Tim Dees
Editor-in-Chief
Officer.com
Today is the second and final day of Enforcement Expo 2007 in Cleveland, Ohio. I’m here with several other folks from Officer.com’s parent company, Cygnus Business Media. Enforcement Expo is another Cygnus property in the law enforcement market, which also includes Law Enforcement Technology and Law Enforcement Product News magazines.
Enforcement Expo is a trade show, with the usual show floor and rows of exhibitor booths, but it includes some features which aren’t as common at other shows. Many shows have one or more keynote speakers, but Enforcement Expo has this and a long list of in-service training sessions. Fourteen of the training sessions are certified for continuing education unit credit for Ohio law enforcement officers. Ohio recently enacted a new requirement of eight CEUs per year for Ohio peace officers and highway patrol troopers.
The keynote speaker was Chris Hansen, host of the “To Catch a Predator” series on Dateline NBC. The program uses an investigative tactic in common use where sexual predators employ the internet to arrange meetings with people they believe to be children or young teens. The other half of the conversation is actually with a law enforcement agent posing as a potential victim. When the predator arrives at the meeting place, they find Hansen waiting to interview them on camera. They are usually arrested as they attempt to leave, the arresting officers’ agencies having been involved in the investigation from the outset. The program is very popular with both cops and private citizens, as more than 11 million people tune in to each episode.
This show also distinguishes itself by placing an emphasis on “hands on” product demonstrations. When cops go to most trade expositions, they are relegated to the spectator role. There are products from guns to patrol cars to elaborate “virtual reality” simulators on display, but the only people using them (if they are in use at all, and not just for stationary inspection) are high-ranking officers or lesser beings, like police web site writers and editors. At Enforcement Expo, the toys are there to play with. The major patrol vehicle manufacturers have a test track set up in the expansive IX Center parking lot, and any attendee can get in the car or truck and exorcise their ya-yas. This includes a car equipped with a skid platform that simulates the more traditional “skid pan” surface.
Several driving and use of force simulator companies have their products set up, and they’re in constant use by the cops on the show floor. There are even live fire demonstrations, conducted inside self-contained indoor range trailers.
I haven’t made it all the way across the show floor yet, but I did come across two products that I thought to be especially innovative. Having been a lifelong gadget freak, my addiction extended to various inventions for carrying concealed guns. I’ve divested myself of many of the pouches, vests, bands, clips, pockets and sundry leather goods that accounted for my disposable income over the years, but I’m always a sucker for something new. I had to buy a “concealable shirt holster” from A Better Holster, LLC because it looked like such a good idea. The holster is actually a compression undershirt made of a stretchy synthetic fabric that wicks moisture aay from your skin. Pockets for a medium-frame pistol (Glock 23 or similar) and spare magazines are sewn in below either armpit, with Velcro closures to secure the hardware. The gun and magazines are not apparent when the shirt holster is covered by a standard-fit polo shirt. The products were being demonstrated by two comely models, who got the attention of the mostly male audience, but because of the holster’s detail in close proximity to the models’ anatomy, I was wondering if I was going to have my face slapped.
The other notable product was the T3 “Personal Mobility Vehicle.” This is a three-wheel “scooter,” (T3 probably won’t like me calling it that) driven by a standing operator, and capable of carrying a payload of 400 lbs. while towing a 500 lb. trailer. It’s equipped with a white headlight with the same illumination of a Streamlight SL-20, red and blue warning lights, and a siren. It can be equipped with a mount for a shotgun or a patrol rifle. Both me and Officer.com contributor John Wills took test drives, and we found the vehicles very easy to drive and maneuver. I went through a traffic cone slalom course and got it right on the first try. If your close-to-no-depth-perception editor can do it, anyone can do it.
The vehicles are battery-powered and close to silent. They have a top speed of 25 mph, a zero-degree turn radius, and have hot-swappable batteries so they can be operated around the clock. The batteries have an eight to twelve hour duration, and recharge in three to four hours. They’re also fun to drive.
Check later today or tomorrow for more Enforcement Expo details, as well as more pictures.
