The timeless adage, “The grass is always greener on the other side” may be appropriately applied to police work. Having trained in a number of overseas venues, I can unequivocally state that despite the many regulations we impose (and many rightly so) on ourselves in the U.S., they pale in comparison to regulations implemented in
A reader recently asked me to comment on a previous article I authored entitled the The Imperfect Machine as it relates to the recent Parkland High School shooting. First and foremost, I wasn’t there. Nor do I have all the details. I can, however, render my take on the situation. During the many active-shooter courses
Many careers entail varying degrees of risk. Some careers are inherently riskier than others. But police work brings to the table an entirely unpredictable set of life-and-death decisions/actions with a most important caveat. It must operate within strict rules, dictums, and laws of engagement that are questioned at every step. Few professions demand that such
It has been my experience that overall, in the field, when the first shot does not connect with the intended target, successive shots as well have a tendency not to connect. On the opposite end of the spectrum, when initial shots connect, they are either successful in stopping the fight altogether, or successive shots tend
If anyone has questioned you about why officers acted in a certain manner or you yourself have pondered why an event depicted on video played out as it did, the answer is straightforward. The human being is an imperfect machine. We are all comprised of hydrogen, oxygen, carbon, and nitrogen. We are all the product
At some point in time, if you hang in there long enough, you may retire from a career in law enforcement, and hopefully it will be with a sense of satisfaction and a degree of accomplishment. Now there are retirements and there are retirements. Some individuals are immensely popular with their colleagues, and the event
During my LAPD Academy days, we were debriefed on historical shootings on the LAPD. On the back lot of Universal Studios, SWAT debriefed us on the most famous ones during our one-day SWAT/Officer Survival training, a day that sadly no longer exists. These lessons sought to explain the history of the department you were joining
In recent times, a number of court cases have not being adjudicated in favor of police. While some cases are clearly in favor of the plaintiff and for just cause, I know of others in which the facts would not seem to justify an award against law enforcement, and yet this is precisely what occurred.
LAPD SWAT has had four major shootouts in the last four months. I do not recall there having been this many shootings in as many months in SWAT’s history. For whatever reason, the bad guys in L.A. have decided to go to guns as opposed to relinquishing their freedom voluntarily. The whys, wherefores, and rationale
Virtually from my first day in the LAPD Academy in 1976, I was instructed in all matters relative to officer safety. Los Angeles was a dangerous place. If the traffic, smog, or femmes fatale didn’t get you, the bad guys certainly would! A seminal event in California was the Newhall Incident. It was undoubtedly the
