“Suicide by cop” is a term used by law enforcement officers to describe a person who threatens to use deadly force against the officer or another to goad an officer to shoot, thus committing suicide by provoking the officer to pull the trigger. Occasionally, the threat is made with a toy gun the officer believes […]

In the January newsletter I mentioned that there were 148 law enforcement line-of-duty deaths in 2018. But line-of-duty deaths are not the only reason officers don’t live as long as the general population. A recent news article caught my eye, “Police suicides rising, union says media vilification is ‘leading cause of despair’”.[1] The article says, […]

The Strong Blue Line Great news, the trip to Sacramento is a go! On January 9th, I’ll be speaking to several officers from the Sacramento area who have been involved in shootings. Each officer will receive a copy of Winning a Gunfight. This is the first trip of 2019 that promises to be one of […]

The Strong Blue Line “I gotta go handle a call, I love you; I’ll talk to you later.” The 54-year-old Ventura County Sherriff’s sergeant didn’t tell his wife the nature of the call on the evening of November 7th. It was for shots fired at the Borderline Bar & Grill in Thousand Oaks, CA. Three […]

The Strong Blue Line Over the summer I met a police chaplain from California and gave her a copy of Winning a Gunfight. Earlier this fall, she called to say she was counseling an officer who was experiencing emotional difficulties after recently being in his third gunfight. The chaplain said, “We almost lost him. I […]

The Strong Blue Line This year’s travel schedule found me in Billings, MT (a couple of times). On one of those occasions I noticed a large private bus outside the hotel where I was staying. A quick inspection revealed that it belonged to a band from New Braunfels, TX. New Braunfels is close to where […]