OpEd – Wellness, Resilience, and PTS
Greetings! Thank you all for taking your time to visit AmericanCop, to read the work of our writers, and to support us. Time is the one thing you can’t get back. So, again, thank you for spending it here. It has been a while since I have written an OpEd piece. But I need to this time around. Starting today and hopefully, over the next few months, you’ll see some articles that might not be [...]
Doing The Right Thing
I was watching a short lecture video on TED (Technology, Entertainment and Design, www.ted.com) and it really got me thinking about my career. More importantly, it got me taking a hard look at the bigger picture of life. The lecture — or as they’re called on TED, “TED Talks” — is entitled “Should you live for your résumé … or your eulogy?” The talk is presented by New York Times columnist David Brooks and is only five minutes long.
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, [...]
Surplus Extravaganza?
The wars are deescalating and one of the byproducts is a flood of military surplus equipment into the civilian market. While some of it may reach regular folks, I doubt we’ll be buying anti-tank missiles [...]
A Compendium Of Concepts
Here at American COP we’re all too aware of how tight budgets are for the average law enforcement agency — that’s you in small town USA. While it would be nice to have gear right out of some cop TV show, those guys live in the world of make-believe. So what do you do if your agency can’t afford new or improved gear? Some of you will sit around and whine about how bad you’ve got it, while others will simply make do with whatever they can get, but a few will be proactive. Huh? What?
No Pillow, Thank You
I don’t sleep on airline flights because it takes too much Jack Daniels to properly sedate me. And now, there’s another reason not to fall asleep on a flight — even more than the thought [...]
Wonder If It Works On Humans, Too?
For years, business owners in Australia and Britain have successfully dealt with loud, rowdy mobs of loitering youths by using “sound repulsion.” Effective means include playing the buzzing of mosquitoes at frequencies and decibel levels [...]
Criminal Detection At Its Finest
Last November, following a shooting in Fort Bend County, Texas, investigators were initially pleased there were several witnesses who saw the shooter’s “face.” The problem was, the face they saw was one of a man [...]
Is It Just Me, Or Is It Kinda Chilly In Here?
The family of an unidentified 80-year-old man in South Africa called the morgue to come and pick up grandpa after he apparently succumbed to age, chronic asthma and heart failure. The attendant checked for pulse [...]