Policing Matters

Why 4AM last call is a bad idea

In California there is a proposal to allow bars to keep serving until four o’clock in the morning. Other states have similarly late (or early, depending on how you look at the clock) last call times. Alaska has last call at five in the morning, for example. Most cities in Florida close at 3AM — it's up to the communities to decide. In Louisiana, bars can technically serve 24 hours a day if there's no local law stating that they can't. In New York City closing time is four in the morning, but most municipalities throughout the state close at two. Jim and Doug discuss how much trouble tends to happen at closing time — disputes, altercations, DUI arrests — and why four o’clock last call is not a good idea.

Should cops shoot at moving vehicles?

Try to think if you’ve heard this one before: A man uses a vehicle as a weapon in a terrorist attack. That sounds familiar because this method of has become commonplace ever since ISIS and Al Qaeda began promoting it in their online instructional magazines. It recently happened in Stockholm, Sweden — an attack that left four people dead. In December 2016, a truck plowed into a Christmas market in Berlin, killing 12 people and wounding nearly 50 others. A Somali-born student at Ohio State University crashed his car into a crowd of pedestrians in November before getting out and stabbing several of them with a butcher knife. Meanwhile, agencies across America are instituting policies that all but prohibit shooting at violent subjects in vehicles. Jim and Doug discuss why they feel “no shooting at vehicles, ever” policies don’t make sense.

Why cops should attend Police Week

Police Week, the annual event that honors all of the fallen officers throughout American history, is arguably the most powerful event LEOs can attend. Doug and Jim discuss the importance of the gathering, and why all police officers across the country should go at least once.

How can cops combat the rise of crime broadcast on social media?

In April 2017, a man named Steve Stevens murdered an elderly man out for a walk. Stevens then posted a video of his crime on Facebook, where the footage remained visible for hours. This is not the first time that a criminal has posted pictures or video of their criminal acts on social media. Jim and Doug discuss the prevalence of these types of incidents, as well as some ideas about how to deal with them from a criminal prosecution perspective.

Keys to safe police contacts with open-carry citizens

Individuals and groups who staunchly support the Second Amendment and the right to bear arms it affords have in recent years taken to carrying their firearms openly in public. They do this in order to visibly call attention to rights that they believe are in jeopardy of being taken from them by politicians who race to the television cameras every time a high-profile shooting happens. The trouble is, many Americans have never even held a gun, much less shot one. And people tend to fear what they don’t understand. So when six “guys with guns” show up at the coffee shop, police are usually called. In this podcast episode, Jim and Doug discuss the issues in play when police respond to calls involving open-carry advocates.

Was LE response to the Berkeley riots the right approach?

On April 15 (tax day) pro-Trump individuals wearing American Flags and “Make America Great Again” baseball hats held a rally in Berkeley, California. They had notified Berkeley Police in advance of their intention to rally. However, when anarchists clad in black masks and wielding various weapons showed up, officers from the Berkeley PD stood back and allowed the two sides to get involved in a prolonged violent confrontation. This is not what most police agencies would call crowd control. Jim and Doug talk about what should have happened but didn't.

What the public should know about Supreme Court cases governing police activities

Some of the most important U.S. Supreme Court cases for law enforcement are either misunderstood or entirely unknown by the average American citizen. Meanwhile, law enforcement officers are generally very much in tune with the cases which govern how officers’ actions — everything from use of force to search and seizure activities — are judged. In this podcast episode, Jim and Doug talk about a host of cases that cops know about and wish that the public did too.

Are more civilians coming to cops‘ aid nowadays?

We've seen a significant increase in news articles on PoliceOne about civilians coming to the aid of officers involved in violent confrontations with resistive subjects. Are there more of these incidents happening, or are they just getting more attention in the media? Jim and Doug offer thoughts on whether or not there’s an increase in such events.

How big an issue is crime committed by illegal immigrants?

Earlier this year, Kate’s Law was reintroduced to Congress, which is now controlled by Republicans. President Donald Trump has vowed that he will sign it. The law is named for Kate Steinle, a 32-year-old woman who was fatally shot by Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez, a Mexican national and convicted felon who had been deported but returned — illegally — to the United States. Steinle is not the only high-profile victim of crime committed by people here in the United States illegally — there are many other tragedies like hers. But how big an issue is criminal activity committed by illegal immigrants? Jim and Doug discuss the issue in detail.

How Trump‘s DOJ will differ from Obama‘s

Elections have consequences, and President Donald Trump's pick to serve as Attorney General and lead the Department of Justice may be one of the biggest consequences for American law enforcement. Put simply, Jeff Sessions represents “a new sheriff” at DOJ. It’s likely that Sessions will take resources that under Loretta Lynch — and Eric Holder before her — had been put toward initiatives related to things like same-sex marriage and gender identity, and reallocate those resources toward efforts on national security, terrorism, organized crime, and international gangs. Jim and Doug discuss other ways in which the DOJ will differ in the next four years from the DOJ of the previous administration.