fact, the first guy looked over his shoulder at me in the middle of the ride and said, “So…?”

November/December 2006 Volume 2 Issue 9

I See You Now

Could we attach a GPS-enabled Nextel phone to the vehicle and track it with Accutracking software via the Internet?

October 2006 Volume 2 Issue 8

Get the Lead Out

In 1990, Officer Wendy Keelty-Reyes, a firearms instructor developed a lead taste in her mouth while shooting on her department’s indoor gun range.

September 2006 Volume 2 Issue 7

Identity Theft

Today, a relatively new and very different challenge faces your agency—the computer criminal.

August 2006 Volume 2 Issue 6

Dogs of War

The K-9 Handler will make or break the team.

July 2006 Volume 2 Issue 5

Buried Alive

Jimeno said when he told Stone he was surprised an Oscar-winning director would pay attention to him, Stone explained Jimeno was the truth, the real deal, and that was important to the movie.

June 2006 Volume 2 Issue 4

It's a Bomb, Not a Prank

 Although officers usually recognize the danger of the pipe bomb, they sometimes improperly dismiss chemical-reaction bombs as harmless pranks. 

April/May 2006 Volume 2 Issue 3

Rethinking Command Control

If your community faces a major event, a lack of standardized command and control systems can cause loss of life, additional property damage and a delay in returning to normal. 

March 2006 Volume 2 Issue 2

Do More with Less

I said there was only one less-lethal tool a bad guy can never take away from officers and use against them: a trained police dog. 

January/February 2006 Volume 2 Issue 1

TASER: Growing Pains

Nova Stun Gun, Tasertron, TASER and the recently released Stinger fall into a category of less-lethal devices I'll call electro-muscular disruption devices, or EMDs for short.

November/December 2005 Volume 1 Issue 3

Reality Based Training: Do No Harm

Far too many tragedies have resulted from a lack of knowledge or understanding of either equipment or procedures.

September/October 2005 Volume 1 Issue 2

Tactics: How to Protect Against RevengeThreats

What can you do—especially off-duty, when you may be most vulnerable—to protect yourself and your family from angry criminals determined to retaliate? And how do you keep legitimate concern for your safety from dominating your life?

July/August 2005 Volume 1 Issue 1

Knife Alert

One moment the officer stood in the classic field-interview stance asking for some...

Featured Columnist

Understanding the Objectively Reasonable Standard—Taser

Curtis J. (Jeff) Cope

Given proper training, adequate policy guidelines, effective supervision, sound tactical applications and competent report writing, the field deployment of the Taser technology can and does satisfy the objectively reasonable standard of care.

In Memoriam

NYS Trooper Killed

He served in Iraq and Afghanistan with the Army's C Company, 307th Engineer Battalion, 82nd Airborne Division.

Bullethead

Bullethead: So Young, So Dumb

Bullethead

If you praise a cop who runs hot on nothing but ego—no matter if your praise is qualified—you’re doing the cop, yourself, your department & your community a disservice. Tell that cop to get in line!
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