Archive for the ‘Entry Level’ Category

Its Not My Fault!

Wednesday, March 21st, 2012

Stories about "accountability", or a lack thereof, appear regularly in the media, are frequently the topic of congressional hearings and are often the basis for civil lawsuits. We discuss accountability as a component of trustworthiness during our ethics training in the police academy. I forcefully inculcate to the ...

Roanoke County PD Recruit Crashes At Range

Thursday, October 9th, 2008

A Roanoke County Police Department recruit and an instructor crashed during a training exercise at the agency's driver training range. The vehicle ran off the road, went down an embankment and landed upside down in a creek. CLICK HERE: Read The Full Story

Push Yourself To Get Fit

Wednesday, August 20th, 2008

The military, fire departments and police departments have something in common. They are all trying to find "a few good men or women" and they are meeting with limited success. It is not an issue of education or intelligence since there a host for well educated applicants. ...

Seeing Where You Have Been Is Important

Saturday, May 17th, 2008

When I was growing up, I ran around with a group of gear heads that lived and breathed cars. We were usually driving “beater” cars that we pieced together for about $100 so sometimes we did not have all of the pieces. Among the pieces that were frequently missing or ...

Effective Instruction Should Be Your Objective

Wednesday, May 14th, 2008

It is no secret that top-level athletes, successful business people and achievers in all fields have at least one thing in common, they all tend to be compulsive goal-setters. They use short-term, intermediate and long-term goals to provide motivation and to serve as a road map to success. This ...

Flashlights and Leisure Suits

Friday, December 7th, 2007

Working the night shift can be dangerous to your health! No, I'm not talking about the recent report in the medical journal, The Lance, that links working the night shift to an increase in cancer incidents. Although I admit cancer is a little scary, I think the challenges of ...

Courtroom Testimony – Cross-Examination Techniques

Thursday, July 19th, 2007

In response to my recent article entitled, "Chess And The Art Of Courtroom Testimony", MikeB asked if I would discuss the tricks that defense attorneys use to discredit an officer's testimony. There are probably as many courtroom tricks as there are attorneys so it would be difficult to create ...

Chess And The Art Of Courtroom Testimony

Tuesday, July 17th, 2007

You have done the hard work. You cared for the victims, secured the crime scene, gathered the evidence and arrested the bad guy - your job is done, right? Wrong! If you were playing chess, your opponent would be in "check." Of course, anyone that plays ...

We Don’t Fail Students Out Of The Academy

Saturday, May 12th, 2007

Anyone that is involved in the recruiting process for a criminal justice agency knows that it is getting increasingly more challenging to find qualified applicants. Candidates that look good at first blush are often eliminated due to criminal or serious traffic convictions, past employment issues, drug use, financial missteps ...

Utah Chief Says Preparation Key to Success

Wednesday, March 14th, 2007

On February 12, 2007, an 18 year old Salt Lake City resident entered the historic Trolley Square Mall in Salt Lake City around 6:44 P.M., armed with a handgun, a shotgun and several rounds of ammunition. He began shooting randomly at customers, ultimately killing five people and wounding four ...

Child Booster Seat Training Video

Wednesday, February 14th, 2007

Earl Hardy, from NHTSA, requested that the following information be forwarded to all interested law enforcement officers. He has included links to a child booster seat video that would be good for roll call training and a like to obtain additional information on this issue. Since 2000, more than two-thirds ...

Cell Phone Gun Demo

Monday, February 5th, 2007

This is a short video demonstration of a four shot cell phone gun. The video speaks for itself but make sure that you inspect electronic devices like cell phones, pagers, etc. to make sure they are what they appear to be. Cell Phone Gun Video

Georgia Police Shoot Out

Saturday, January 27th, 2007

This video vividly demonstrates the dangers of relaxing too soon during any situation. An incorrect assumption about the bad guys nearly costs two officers their lives. CLICK HERE: Georgia Police Shooting

Holiday Policing – It Sucks!

Sunday, January 7th, 2007

Recently, I received some comments suggesting that I include more training videos, along with some commentary, in the blog. When Mack Pettigrew, my co-host on CopCAST, sent me this video, I knew this was one that had to go on the blog. This is not the type of ...