During the month of January, Officer.com Staff Writer Paul Peluso spoke to several leaders and newsmakers in the law enforcement community about topics ranging from suicide prevention to gun control.
Here are some of the exclusive news stories that appeared on Officer.com that you may have missed last month:
Ramsey: L.E. Agencies Need to Adapt in 2013
Philadelphia Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey, who is president of both the Major Cities Chiefs Association and the Police Executive Research Forum, took a look back at the key issues from 2012 and looked forward to the challenges law enforcement agencies are set to face.
Ramsey said that departments around the country are still dealing with budget cuts and will have to get used to the new normal.
He said that while he believes things will gradually get better, changes will have to be made for agencies to function properly in the new fiscal world they operate in.
"I don't think that departments will see the manpower levels where they were before the recession," he said. "I think we really have to rethink the structure of the organization."
Group: Police Suicides Down; Work Left to be Done
Ron Clark, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of The Badge of Life and a retired sergeant with Connecticut State Police, spoke about the group's 2012 National Study of Police Suicides, which was released last month.
The study found that a total of 126 active law enforcement officers took their own lives during 2012 -- down from 143 in 2009, which is the last time the group did the study.
"It's a fairly significant change," Clark said. "As we've looked at this very closely, we said: 'What's going on here? What's happened?"
One of the big changes was the age and years of service of the officers included in the study.
NSA President Reacts to Obama's Gun Control Plan
Calhoun County, Ala. Sheriff Larry Amerson, the President of the National Sheriffs' Association, responded to the comments made by sheriffs across the country that they plan to ignore any new gun laws they consider unconstitutional.
Amerson said that while his group does not support taking firearms away from American citizens, it does support the 23 executive orders made by President Obama as part of the gun control plan he unveiled last month.
"Nothing in those 23 executive orders calls for the banning of a magazine or firearm," he said. "They are all things which are common sense, and we should support."
Managing Media Key After Newtown Massacre
Connecticut State Police Lt. J. Paul Vance, the spokesman for the investigation into the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. the morning of Dec. 14 that killed 20 students and six adults, talked about managing the meeting and informing the victims' families.
Almost immediately following the tragic incident, media from around the world converged on the site, leaving authorities with a logistical dilemma.
"The influx of media was beyond anyone's comprehension," he said. "We literally experienced response from not only media in New England, but media from all over the world."
