By Stephen Owsinski Every state in America has a law enforcement agency expressly dedicated to patrolling the highways and byways, monitoring the flow of vehicular traffic, enforcing violations of motor vehicle laws, and eyeballing unsafe equipment on cars and trucks that imperil all users of transportation lanes. Those travel lanes have constant contact by tires…lots Read more »
By Stephen Owsinski With most people aspiring to an imperative role in law enforcement, there are many ways to serve and steward justice principles. Some in policing have a knack for meticulous examinations of instruments, textures, fluids, fibers, and a bevy of other matters under the scope of forensic scientists whose bio-backgrounds help capture criminals Read more »
By Chief Joel F. Shults, Ed.D Whether it is considered ironic or not, the U.S. Secret Service (USSS) was established by President Andrew Johnson in 1865, just months after he rose to the Presidency in the aftermath of Abraham Lincoln’s assassination. Despite what most think, the USSS was not created because of Lincoln’s death, but Read more »
By Chief Joel F. Shults, Ed.D In the mountains, in the forest, or in the water people get lost, injured, or trapped. They need to be found and rescued no matter what their peril. The key to successful search and rescue (SAR) operations is the right combination of personnel, training, and specialized equipment. Pre-planning for Read more »
By Chief Joel F. Shults, Ed.D No prosecution of a police officer for a use of force (UOF) event in the line of duty should be allowed without the testimony of an expert in the complexity of decision-making. That wouldn’t absolve every officer in every UOF, because some deaths and injuries are not justifiable, but Read more »
By Stephen Owsinski First, it was the Taser. Then it was the body-worn camera. Now, the maker of those two pieces of police technological equipment, Axon (formerly Taser International), has engineered “Draft One,” an artificial intelligence-based tool to “Rewrite Report Writing” and enable law enforcement officers more time for patrol duties by cutting down on Read more »
By Chief Joel F. Shults, Ed.D Like law enforcement in the USA, Canada’s police agencies are under scrutiny for actions during protests and demonstrations. Issues giving rise to our Canadian colleague’s contention with crowds include protests regarding Israel and Palestinians, environmental activism, homelessness, and cultural and political concerns among the native indigenous populations of Canada. Read more »
By Stephen Owsinski When the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) disfavors the policing methodologies of a municipal law enforcement agency, it seeks to impose a federal consent decree containing stipulations that one or more monitors oversee (overhaul) operations and ensure compliance with its conditions, leading to relative dilution of local government sovereignty. In essence, the Read more »
By Stephen Owsinski With the frequent mention of the approximate total of law enforcement officers in America —around 850,000 or so— our minds likely automatically default to projections of those cops patrolling mean streets and eyeing beats with populations aggregated in metropolis regions and inherent cacophony of bustle. But some of the nation’s cops are Read more »
By Chief Joel F. Shults, Ed.D For those who remember and for those who have studied American history the 1968 Democrat convention in Chicago was marked by violence. It was a year of upheaval in the middle of a decade of change. The 2024 Democrat convention is once again in Chicago and comparisons and cautions Read more »