By Stephen Owsinski Some criminal cases are tough to crack, but that doesn’t mean they are forgotten. Enter Cold Case detectives who, despite dormancy, unbox investigative files and endeavor to pick up the scent by backtracking then trek the trails until on-the-lam perpetrators are held accountable. Historical whodunnits make the news across the nation, heralding Read more »
By Chief Joel F. Shults, Ed.D I was listening to an interview on a local NPR-affiliated radio broadcast about the Aurora, CO case of Elijah McClain, who died in police custody resulting in felony criminal charges for three police officers and two paramedics. The interviewer asked the attorney being interviewed why one of the officers Read more »
By Chief Joel F. Shults, Ed.D The prime directive for police officers is to protect the innocent, and there are none so innocent as children. According to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS), there were 558,899 victims of child abuse and neglect across the United States in 2022. In addition to the wounds Read more »
By Stephen Owsinski By now, just about everyone is aware of a massively loaded cargo ship Dali slamming into the Francis Scott Key Bridge on March 26, 2024, at 01:39 a.m., collapsing the hulking expanse and sending cars into the water below, eliciting gobs of uniformed personnel to the land/sea scene. As can be imagined, Read more »
By Chief Joel F. Shults, Ed.D The father of modern policing is Sir Robert Peel who famously developed the London Metropolitan Police. Known as “bobbies”, presumably after Peel, they were a model of the new, centralized uniformed police force after which America’s municipal police are still modeled. Peel’s 9 principles of policing are still vital Read more »
By Chief Joel F. Shults, Ed.D The recent criticism by a state oversight committee of a police training seminar rested largely on the teaching about suspect behavior during a police contact. The committee concluded that the techniques that would lead a police officer to believe that criminal behavior was “likely” afoot would “likely” be held Read more »
By Stephen Owsinski Like a proverbial needle in a haystack, law enforcement officials do their darndest to unearth crucial evidence to solidify cases, using technology enabling pin-point accuracy in police work. Let’s take a look at a few examples… Recently, several Tampa, Florida police officers engaged in a car chase during which the fleeing fugitive Read more »
By Stephen Owsinski It is always pure gold when all the moving parts in the law enforcement array of assets unite and thwart thieves. On February 16, 2024, at roughly 3 a.m., a duo of deputies piloting one of the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office (HCSO) helicopters served as the eye in the sky, calling out Read more »
By Chief Joel F. Shults, Ed.D A Florida deputy was sent to the hospital as a precaution after being exposed to a suicide by chemical. Two Georgia officers were rushed to the hospital after being handed some papers by a suspect at their Smyrna police station that he said was to be delivered to the Read more »
By Chief Joel F. Shults, Ed.D According to the FBI, there were over 1600 bank robberies in 2022 involving over 2000 suspects, of whom about half have been identified. Of those identified 30% were narcotics users, and 39% were previously convicted of bank robbery. Many prosecutions are commenced in state court although bank robbery is Read more »