Letter From the Editor - May/June 2025

Welcome to the May/June issue of OFFICER Magazine and very near the official start of summer. For most of you, as you receive this, schools are out for the summer break, pools are open, BBQs are becoming an every weekend event and the great outdoors—from beaches to woodlands—are occupied in greater numbers than they have been. Increased activity among the populace you serve means increased interactions, and that translates to potential increased risk.

Throughout this issue, you’ll find articles that touch on officer safety and minimizing risk. There’s an article about fitness and ways to motivate yourself and your officers to stay healthy throughout the course of their career. Of course, that’s not just physical fitness, but also taking care of mental, emotional and spiritual health as well. There’s an article about traffic stops in the dark and ways to minimize the risk we expose ourselves to during such. That article touches on the Ten Deadly Errors we were all required to memorize during our time at the academy. Can you still recite them? Do you still think about them? If not, I’d recommend you do so. Good regular reminders can help you go home safe at the end of every shift.

This issue also has two OFFICER Labs reviews: one for a software app that serves SWAT teams and hostage negotiators, and one for a new OC Spray product. Both products can help you do your job more efficiently and/or keep you informed about tools being used in other duty assignments.

As this issue is released in mid-June, May is behind you as is Police Memorial week, the Candlelight Vigil and a time when several thousand of our brothers and sisters make a pilgrimage to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in Washington, DC. We do so to honor the fallen and support the surviving families. We do it with a sense of pride, and we revel in the emotional recharge we get as part of the Thin Blue Line family. While it would be awesome to have a year wherein no officers ever died in the line of duty, such hasn’t happened in centuries, if ever. In the war on crime, we work on the front lines. As we protect our communities and defend the innocents, we hold the line. We sacrifice. We show up. We keep our oath and mind our pledge. During Police Week, and all year long, the Thin Blue Line family stands together, supporting each other and remembering those who have made the ultimate sacrifice.

Remember them. Honor them. Learn from the incidents that took them. Go home safe to your life and family at the end of every shift.

Stay safe.