Officer.com Police Blogs & Podcasts

Frank Borelli
Editor-in-Chief
Officer.com

I recently attended a meeting which included officers from agencies all over a given state and from varying levels of rank.  Chiefs of Police, retired Chiefs, retired Sheriffs, Captains, Lieutenants, Sergeants and the rest were all represented.  One topic of conversation in the course of the meeting was the requirement some agencies have for college education.  The agency in question requires a two-year degree (Associates) and would not wave said requirement.

That same agency was apparently considering whether or not a citizenship requirement was necessary.  Yeah… you read that right: the same agency was pondering doing away with the requirement for its officers to be American citizens.  Hmm…  It made me wonder: are we putting too much emphasis on the value of a college degree? Read the rest of this entry »

Frank Borelli
Editor-in-Chief
Officer.com

In the news for the past several months has been an on-going story about retired Sergeant Drew Peterson and his missing wife.  Let me specify:  his missing fourth wife.

As I watch the news coverage it occurs to me that some of our media outlets slant every article to make it seem like Sgt. Peterson has to be guilty but isn’t being properly investigated by the involved law enforcement agencies.  Most recently I saw an entire 90 second prime time news piece about Sgt. Peterson’s willingness to participate in a dating game for a radio station. Read the rest of this entry »

Frank Borelli
Editor-in-Chief
Officer.com

As I sat trying to figure out what this blog should be about I got a phone call from a buddy of mine in Los Angeles.  His truck had died on his way to work and he was sitting at a traffic light with his four-way flashers on.  In spite of the hood being up and his flashers being on, people were still pulling up behind him without noticing that he was broken down.  He identified this as his pet peeve: people who are so oblivious to what’s going on that they sometimes cause more problems than they avoid or solve.  This led me to think about my pet peeves and which one bugs me most. Read the rest of this entry »

Frank Borelli
Editor-in-Chief
Officer.com

Two technology related items are on the Officer.com website this week.  One is the poll question about the impact of cell phone cameras / videos on how we police in today’s day and age.  The other is an article about the use of electro-muscular disruption (EMD) weapons and where such weapons are placed in the Use of Force guidelines.  Both items represent changes in policing as a result of technologies developed / accepted in the past decade (in general).  That realization gave me pause. I’ve been a cop since the early ’80s (if you count my time as an MP).  I saw the mass switchover from revolver to pistol.  I saw the change from wood baton to synthetic to side-handle to friction lock.  I saw the change from “stun gun” to EMD.  I saw cell phones evolve from the brick you carried to the bluetooth-conneted earbud with the phone not even seen.

Read the rest of this entry »

Frank Borelli
Editor-in-Chief
Officer.com

The poll question on Officer.com for the past few days has been, “Does your agency have a full time dedicated Special Operations unit?”  The response kind of surprised me and gave me pause.

The choices for answers were (paraphrased):
Yes, we have one or more full time teams
No, our SWAT guys are part time SWAT, full time something else
No, our SWAT guys are part time belonging to a multi-jurisdictional team
No, we have no SWAT personnel

Now when I crafted and posted that question I had an expectation of what the responses would be.  That expectation was built, in large part, on my knowledge of SWAT teams in the Washington DC Metropolitan area.  Boy was I wrong. Read the rest of this entry »

Frank Borelli
Editor-in-Chief
Officer.com

In the final blog from our previous Editor he stated several of his values with regard to “the street”.  I agree with much of what he said, but - from my perspective - some of it is difficult in reality to deal with.  Specifically, “Accepting a free cup of coffee or a half price Whopper is not the sure road to ruin, immediately followed by dealing heroin out of your patrol car. But it cheapens you and your profession. Gratuities are small incentives you provide to people in servant-type work…”

I AGREE.  However, I think that there are sometimes circumstances that make it difficult for the patrol officer NOT to take certain types of gratuities such as discounts or gifts.  For instance, I’ve been to restaurants where the management was quite forceful about giving officers discounts on their meals.  When officers tried NOT to accept the discount then the management personnel could get, well…  let’s just say less than cordial.  It was as if they felt insulted.  So, what one officer I know did was to add the discounted amount of the check into the tip he left the server.  That may not seem the perfect solution, but it kept his conscience clear. Read the rest of this entry »

Frank Borelli
Editor-in-Chief
Officer.com

“Never discuss politics or religion in polite company.”  I remember being taught that as a child.  Of course, I also remember the statement, “Children should be seen and not heard.”  Things change.  In today’s world - most especailly in the past few weeks - if you’ve watched television you can’t help but be inundated with more coverage than you might even want about the current presidential race.  If you’ve kept up with coverage on the war(s) in the middle east, you might see a connection there between religion and politics…  just maybe.  Such topics of discussion may not have any place in “polite conversation”, but they most assuredly get discussed around the local convenience store coffee pot by the officers and deputies on duty.  Some of those conversations can get pretty heated.

Read the rest of this entry »