Policing Matters

Jim and Doug discuss the hot-button issue of no-pursuit policies, highlight some of the ways in which LEOs can bring a pursuit to a safe and successful conclusion, and explore some of the issues related to officer contact with ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder) subjects.

Increasingly, law enforcement agencies are utilizing social media to solve (and in some cases, prevent) crime. Whether via automated software tools or individual investigators and detectives digging into the internet manually, social media has become an invaluable investigative resource.

Jim and Doug offer key tips for making the jump up to the next level in the chain of command.

Doug and Jim discuss the impact officers can have in saving lives as the country faces a growing heroin epidemic, keys that allow cops to make the jump up to the next level in the chain of command, and how police use social media to solve crimes.

In what can be charitably called an innovative approach, police in Richmond (Calif.) and other places across the country are paying monthly stipends to known criminals in return for the promise that they not commit crimes. Jim and Doug examine how the program came to be.

Social media sites have claimed the job of more than one police officer — even a chief can get bagged for their “free speech” on the Internet. Jim and Doug discuss where things can go wrong, as well as positive ways in which police are utilizing these web-based instant communications tools.

Jim and Doug discuss how the first responder disciplines can work better together, and just as importantly, train together for more effective multi-disciplinary response.

Jim and Doug discuss law enforcement's role in preventing and responding to terror attacks, how the first responder disciplines can work better together, crime prevention, and the use of social media in law enforcement.

With four states — Alaska, Colorado, Oregon, and Washington — and the District of Columbia allowing individuals to possess and consume marijuana for recreational purposes, as well as other states allowing for its medical use, officers are tasked with keeping the roads safe and free from drivers impaired by the drug. While companies like Hound Labs are working toward developing breathalyzers to detect THC, officers on the road have to rely on experience and expertise to determine impairment. Another issue for law enforcement is just on the horizon: How do you deal with police applicants who admit to prior use in states where such use is completely legal? Jim and Doug examine these and other issues related to the legal availability of pot in an increasing number of states.

Critics of the so-called “Stop and Frisk” have effectively ended the practice in places like New York City. But the fact is that when an officer conducts a field interview or makes contact with an individual who they reasonably suspect to possess a weapon, conducing that search is an officer safety issue. The tactic has been held to be Constitutional in the 1968 case Terry v. Ohio, which was based on a stop conducted by Cleveland Police Department Detective Martin McFadden. Jim and Doug discuss how the tactic is used, and consider ways to better educate the public that it’s not a matter of police arbitrarily stopping people on the street, but based on the officer’s articulable observations.