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5:41 PM 27/9/09 CAN YOU SURVIVE AN OFF-DUTY ENCOUNTER?? Hey these situations can and do come up, and frequently. There isn't a day goes by when you may hear about a fellow Officers " war story" on what he encountered when off duty. And these aren't the best situations to be in as you don't have immediate back up, may be in a small jurisdiction where there may only be 1 or 2 Officers on at the time , ( like my buddy in Archie Missouri). have family or friends with you, and don't have the full compliment of your duty belt to help you out. But with planning there is a very good chance you'll come out un-scathed and a happy ending will be had!! I had a close call 5 years ago while travelling in the Western part of my country, in a bar in Calgary, when all hell broke loose. Even with tin in hand and yelling "I'M A LEO" I was almost fired on by one of Calgary's Finest!!! It was most likely my poor planning that put me in the situa...

Tips to help YOU determine if the case before you is a case of child abuse. This review will help you to determine if the child has been abused by burning/scalding. The worse type of offender in my eyes is one who abuses a child that he/she has in their care. They are SCUM and must be prosecuted to the fullest extent. Hopefully my little guide here will help you to determine if a child has been abused/tortured by applications of extreme heat. If YOU know what to look for you can help stop this type of abuse!! When you recieve a child abuse call this will be one of the most trying type of investigation that you may encounter, grown Officers have been known to break down and cry, and there is NO SHAME in that. It is one of our bodies defence mechanisms to help us deal with the situation before us, and it helps to show that you have not been " de-humanized" by the sights and sounds of the job we do daily. Our LE Brothers who are " street cops" don't recieve for...

A Righteous Shoot??? Try to picture yourself in this time and situation: You're young and you're a new police officer in the 1950's. You're riding shotgun in a two- man car with a senior officer when you become involved in a high speed chase of a stolen car. The senior officer tells you to attempt to shot out the tires of the fleeing vehicle. You lean out your side window, take aim with your revolver, and you begin squeezing off rounds. After firing all six shots, you slide back onto your seat to reload. The stolen car keeps on going with all tires still intact. Before you can finish reloading and take another try, the stolen car spins out. After a short foot chase, you apprehend the 15 year boy who was driving the car. Since you didn't hit the tires, you inspect the stolen car to see if you hit it at all. You find only one bullet hole in the driver's side door post. It suddenly dawns on you how close that round came to hitting the driver in the head....

It is time to take a long and hard look at this topic that ' nobody' wants to talk about. I was on my volunteer shift on Cops in Crisis last week and I'm glad I was....I now have a friend in the US who may not have been here today!! Police officers all over the world are exposed to the potential for violence every work day, yet an even more dangerous enemy lurks inside their own ranks…suicide. Police suicide can devastate the morale of entire agencies and leave other officers with intense feelings of guilt, remorse and disillusionment. Under conditions of stress, danger and availability of firearms, one might expect an increased risk of police suicide. Research statistics demonstrate that officers kill themselves more than they are killed by others. Major epidemiological studies have shown that the risk of police suicide is over three times that of the general population and risk has appeared to increase over the past decade. In addition, there is suspicion that some p...

Cops and Stress.... If you're a person who thinks a lot about stress; you find just about every situation stressful, and you constantly complain about stress, do yourself and everyone else a favor and don't become a police officer. Police officers sometimes succumb to the belief that they have the most stressful job on the planet. There's no question that police officers experience more serious stressful situations with more frequency than most people; however, stress experienced in police work can be controlled by the individual police officer. Police officers frequently blame stress on the job when, in fact, the primary source of stress originates from other factors within the police officer's personal life. Without a doubt, marriage is the biggest factor any man or woman must consider when contemplating a police career. If your spouse is adamantly against your decision to become a police officer, you have two very simple choices. First, join the...

A lot of people who contemplate a police career don't associate police officers with guarding prisoners. You may think that once a suspect is arrested, that suspect becomes the responsibility of corrections officers. In most jurisdictions, the process for transferring a prisoner to corrections is my no means an immediate thing. Since the health and well being of persons arrested is of such great concern -- primarily because of the potential litigious implications -- a prisoner who requests, or demands, a trip to the hospital will almost always be granted that request or demand. Guess who's going to be responsible for guarding that prisoner during his or her emergency room visit? Oh...and don't expect to be put at the head of the line. With all the concern these days about workplace hazards, hospitals haven't yet put potentially dangerous criminals on their lists of hazards. There will come a time, many times in fact, when you'll be responsible for a prisoner wi...

My Two Cents worth of Advice for the new LEO You'll learn very quickly that your most important asset will be the people who are working with you. No matter how well trained, and knowledgeable, you think you are, those first months are going to be very difficult. You're going to experience situations where you'll need guidance from others. From the very beginning, you should identify fellow police officers who are competent and experienced. Believe me, it's not a hard thing to do; they'll be the quiet ones. It's just as easy to identify those police officers whose advice you should view with skepticism. They'll be the ones who respond to your questions with, "Don't worry about it." If you consider your question worth asking, that response should confirm to you that it's worth your worry. Some police officers are notorious for taking short cuts, and the short cutter's slogan is, "Don't Worry About ...

A civilian friend of mine once asked what do LEO's feel and what goes on at a LE funeral , especially one that is a LODD. I explained the situation to him like this: First off all funerals are are a sad occassion where people gather to remember and celebrate the individuals life. It is a time that is especially hard for the person's loved ones, but at a Police Funeral emotions run high and as a Brotherhood we all feel the loss and pain, not only for the Officer, but for the Brotherhood of the Badge as well. We deal with death daily in our chosen occupation , but a LE funeral is so much more than the funerals of civilians. We as police officers have a bond that is hard to explain to folks who do not wear the Badge. At a LEO funeral we gather not only to support the family of the fallen Officer, we also gather to support each other in this terrible time. People often over look the deceased Officers co-workers, and especially the Officers partner, who at a time like this is hurt...

Thankfully the EMT's who subdued Cst. Czapnik's killer were able to apprehend him without getting them selves hurt but this got me to thinking about off duty interevention scenarios, what they did was heroic but yes, but in no ways safe as EMT's and firefighters do not have the training we do. And unfortunately too many times our adrenaline kicks in before our common sense does. With the New Year FAST approaching let each and everyone of us become safer and better officers. Our family is getting smaller much too quickly!! 12:55 AM 31/12/09 THINK BEFORE YOU ACT!!! It is true that off-duty officers successfully intervene to protect lives and property on a regular basis. It is equally true, however, that every year the FBI's "Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted" report contains tragic examples of well meaning and courageous off-duty officers who perished after getting in over their head or just being killed because they were identified as a police offic...

The last day of the year already.....hell, the last day of the decade!!! I want to wish all of my friends and ' extended family' all of the best for the coming New Year. To all of my LE buddies, work SAFER this coming year....our family is getting smaller at much too fast a pace. For my ' dive friends' keep on blowing bubbles safely... no DCI HITS!!! And to all of my other friends and readers, a happy and healthy and very prosperous New Year to you and your families.

It is truly amazing to see cops at Christmas. Wearing Santa hats in crisuers ( providing you don't get spotted ' out of uniform'), shaking hands and SMILING despite the crap we face. We're busy, very busy! Hey we're not the only public service working our tails off over the holidays, but we do have to put up with some of the ' stranger' incidents. But I'm a cop so I'm talking cops today. Santa it's my personal request for you to keep the boys and girls in Blue safe over the Christmas season. I wish them safely home at the ends of their shifts no matter what hour that may be to their familes and friends. God, you watch over my Brothers and Sister's too. The Street cops will be out there 24/7 also, keeping watch, keeping the peace, and making sure that the rest of the population is keeping the peace as much as possible so our citizens can enjoy the holiday time with their families and friends, attend gatherings safely, watch their kids open ...

For years now the bad guys have been using a loophole in our laws that allows a 2 for 1 time credit for ' dead time' served. ( Dead time is time in custody awaiting trial or sentencing). The BIG WIG'S FINALLY HAVE IT!!!! Who says there is no Santa?? As the final phases of the elimination of two-for-one credit are implemented, there are still a few out there that have successfully exploited the loophole courtesy of a lax and often apathetic justice system. The lucky winner in this case was Clinton Houle, who after dragging out his case for 13 1/2 months, seemed to have had a sudden change of heart in early November of this year, when he suddenly pleaded guilty to a number of charges. The incident began in September 2008 when authorities discovered Houle breaking in to a local business. Likely not wanting to be caught for his crime, he tried to run down a police officer with a stolen vehicle in an unsuccessful attempt to evade capture. Houle's charges included break, ente...

Nearly 20,000 members of law enforcement gathered at the Tacoma Dome on Tuesday to honor their fallen brothers and sister, during a memorial ceremony that reinforced the dangers of daily patrol. Officers from Washington state, the rest of the nation and Canada filled the venue following a 2,000-vehicle procession in the morning. The service, which was broadcast on network television and streamed over the Internet by several Seattle-area TV affiliates, moved at a brisk pace, as speakers recounted memories of the fallen officers. The memorial service featured tributes to Sgt. Mark Renninger, Tina Griswold, Ronald Owens and Greg Richards. Renninger, 39, was remembered as a proficient SWAT officer who taught classes in basic SWAT, breeching and advanced tactics for the Washington Tactical Officers Association. "Mark was a tremendous patrol officer but his calling was SWAT," said Mike Villa, an assistant chief with the Tukwila Police Department. "Honor, dedication, courage. M...

PENN HILLS, Pa. (AP) — A police officer responding to a domestic disturbance was shot dead outside a suburban Pittsburgh home where another man was killed inside, authorities said. Neighbors reported hearing 10 gunshots at the home in Penn Hills, an Allegheny County township of about 50,000 residents. The civilian was shot in the home, but not by the officer, and the officer was shot in his patrol car apparently by someone using an assault rifle, county police Superintendent Charles W. Moffatt said. Police had no suspects, he said. Related: Smith: 1970s Trend of Assassinating Cops Returning? He wouldn’t comment on earlier claims by emergency dispatchers that police wanted to question a man believed to have been carrying an assault rifle. The officer, Michael Crawshaw, was parked two or three houses away from the scene while waiting for backup when he was shot, Penn Hills police Chief Howard Burton told WPXI-TV. He had been on the Penn Hills police force for two years. Neighbor Nancy Sa...

And my buddy in Montana thinks all I do is sit in a nice warm car all day. LOL!!! Enjoy the photos!! Hells Angels hit hard One of biggest gang, drug busts in Manitoba history sees 34 arrests By: Mike McIntyre and Jennifer Pawluk 3/12/2009 1:00 AM KEN GIGLIOTTI / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Now the Hells Angels are in a state of paranoid panic -- and facing an uncertain future -- after an undercover sting operation reached a dramatic end early Wednesday. Members of Manitoba's Integrated Organized Crime Task Force capped a 13-month investigation by authorizing the arrests of 34 gang members and associates and executing two dozen search warrants. More than 300 RCMP and police from Winnipeg, Brandon, Ste. Anne and British Columbia were involved in one of the biggest drug and gang busts in Manitoba history. The Free Press has learned Project DIVIDE relied on a familiar trick -- obtaining the services of a longtime criminal to infiltrate the Hells Angels and conduct a series of drug transaction...

Here is the latest Police Link update on the senseless murders. I hope that bastard shooter rots in hell or has " POLICE JUSTICE" performed on him!! I'm actually hoping for the latter as the courts are too damn leninient!! http://policelink.monster.com/news/articles/127405-update-four-seattle-area-officers-killed-in-ambush?utm_source=nlet&utm_content=pl_c1_20091130_users

This came to be this morning from Brian Wurts the President of the Lakewood WA Police Indepandant Guild and he has asked me to share it: Thomas, feel free to post this and thank you for your comments. Our site is taking online donations for the familes now as well. Any word you can put out about it would be appreciated. I am a grown veteran who cannot stop crying today. My name is Brian Wurts and I am the proud President of the Lakewood Police Independent Guild (LPIG). We lost our brothers and sister yesterday. We have not slept and to be honest I do not know what more I am able to do. I do not want to sleep; I want this criminal brought to justice. Like my members with attest I will sit at my computer and write to them when I need to put it out there. Tonight I will write to them and anyone else who will listen about our four heroes. I will not get into why this suspect was out on the streets in this writing but that time will come. Instead I would like to share a couple comments ...

Another sensless shooting in Washington State,more tears flowing, another piece of my heart and soul gone. By now everybody has heard of the nedless LE death's in Washington State, 4 more police angels in heaven, another department shattered because of another pyschotic idiot with a gun who just went on a police officer shooting spree. Four brothers taking a code 7 who needlessly gave their lives because of one crazy SOB!! I can only wish that "police justice" is given out to the shooter, but alas that isn't going to happen in this case, and when he is apprehended I pray there is a hanging Judge and no bleeding heart jury. But anyway, for those so inclined there is a way we can all help: How to Donate to Lakewood Police Officers' Families The following was posted on the Lakewood Police Independent Guild's Web site: This morning a complete coward and threat upon all of society took the lives of four of my Guild members and your sworn protectors in a cold bloo...

First and foremost of my post is I want to extend my sincere and heartfelt sympathies to the families, friends, and co-workers of Sheriff Mike Thornsbury. YOUR TOUR IS OVER--REST IN PEACE BROTHER!!--WE HAVE YOUR WATCH!!! I know recently that everyone I know has been weighing the pros and the cons about receiving the H1N1 flu shot and there have even been some nay sayers in local media around me, and a few idiot citizens who actually spitted at the first responders who were able to " jump the line" to receive the first shipments, ( Don't worry Buddy, I always keep sanitizer in my car), but damn it don't these idiot's THINK?? AT ALL!!??? In a pandemic situation who is going to be called on first and foremost in an already crazy situation after the Dr.'s and Nurses's?? THAT IS RIGHT!! The first responder's such as the POLICE, FIREFIGHTER'S, and EMT's!!! By not getting the shot you not only risk losing your life but helping to "kill"...