By Chief Joel F. Shults, Ed.D Dealing with other humans is often stressful. That fact isn’t unique to police officers. Anyone in retail, medicine, teaching or a host of other public contact jobs will have a story to tell. Police officers are almost always dealing with people who are not in their happiest moments. Nobody Read more »
By Steve Pomper Jason Harney: Writer, Producer, Editor, Director When I watched Jason Harney and Jon Gentile’s new documentary, Wrist Lock: The Martial Arts’ Influence on Police Use of Force,” about how the martial arts has influenced police training, my mind shot to city leaders like Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey. Why? Because political leaders like him need to Read more »
By Chief Joel F. Shults, Ed.D The statistics on police use of force cannot be repeated too often. With about 800,000 law enforcement officers of various stripes and duties making more than a million citizen contacts every week, the frequency of using force to make arrests and intervening in crime is remarkably low. The most Read more »
By Stephen Owsinski Each time I see or hear the words “police reforms” or “reimagining the police,” I think back to the days of duly qualified accreditation professionals who sift through cop shop’s policies and protocols, scrutinizing every scintilla, ultimately ensuring the candidate law enforcement agency meets muster in myriad ways, predominantly founded in “precepts Read more »
By Chief Joel F. Shults, Ed.D A Cincinnati Police Officer was recently fired for using the N-word on duty and recorded on her body-worn camera in a moment of frustration. She may appeal the decision, but in these volatile times, the firing is likely to be upheld. A recent article in Sports Illustrated reports that Read more »
By Chief Joel F. Shults, Ed.D An alert campus police officer noticed a clear 2-liter bottle containing an unknown liquid in the stadium parking lot filled with cars from attendees of a football game. The area was the primary route for pedestrians leaving the game that was ending just a short time after the officer Read more »
By Steve Pomper Fair warning: This article is intentionally wide-ranging and, admittedly, perhaps, a bit erratic. But, if you take nothing else away from this article, just remember cops respond, back-to-back, to incidents from minor to major and vice versa, and then they go back into service. Regardless, cops must adjust and respond appropriately to all Read more »
By Chief Joel F. Shults, Ed.D Sabin Ward, 21, is now perhaps the youngest police chief ever in the state of Ohio. Ward, who was sworn in Friday to lead the New Athens police force, was eager to begin his first shift after the ceremony. “Being the age that I am puts a big responsibility Read more »
By Stephen Owsinski An Israeli technology company has engineered a remote-based device with Superman-ish capability, enabling law enforcement officers to “see through walls,” whether up-close or from a safer distance. Per the company’s press release, “For the first time, military forces, law enforcement agencies, and first responders are able to detect live objects beyond the Read more »
By Chief Joel F. Shults, Ed.D Ever since Adam and Eve looked down and realized they were naked and that was somehow not quite right, most of humanity has insisted on covering up. When law enforcement officers encounter a nude individual, the presumption is that there is something very wrong. How much clothing is the Read more »