By Stephen Owsinski Although I’ve never served as a cop in a remote environment, like all policing…it intrigues me. Whether a sole rural cop patrolling on dirt roads strewn with slow-moving cows or an unforgiving remote outpost chilled with ice and polar wildlife, cops everywhere do it all, often against all odds, yet somehow manage Read more »
Month: January 2020
Sheriff’s Office Hiring Non-Cop “Community Representatives” to Investigate Officer Involved Shootings
By Steve Pomper It’s not unusual to see law enforcement agencies hiring non-law enforcement applicants for support positions. However, it is unusual to see what Lewis County, Washington residents recently read in The Daily Chronicle: “Sheriff’s Office Needs Non-Law Enforcement Members for Shooting Investigation Group.” Chills just ran up every cop’s spine. The Lewis County Read more »
Incredible Hulk’s Bulk of Badges and Law Enforcement Legacy
By Stephen Owsinski The relative sensation of celebrities opting to don a law enforcement badge and a duty belt is a notably growing trend lately. Retired NBA basketball legend Shaquille O’Neal became a deputy sheriff with the Clayton County, Georgia sheriff’s office, his 7’-1” frame towering over Sheriff Victor Hill. According to Strait Times, “Deputy Read more »
Deputies May Drive Their Patrol Cars to Church
By Steve Pomper This one just makes sense, doesn’t it? Oh, sorry. Let me back up; I’m getting ahead of myself. It’s just that logic coming from government always takes me by surprise. In the wake of the recent shooting in a Texas church and of the armed volunteer sentry who prevented a massacre, two Read more »
Each Officer’s Perspective Matters During High Risk Incidents
By Steve Pomper I recently wrote a follow-up piece about a district attorney’s prosecution for murder of a police officer who protected his community against a woman shooting a gun while driving a pickup truck. It seems an aggressive prosecutor, critics, and biased media are mired in the number of shots the officer fired. Well, Read more »
Cops in Crisis: Are Police Canines the Elixir?
By Stephen Owsinski “In 2019, 228 current or former [law enforcement] officers died by suicide, compared with 172 in 2018,” Blue H.E.L.P. (Honor. Educate. Lead. Prevent.) announced on January 2, 2020. We continue to suffer losses via personal destruction among those in the police profession, presumably due in part to the long-held stigma of being Read more »
Blackwell P.D. Lt. John Mitchell Still Unjustly Charged with Murder: Update
By Steve Pomper Oklahoma Police Lieutenant John Mitchell’s long nightmare continues. Inexplicably, a county prosecutor has forced the veteran Blackwell Police Department supervisor to continue his seemingly endless slog through a poisoned justice system. It’s an injustice that is becoming clearer each day. Especially with the recent release of the police video documenting Lt. Mitchell’s Read more »
We Don’t Need No Stinking Badges. Um, Yeah, We Do
By Steve Pomper Let’s keep things light as we wrap up the 2019 holiday season. It’s not unusual for cops that nearly every anecdote is police related. No difference here, as you’ll see. In my book, De-Policing America, as background, I discuss police badges, a topic that always reminds me of a story from when I Read more »