When you make a mistake, it s best to acknowledge it and turn it into a learning opportunity, if possible. The cover of last month s issue should have portrayed a good example of Contact & Cover. Instead, as a sharp-eyed reader pointed out, there were three things wrong with this photo: 1) The cover officer s arms were crossed; 2) he wore no vest; and 3) his holster was unsnapped.
Considering the position of the suspects, the crossed arms might be OK, but the other two are definitely not something we want to portray as the right way to do business. Yes, some officers just won t wear vests, but they should. As for the holster being unsnapped, there may be a time and place, but this was definitely not it.
This was a real, in-field photo. In the real world, nothing s perfect, but we would be remiss not to learn from the mistakes of others, and we regret not taking note prior to publication.
