Coming in on the heels of the United States Supreme Court’s decision on “Constitutional Carry,” another ruling has been passed down. This time targeting a law on the books in New Jersey. New Jersey’s government has a long history of passing gun control measures. However, in recent history, they have passed some laws that target off-duty and retired law enforcement officers regarding their right to carry concealed.
Chesapeake and Portsmouth Police department officers that have experienced trauma are getting a new tool to help them. A non-profit organization, the Liberty Organization for Veterans and Emergency Responders has sponsored a new type of training called Trauma Recovery Intervention Protocol or TRIP. The focus of the training provided to first responders is the ability to apply what they have learned to help their co-workers.
For most of the country, the “hotter than blue blazes” days of summer are upon us. In my local area, we have already seen days within the triple digits, not even factoring in the life-sucking humidity. The dry heat is no better. Hot is hot, and we as law enforcement officers need to remember a few fundamentals when working in the heat. So here are some tips to help officers stay safe during these extreme summer months.
A report published by the Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring, a branch of the CDC, states that 1 in 54 children are on the autism spectrum. Each year the number increases dramatically. Doctors and the science behind identifying autism are expanding so that new ways to more accurately identify autism in children and adults are found. So it is not that autism is increasing, but the ability to diagnose autism is increasing.
Monday, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine signed a law bill allowing school districts across the state to begin arming employees as soon as this falls. DeWine announced in a news conference Monday the law requires up to 24 hours of training before a teacher can go armed and up to 8 hours of annual training. The training programs will have to be approved by the Ohio School and Safety Center before use. Schools are also able to provide additional training if they would like to. DeWine also announced several other school safety measures that he and other lawmakers are currently working on, including $100 million for school security upgrades and $5 million for college upgrades. In addition, $1.2 billion have been provided to schools for wellness funding to address mental health and other issues schools may be having.
DeWine emphasized that the law is not a requirement but an option for schools that want to protect children. DeWine stated he prefers hiring school resource officers (SRO) but noted that “the new law is giving schools an option based on their particular circumstances to make the best decision they can make with the best information they have.” Democrat mayors across the state came together to criticize DeWine. The new law stating Republican lawmakers failed to consider gun control proposals such as universal background checks and red flag laws which take firearms away from anyone who is perceived as a threat, raising the legal age to purchase a firearm to 21, and a ban on assault rifles. Democrat and former Dayton Ohio Mayor Nan Whaley, currently DeWine’s opponent for Governor, criticized DeWine for signing the armed school employees bill. As well as other bills, one of which was a stand your ground bill and a concealed weapons permit optional bill which allows citizens to carry concealed weapons without a permit.
Democrat lawmakers say the new bill sends the wrong message, especially soon after the Uvalde shooting. However, Republicans argue that arming teachers could have prevented shootings like the one in Uvalde.
An officer in Chicago is recovering from injuries sustained in the line of duty after a naked female stole his police cruiser and then used it to run over his leg.
Monday morning, Chicago police received a call about a woman lying naked. When police tried to see what was wrong and help the nude woman, she charged and assaulted an officer before jumping into his patrol vehicle and fleeing the scene.
Surveillance footage viewed by the Tribune shows a woman chasing a dark blue SUV and opening the passenger door before the vehicle accelerates, causing the woman to fall in the middle of the intersection of Jackson Boulevard and Kostner Avenue on the West Side of Chicago.
It was then that a marked Chicago police car arrived on scene. The officer calmly exited his vehicle and approached the woman as she got up. The woman walked toward the officer, then proceeded to walk past him and immediately got into the driver’s seat of his patrol vehicle. The officer quickly grabbed the woman’s arm inside the driver’s side door. The woman then is seen putting the car in reverse, knocking the officer to the ground.
As the woman accelerated backward, she ran over the officer’s leg and crashed the police car into another vehicle before speeding away. Additional officers responded to the scene and located the injured officer, who was taken to an area hospital, treated, and released.
According to the Chicago Tribune, the woman fled the area striking multiple vehicles before she was eventually apprehended and transported to Stroger Hospital in an unknown condition.
In the wake of the Uvalde shooting inside Robb Elementary school, lessons MUST be learned. I have been advocating that we as officers should wait until we have all the facts (the Totality of the circumstances) before we comment on what happened there. Odds are, we’ll never have all the facts. The local agencies there seem to be in damage control mode more than anything else.
When that happens, a situation is created where people try and fill in the gaps themselves. This is human nature, and as cops, we excel in the field of attempting to piece together a puzzle. But unfortunately, only one facet of the incident now bears any attention: time.
Active shooter incidents 69.8% of the time end in less than five minutes, and 36.5% of that percentage have the incidents ending in less than two minutes. The shooter began firing at the school at 1131. Police shot him down at around 1250.
I cannot and will not speculate as to why that happened. However, I will say that no matter what happened, someone made a series of grave mistakes. I am unsure if it was a training scar, fear, or, honestly, what caused such an inexcusable amount of time to lapse for this particular shooting. The truth is I do not care WHY; I am only concerned with how to prevent that in the future.
I currently work for a very rural law enforcement agency. In most situations, my nearest backup is 35 to 45 minutes. Sometimes, depending on the day of the week and time, it may very well be over an hour before someone can assist me. When it comes to active shooter training, we not only are trained to enter alone, we have almost no other option.
The simple fact is when there is an active shooter, we as law enforcement have only one job. To enter and deal with the treat. If you are alone, you go alone. You do not wait. Uvalde cannot happen again. If you don’t think you can enter a building and put down someone that is actively shooting ANYONE, including CHILDREN, then quit being a cop. It’s that simple. There is no middle ground. There is no excuse. There is no “but what about….”
So ask yourself right here and now, what would you do? I know there is a lot of false bravado and a lot of people thinking and saying, “Well, you never know how you will react to a situation like that until you are there.” There is some credence to that, but I will follow that up with “Fuck that Shit!” If you have any doubts, even for a second, hang it up. This is not the career for you.
Go back to the Mall, Paul Blart.
When the devil is on the other side of the door, you have a duty and obligation as a law enforcement officer to end the threat. Period. No one else is coming, so it is absolutely up to us.
At 8:43 AM CDT on June 13, 2022, the Duncanville Police Department received a multitude of calls about an armed man entering the Duncanville Fieldhouse. The Duncanville Fieldhouse was being utilized for a summer camp program. The camp had more than 150 children present as well as adults conducting various camp activities. No less than three weeks ago and 350 miles away in Uvalde, the haunting reminder of a deadly shooting still loomed over the area.
Governor Ron DeSantis is once again showing his support for law enforcement in the state of Florida. He just signed into law Senate Bill 226, providing care for retired K-6 Officers.
SB 226 grants retired law enforcement pooches $1,500 yearly to cover their veterinary bills. Gov. DeSantis had this to say about the “Care for K-9s” law:
Gas prices reached a record $5.19 a gallon in Isabella County, Michigan, this week, leaving Isabella County Sheriff’s Office only one choice, to answer non-in-progress calls by phone.
Tempe, Arizona – Sean Bickings, 34, drowned in the Tempe Town Lake after climbing over a barrier and advising Tempe Police Officers he was “going for a swim.”
After the release of body camera footage by the Tempe Police department, many are questioning the Tempe Officers on scene who refused to help Bickings as he struggled in the water, ultimately resulting in Bickings going underwater and failing to resurface. As a result, three Tempe police officers have been placed on paid administrative leave pending a formal investigation by the Arizona Department of Public Safety and the Scottsdale Police Department.
The phrase “Not all heroes wear capes” comes to mind when speaking about Trooper Wade Palen. On May 27, 2022, the Attorney General of Montana, Austin Knudsen, shook hands with the young trooper as he handed him the award for his heroic action. It just shows that you never know how your day is going to fare when you go to work as a law enforcement officer.