In February 1983, I was deployed to north-central Alaska with the 6570th Security Police Squadron from Brooks AFB, TX for “Operation Brim Frost.” It was a joint Army-Air Force exercise to train for combat in arctic conditions. The temperature was minus 55 degrees Fahrenheit when our C-130 troop transport landed on the makeshift runway of Alaska’s […]

Crime goes up in the summer months in San Antonio. It seems the South Texas heat drives people to stupidity. Nineteen-eighty-four was my first summer as a police officer, and the first time I was assaulted on duty. Not long after checking into service, I received a call to the downtown Marriott hotel. I drove […]

Firearms are not designed to kill. They are designed to accurately project a fast-moving object at a high velocity. A firearm is a tool. For law enforcement officers, it’s a piece of equipment. Although not designed to kill, firearms do so effectively. Contrary to the belief of some, officers are not trained to kill. The […]

Law enforcement officers face tragedy daily. Sometimes that tragedy hits close to home. In the early morning hours of Sunday, January 2, Hazlehurst (MS) PD Officer Laquandia Cooley was dispatched to a shooting on Larkin Street. A body was laying in the street with a gunshot wound to the head. Officer Cooley recognized the victim. […]

As we head into a new year, it doesn’t appear 2022 will be any safer than the last couple years for law enforcement officers (LEOs). It used to be police departments were safe places. Not anymore. Officers need to be in “Condition Yellow” even while at their agency. Over the last couple years, we’ve seen the […]

Domestic violence is a serious problem in America. The National Coalition Against Domestic Violence reports that on average domestic abuse occurs to nearly twenty people per minute in the US.[1] Law enforcement officers are not exempt. Last month this was highlighted by a tragic incident in Chicago involving a married couple, who were both police officers […]

A routine inspection for illegal contraband turned into a tragedy for the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) last month. On Monday, October 4th, DEA Supervisory Agent Michael Garbo (pictured) and another agent were conducting a routine drug inspection at the Amtrak Station in Tucson, AZ. The agents detained a man and were escorting him from the […]

Tragedy struck officers at both ends of their careers last month. On September 15th, at around 11:30 am officers in Independence (MO) received a call that a wanted man was wandering around in a residential area. Independence PD Officer Blaize Madrid-Evans and his Field Training Officer were dispatched. Twenty-two-year-old Officer Madrid-Evans was only two-months out […]

A 29-year-old Chicago Police Department (CPD) officer and mom was shot dead on Chicago’s streets. Officer Ella French had recently returned to patrol duty from maternity leave. On Saturday night August 7th, Officer French and her partner, Officer Carlos Yanez Jr., stopped a car for a minor traffic violation—expired license plates. Officer French contacted the […]

Ambushed! Early Wednesday morning, on July 7th, a Chicago Police Department (CPD) undercover officer and two federal Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms agents were ambushed shortly after leaving the CPD’s Morgan Park District station. The officer and agents were fired upon while en route to a joint investigation. Two of the three law enforcement officers (LEOs) […]