Too Much Stuff?
A previous column (“Can Something Be Too Good?”, December 2013) prompted a lot of e-mails, most of which were in agreement with my opinion. My concern was that the amount of equipment carried by officers, particularly if carried in external vest carriers, could make it difficult and time-consuming (if not altogether impossible) to draw the duty sidearm with the off-hand if their dominant hand was disabled. Another chief asked an even more basic question: What [...]
Knowledge: A Two-Way Street
Fortunately over the past several decades, great advances have been made in our profession — in tactics and technology. Today’s street cop has the potential to do more things quicker and more efficiently than any [...]
Bein’ Prepared
The hysterics of the hurricane on the East coast has subsided a bit, but the work will still need to be done. At the least, tens of millions of people got a first-person lesson on [...]
New Year’s Resolutions
I can’t remember the last time I made a New Year’s resolution. Like so many others, I used to make grand, sweeping promises — only to completely forget my lofty resolutions by March. My intentions [...]
Duty Or Dishonor
I’m sure like many readers of American COP, I recently awoke to disturbing news carried by all of the mainstream media: An independent investigation into the 2009 Fort Hood massacre revealed that the FBI seriously [...]