REALITY CHECK II | Plastic Practice
Probably one of the biggest shortcomings of law enforcement is the lack of training or time in the area of firearms. Mainly, it’s due to budgets, manpower and lack of range facilities. Here, I won’t address the lack of interest from management or officers’ reticence for training on their own time. I’m well aware of the “if the department wanted me to have it they’d issue it to me, pay me for it, or pay [...]
Pass The Pepper
The US military began using chemical agents as weapons in 1918. Law enforcement personnel followed suit, but not until the late 1960s when they began using chemicals to quell group civil disturbances — think riots. Everyone who works in the business knows once it happens on the outside, it’s only a matter of time before it moves inside. Most prisons recognize chemical agents are an effective option when group resistance elevates or when individual detainees act out.
SABRE RED
SABRE Red announces the Pepper Gel Dorm/Apartment Kit and the RAINN Key Case Pepper Spray with Quick Release Key Ring. The Pepper Gel Dorm/Apartment Kit is ideal for college students. The kit’s Door Stop Alarm emits a 120-dB signal to alert residents and others in case of an uninvited entry.
Unarmed Off-Duty?
By John Morrison Please Say It Ain’t So ... Maybe it’s just a fad, a phase, a phenomenon, as it was during that decade of lunacy in the 70’s — The Disco Era — when it seemed the whole nation, including cops, took a 20-point IQ dump. That’s the last [...]
Spring Cleaning Cop-Style
You may still be chipping and shoveling your way out of winter when this reaches you, but believe it or not, spring is coming. You may not do a traditional “spring cleaning” — we don’t expect you to toss out your teetering towers of empty pizza boxes — but some [...]
Lessons From The Navy Yard
As I write this, the active shooter incident at the Navy Yard in D.C. just occurred, and while conjecture runs wild, details are scarce. But something important we do know just 24 hours later: SWAT or a tactical team working in a coordinated operation did not take out the shooter. [...]
Six Shots for Sergeants
This came out of a scratch gathering of sergeants, discussing the drumbeat of petty details, the constant “white noise” and perpetual distractions that plague the job, and their worst effect: distracting them from the core elements of their responsibilities. One of their suggestions was to write up a simple “bullet [...]
The Mark II Gimlet Eyeball
Spotting Problems Before They Get You Killed. In mid-May, a patrol officer responded to a call regarding an unruly student on a “special needs” school bus. It was potentially a very dangerous situation, as the kid was allegedly “out of control,” and “attempting to unbuckle the driver and pull the [...]
Don’t Do These Things
No Matter How Tempted You Are A reader who’s been a sergeant for 4 years wrote: “While recovering from a broken leg, I finally sat down and read my department’s rules and regs and policy manual from cover to cover. I took your advice and highlighted everything I thought was [...]
Off The Beaten Path Training
Wisdom Is Where You Find It. When I was promoted to sergeant in 1974 I went from Investigations back to Patrol and took over a squad on the graveyard shift. The squad’s senior officer, I learned, was Gene Chouinard. He had been a San Diego cop for only 4 years [...]
Tactical Lights
They're Only "Tactical" If They Work! When I became a cop in 1968 there were no cop lights — there were no tactical flashlights at all. We bought our flimsy flashlights in pairs from hardware stores, wrapped them in friction tape and hoped they’d survive simple drops. Even when I [...]