By Stephen Owsinski Deputies with the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office in Florida encountered a few “sovereign citizens” stemming from a traffic stop for displaying a license plate that was self-manufactured and self-proclaiming non-participation in the laws, rules, and regulations we acknowledge in American society. So, what is a sovereign citizen, and what is their premise? Read more »
By Chief Joel F. Shults, Ed.D One of the things I did, to most kids’ delight, when I was “Officer Friendly” visiting schools, was to give them a tour of my “batbelt”. Even today, as a School Safety Officer, the question “What is all that stuff” is common. As a walking piece of history, I Read more »
By Steve Pomper Bear: now-retired electronics-sniffing dog (ESD) K9 officer This is a great story that’s mostly been around for a while, but it’s worth our recollecting it. And there are updates about a close call for police K9 Bear in his retirement. Sadly, I don’t often get to start stories about law enforcement with such Read more »
By Steve Pomper What is constitutional policing? The concept may sound daunting, but it’s really simple. It’s coppin’ with American liberty—and everything that represents—uppermost in mind. In my first book, I wrote about a Dutch cop who did a ride-along with us. My partner and I were discussing whether we should stop a driver we saw Read more »
By Stephen Owsinski One other advantage of body-worn cameras (BWCs) used by law enforcement officers for varying purposes is the unique ability to be a vicarious spectator witnessing major police actions unfold…and all the supersensory stimuli that go with it. Such a hair-raising scene experienced by law enforcement officers is the mobile police pursuit whereby Read more »
By Chief Joel F. Shults, Ed.D It is a decision every patrol officer must eventually make – to chase or not to chase. A 4,000-pound missile of iron traveling at high speed is a deadly weapon from a millisecond of a poor decision or plain bad luck. If an officer pursues, will a resulting crash Read more »
By Chief Joel F. Shults, Ed.D In the tradition of no good deed going unpunished, police critics could not celebrate relief after the capture of fugitive murderer Danelo Cavalcante. In addition to the complaint that it took too long to achieve a successful end to the manhunt, that the use of thermal imaging can be Read more »
By Chief Joel F. Shults, Ed.D Why didn’t they de-escalate? That’s the question posed after police use of force events asked by citizens of goodwill and skeptics alike. It is a valid question and one that deserves an answer. The answer is that the officer did de-escalate if they kept a situation from getting to Read more »
By Stephen Owsinski Nowadays, the word “progressive” has a negative connotation due to a political party plunging their hair-brained policies and schemes down our throats, tyrannically telling us how to live. Positively, a county sheriff’s command staff is progressively hitting the street beat, illustrating Why they entered the law enforcement profession. “Going out on patrol Read more »
Guest editorial by Bill Partridge, a 35 year veteran of law enforcement, who is the Chief of Police and Director of Public Safety for the City of Oxford, Alabama. In recent years, law enforcement agencies have witnessed a gradual decline in the perceived authority and command presence of their officers. One contributing factor to this Read more »