By Chief Joel F. Shults, Ed.D. For various reasons, my wife and I decided to home school our two children for a year. One of the things that we discovered is how efficient and flexible homeschooling can be compared to public schools. Movement from class to class or activity to activity, slowing down for some Read more »
By Stephen Owsinski The inexplicably continuous anti-police drum beat bangs on, with recitations of “criminal justice reform” amounting to get-out-of-jail-free cards handed over to miscreants while police responsibilities are whittled away. While most were slumbering away, the Illinois Legislature worked rather clandestinely to process “amendments” involving House Bill 163 (alternately referred to as the Pretrial Read more »
By Chief Joel F. Shults, Ed.D. According to the ICE website, in fiscal year 2020, the 287(g) program encountered approximately 920 aliens convicted for assault, 1,261 convicted for dangerous drugs, 104 convicted for sex offenses/assaults, 377 convicted for obstructing police, 190 convicted for weapon offenses, and 37 convicted for homicide. Despite being largely responsible for Read more »
By Steve Pomper I’m no poet, but I occasionally attempt to compose a bit of verse and it was typically, mercifully, was only self-inflicted. Poems work better when an experience strikes me in a way prose or exposition is not quite up to the job of conveying my sentiments accurately or efficiently. An experience I had earlier in Read more »
By Stephen Owsinski Like many others, I admire and respect canines. In my law enforcement career, I was always mesmerized at every police dog’s highly attuned sensory capabilities which lends quite well to policing and apprehending the bad actors fleeing/hiding in an array of possibilities easily detectible by sworn and certified police K9s. But akin Read more »
By Stephen Owsinski A few years ago, I composed a self-explanatory article titled “All Kinds of Police.” The piece explored the varied types of law enforcement entities among the roughly 18,500 which exist across the American landscape, fulfilling preservation and protection roles in a potpourri of jurisdictions to include railroad operations, college campuses, postal service Read more »
By Steve Pomper You’ve all heard the condescending arguments against voter I.D. laws, contending that requiring an I.D. somehow suppresses the vote—especially minorities. However, doesn’t logic dictate having a valid I.D. can only suppress illegal votes? This is no different than businesses requiring an I.D. because it suppresses crimes committed against them. Most of the people Read more »
By Stephen Owsinski As mentioned in previous pieces, cops and community members can achieve remarkable objectives when they work together. Recently, a grassroots model transpired in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn, New York. Neighborhood Coordination Officers (NCOs) with the NYPD’s 73rd Precinct stationed in Brownsville were participants in a five-day pilot program whereby cops ebbed Read more »
By Chief Joel F. Shults, Ed.D. Soldiers wear helmets. Does that mean that police officers should not? So do carpenters and motorcycle riders. The purpose is the protect the head from injury. In case no one noticed, police officers on the front lines of this season of protest have been the target of bricks, bottles Read more »
By Steve Pomper In December 2010, I wrote an article, Just Shut Up and Be a Good Little Socialist, for my police union newspaper. City leader’s heads exploded. How dare I express an opposing opinion? The city had begun in earnest, replacing equal justice with social justice. They forced officers to attend political reeducation day-camps disguised Read more »