american cop 2008.01-02
TRANSCRIPT
Officer Survival:SHOOTME FIRST
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2008
40 TRIO SAMMY REESE
Kimber’s Covert IIs.
48 ADAPTING THE "28 ARTICLES" STEVE ALBRECHT
Using Counterinsurgency Ideas For Street-Level Encounters.
51 VIRGINIA TECH & THE MAIN STREAM MEDIA FRANK BORELLI
Don't Let Facts Get In The Way Of A Good Story
56 ONE COIN; TWO SIDES RICH DEPARIS
Territorialism, Power Grabs, Ego And CYA Attitudes Are Killing Our Departments.
58 GOING 1911 ROGER ECKSTINE
How A PD Changed — And How They Trained.
Volume 4, Number 1, Issue 15
JAN • FEB
4 WWW.AMERICANCOPMAGAZINE.COM • JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2008
32
WWW.AMERICANCOPMAGAZINE.COM
ON THE COVER40 Photos: Ichiro Nagata
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AMERICAN COP™ (ISSN 1557-2609) is published bi-monthly by Publishers’ Development Corp., 12345 World Trade Drive, San Diego, CA 92128. Periodical postage paid at San Diego CA 92128, and at addi-tional entry offices. Subscriptions: One year (six issues) $24.95. Single copies $5.95 (in Canada $9.50). Change of address: four weeks notice required on all changes. Send old address as well as new. Con-tributors submitting manuscripts, photographs or drawings do so at their own risk. Material cannot be returned unless accompanied by sufficient postage. Payment is for all world rights for the material. The actof mailing a manuscript constitutes the author’s certification of originality of material. Opinions expressed are those of the bylined authors and do not necessarily represent those of the magazine or it's adver-tisers. Advertising rates furnished on request. Reproduction or use of any portion of this magazine in any manner, without written permission, is prohibited. Entire contents Copyright© 2008 Publishers’ Devel-opment Corp. All rights reserved. Title to this publication passes to subscriber only on delivery to his address. SUBSCRIPTION PROBLEMS: For immediate action, write Subscription Dept., 12345 World TradeDrive, San Diego, CA 92128.
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to AMERICAN COP™, 12345 World Trade Drive, San Diego, CA 92128.
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RESOURCES
16 LEAA JAMES J. FOTIS
18 HARD TOOLS PAUL MARKEL
20 HIGH TECH BOB DAVIS
22 CORRECTIONS BRIAN DAWE
24 OFFICER SURVIVAL SAMMY REESE
26 EVOC ANTHONY RICCI
28 PRIVATE SECURITY ED PALUMBO
30 RESERVES PERRY W. HORNBARGER
32 STREET LEVEL JOHN MORRISON
34 REALITY CHECK II CLINT SMITH
36 CARRY OPTIONS MARK HANTEN
COLUMNS
18
58
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AMERICAN COP
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a JF08 COP sec1 11/21/07 9:13 PM Page 7
RETURNFIRE
COP Special EditionDave, I went to the local grocery store
tonight to pick up things for my wife. When Iwalked past the magazine rack, I was sur-prised to find that American COP was on themagazine stand. I can’t believe this fine mag-azine is being sold on in stores now. I amvery disappointed the information we receive
8 WWW.AMERICANCOPMAGAZINE.COM • JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2008
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“
”
I can’t believe this finemagazine is being soldin stores now. I am very
disappointed theinformation we receivefrom this fine magazine
is now available to allthe crooks in town.
a JF08 COP sec1 11/21/07 9:13 PM Page 8
from this fine magazine is now avail-able to all the crooks in town. Yes,I’m well aware you can pull it up onthe Internet and read the articles. Ilive in a small town and most of thecrooks don’t have computers, so Inever worried about them reading ourtraining materials. Is the magazine notdoing well enough to keep it frombeing sold in grocery stores and otherplaces that sell magazines? Needlessto say I’m disappointed. Thanks forthe great magazine.
Joe Hester, JrFBI NA 217th session
Joe, Please note the magazine yousaw is a “Special Edition.” The realmagazine will not be on the news-stand. The Special Edition is a compi-lation of articles from old issues. Roy,Sammy and I (all retired cops) gothrough every article and select onlythose that do not “give away” anysecrets or operational stuff. We werevery careful in the selection processnot to compromise officer safety. Dave
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I recently bought the ‘08 SpecialEdition and I was very impressed.I’m not a cop but I work as an EMSprovider and I thought your mag hada lot to offer the EMS field. The arti-cles on driving, staying safe, knifeattacks, etc. are directly applicableto EMS. I was going to make a sug-gestion that you have a “tacticalmedic” section as cops can learnfrom medics and vice versa. I knowin this area there is a lot of back andforth from LEOs to EMS. We haveEMS guys who are reserve LEO andcops who work part-time as EMS.Just an idea.
James Murray
Not Another OneI don’t normally do this, but I felt
compelled. Your magazine is dis-gusting; you should really take a lookat yourself subjectively. I hope youdon’t really believe the things youplague upon us, and you’re simplytrying to make a greedy buck offignorant law enforcement. I wish your
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a JF08 COP sec1 11/27/07 11:41 AM Page 9
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RETURNFIREorganization nothing but the worst.
Worst Regards, Joe [email protected]
Joe, thanks so much for you con-structive criticism. I’ll immediatelyundertake your suggestion and embarkon a subjective re-evaluation of myself.Additionally, I’ll engage the PR firmHillary Clinton uses to assist in thisdaunting task, as they seem up to“heavy lifting” type projects.
Your observation of our motives(make a greedy buck off ignorant lawenforcement) is truly insightful. Youreally nailed us. Cops are, after all, so
easy to bamboozle it was just naturalfor us to pick on them.
Thanks again for your interest inmaking COP a better product. I justhope your willingness to help doesn’tcause you any problems at work. Howlong have you worked at Police Maga-zine anyway? Dave
Note to Readers: Actually, the folksat Police Magazine are nice people andwe have a professional and congenialrelationship. I sent Joe the above mes-sage and he kind of flamed out a little.Hopefully, his mindset is not indicativeof all students. But unfortunately itseems academia trends in that directionnow-a-days.
Email Two From JoeI don’t work for your organization; I
came across it researching a paper onattitudes towards law enforcement onthe Internet. What you publish is highlyirresponsible. Joe Schmoe
Joe, I understand e-mail gives you alevel of anonymity and it appears, byusing the Joe Schmoe moniker, it’s yourwish to guard your identity. That’s quiteunderstandable. But, I’m curious aboutthe research you’re conducting andhow you’re conducting it.
Joe, I understande-mail gives you alevel of anonymityand it appears, by
using the Joe Schmoemoniker, it’s your
wish to guard youridentity. That’s quite
understandable.
WWW.AMERICANCOPMAGAZINE.COM 11
a JF08 COP sec1 11/21/07 9:13 PM Page 11
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a JF08 COP sec1 11/21/07 9:13 PM Page 13
Normally, research is done to edu-cate yourself or aid in preparation of apaper — as you mentioned. Addition-ally, if done responsibly, it’s conductedwithout a preconceived theory of theoutcome or result of the research. Youusually allow the facts and ideasrevealed in the research to drive theoutcome or conclusion.
What kind of paper are youpreparing with the research you’re con-ducting? Why do you feel the magazineis “highly irresponsible” in itsapproach? Is your contention based inany “real world” experience or is itstrictly academic? Do you personallyknow any police officers? Have youever gone on a ride-a-long with yourlocal police or sheriff’s department?
You can take this or leave this. Ittruly matters not to me. It’s just a littleadvice from a guy who retired after 30years as a cop and in those 30 yearslearned a little about how to talk withpeople to gain the most informationpossible. Rather than simply flame ane-mail to someone and start any dialogat a high level of animosity, you’ll bemuch better served to politely inquireand just as politely state your concernsor objections. You don’t have to “kiss
RETURNFIRE
14 WWW.AMERICANCOPMAGAZINE.COM • JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2008
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A single blast will incapacitate an assailant for up to 45 minutes.
someone’s ass.” Starting off “slower”is a much more efficient way to getyour point across and even have the
recipient consider your point. Whenyou start off in a disrespectful andinsulting manner the recipient will tendto simply disregard you and your state-ment. Dave
Guess What? No Response
KatrinaMr. Douglas: Two years ago as I
prepared to leave home with my familyto ride out Hurricane Katrina at afriends’ Bed & Breakfast hotel in theFrench Quarter, I packed my premier
issue of American COP with the rest ofmy gear. Little did I know we wouldnot be able to return to the home weknew. Today finds us 130 miles fromhome trying to make a fresh start. I justwanted to let you know I must haveread that first issue at least a hundredtimes in the weeks and months fol-lowing the storm. It was a badly neededdistraction from the trials and tribula-tions we were going through. I knowthings will slowly turn around but myheart remains in New Orleans alongwith my brother and sister officers. It’sgood to know American COP magazinewill be there to help me keep in touchwith the life I once knew. Thanks againfor a great magazine, may it last for-ever. Stay Safe,
J.C.(Jimmy) EllisN.O.P.D.(Ret.)
You can take this orleave this. It truly mat-ters not to me. It’s justa little advice from aguy who retired after
30 years as a cop .
AMERICAN COP TM welcomes letters to the editor. We reserve theright to edit all published letters for clarity and length. Due to thevolume of mail, we are unable to individually answer your letters ore-mail. In sending a letter to American COP, you agree to providePublishers Development Corp. such copyright as is required for pub-lishing and redistributing the contents of your letter in any format.Send your letters to Return Fire, American COP, 12345 World TradeDr., San Diego, CA 92128; www.americancopmagazine.com; e-mail:[email protected].
*
a JF08 COP sec1 11/21/07 9:13 PM Page 14
NATIONAL TREND
16 WWW.AMERICANCOPMAGAZINE.COM • JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2008
Afailure to follow a number of departmental “poli-cies” was a key to their conviction. The aggres-sive US Attorneys brought federal gun chargesagainst the two border officers. Prosecuting them,
as common criminals who committed a crime whilebeing armed. This trend is not happening in just one case,in one part of America — it’s a growing national trend.
In the Western District of New York these chargeswere brought against three Buffalo cops; one in theSouthern District of Mississippi, four cases againstMemphis officers in the Western District of Tennessee,one in Crystal City, four times in San Antonio, anotherone in Balcones Heights, Texas.
Laws passed with the promise they’d be gun control forcrime control — laws sold to the public under thebanner they would be used to augment prosecutionand make sure hard-core gang bangers, and drug
dealers faced stiff sentences for being a criminal and using agun are now routinely being used against cops — cops whoare required to carry guns.
“The law should apply to officers who misuse their privilegeto carry a firearm,” a federal prosecutor said.
In the case of local Deputy Sheriff Hernandez, he fired hisgun at a moving vehicle. His boss was okay with the force heused. The community was overwhelmingly behind this officerand how he did his job and the state chose not to prosecutethis lawman.
LEAA JAMES J. FOTIS
THE LAW ENFORCEMENT ALLIANCE OF AMERICA.
James J. Fotis is a retired officer from New York and the Executive Director of the Law Enforcement Alliance of America (LEAA). LEAA works to promote officer safety issues, defend law enforcement in the media and promotethe belief that gun control is not crime control. You can find out more or become a member of the hard-hitting, conservative, unabashedly pro-cop, pro-gun, pro-self defense LEAA by visiting their Web site at www.leaa.org
N ot so long ago, when acop screwed up and “vio-lated” a criminal’s rights,consequences were direct,
made sense and were well knownto everyone. Although the criminalgot a “free pass,” the system hadchecks and balances.
Now if a cop violates a known
Promises
criminal’s civil rights — even if ithappens while an illegal alien crim-inal is committing a criminal act —the bad guy gets away free and thecop faces as much as three separatelevels of governmental review andultimately a long prison sentence andtotal ruination.
When the Western District of Texas
US Attorneys’ office prosecuted twoborder agents (Compean and Ramos)the Feds initially sought to cut a quickplea bargain. When the agentsrefused, charges were jacked up andsuddenly they faced up to life inprison. They went to trial and got sen-tences of 11 and 12 years; a new anddisturbing trend was made public.
A DISTURBING TRENDA DISTURBING TREND
Continued on page 74
a JF08 COP sec1 11/21/07 9:13 PM Page 16
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Imade do with cheap stuff for years until I was out huntingwith a buddy and he let me look through his field glasses.It was like seeing for the first time. The image was crystalclear and focus was precise. My optical epiphany made
me realize there was a difference.Since that time I have used numerous sets from companies
such as Leupold, Nikon and Zeiss. These all fall into the“you get what you pay for” category. They aren’t cheap.Recently I was looking for a set of binos for my hunting packand came across a Carson Optical ad in a magazine. The adclaimed that they were as good as brands “X” and “Y” butwere considerably less expensive. Sounded too good to betrue, but I bit anyway.
The model that I picked up came from their XM Series.Specifically they were the XM-832HD. You don’t need asecret decoder ring to unlock the mystery behind the name.The binoculars are 8-power with 32mm objective lenses.HD stands for High Definition optics. The set is coveredwith a black rubberized armor coating and that’s a nicetouch so they don’t “clang” or “ding” against all the othercrap you tote around.
A central focus knob can be used with either hand andthe eyecups twist down for storage as well as eye relief forthose of us who wear glasses. Don’t know about you, but itannoys the crap out of me to have to take off my glasses tolook through binos. The good companies account for wefour-eyed folks.
From a technical aspect, the XM-832HD binos use aBAK-4 prism and lenses are fully coated for maximumclarity. The unit weighs 20.6 oz, so while not featherweight,
When it comes to binoculars, I’d venture tosay a lot of us have suffered “buyer’s remorse.”I’ve had numerous sets, large and small over the last20 years and I have a confession to make. When I
was younger, I thought all binos were the same because Ialways bought the cheap ones. Can you relate?
My very first “stake out” wasn’t really a stake out at all,but for a fresh from the academy cop, it was exciting. Thechief tasked me with watching a house to see if “Joe Dirtbag”came home. According to nosey neighbor, that was between2300 and 2400. My job was simple. Park a few hundred feetaway from Joe’s house in a public parking lot and keep watchfrom 11 to midnight. If anyone fitting Mr. Dirtbag’s descrip-tion arrived, call the Chief. Joe had an outstanding warrant.
HARDTOOLSESSENTIAL TOOLS FOR THE JOB.
PAUL MARKEL
18 WWW.AMERICANCOPMAGAZINE.COM • JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2008
OMG — I Can See
PUTTINGEYES ONWITHCARSONOPTICS
a JF08 COP sec1 11/21/07 9:14 PM Page 18
WWW.AMERICANCOPMAGAZINE.COM 19
they’re consider-ably lighter than
full-sized binos. TheXM-832HD is not a
compact bino nor is it large. Theunit falls in the middle of the spectrum.They do fit in my soft-sided brief caseand in a cruiser glove compartment.
Trunk Junk“I think there are binoculars in the
cruiser’s trunk,” the chief advised. Yes,there were. These binos had probablybeen in the trunk of one squad or anothersince I was in elementary school. I didmy best to clean the road dust fromthem, but I never could quite get them tofocus and sat straining my eyes.
Joe Dirtbag didn’t show up thatnight, but we got him later in the week.The learning point I took away frommy first “stake out” was not to rely onsquad car gear. I decided to buy myown binos. Off to the store, and I pur-chased a full sized, 10x50 set of binoc-ulars — the cheapest on the rack.
They seemed to work, but I foundthem too big for my briefcase. Off Iwent again to buy a set of compactbinos. These were 8x25, again the leastexpensive in the store. They workedokay and better yet, fit in my briefcase,the console and glove compartment.
Value AddedI’ve kept you waiting long enough so
here’s the nut. These Carson Opticalbinoculars are on par with the other bigname optics. When I took them out forthe first time I was tremendouslyimpressed by the clarity. Objects 100-plus yards looked like they were right infront of me — no fuzz, no blur. Manu-facturer’s suggested retail is $340. Thatmeans in the real world, you should beable to pick up a set for under $300. It’sa “you get what you pay for” world.Regarding these binos from Carson, youget what you pay forand a lot more.
For More Info: www.carsonoptical.com
*
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a JF08 COP sec1 11/21/07 9:14 PM Page 19
In their hearts cops believe they’re good drivers. In theirheads some believe they could be the next NASCARcup champion. The one thing it’s hard to tell any cop isdriving is a perishable skill just like shooting or effec-
tive defensive tactics.So, what can we do to preserve and enhance those skills
while the cost of fuel and vehicle maintenance is going throughthe roof? We can use some of the latest technologies — in thiscase — driving simulators. No, we’re not going to get simula-tors to teach cops how to drive. We’re going to use them to get
BOB DAVISHIGHTECHCUTTING EDGE WIDGETS — AND OTHER NEW STUFF.
DRIVING SIMULATORDRIVING SIMULATOR
Each training scenario begins from the moment youenter the “Driving Lab” and sit behind the wheel ofyour simulated patrol car. Emergency vehicle opera-tion instructors prepare students by providing tidbits
of information just like you’d receive it via the radio. Onceyou’ve ensconced yourself into the simulator you’ll startthe car just like any other proceeding into a virtual city.You’ll immediately find yourself confronted with situations
20 WWW.AMERICANCOPMAGAZINE.COM • JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2008
Immersion Training
Driving simulators first hit the consumer market asvideo arcade games in the late 1980s, moving intothe home video market with the explosion of con-soles and a culture embracing technological
escapism. Today, these fourth-generation simulators are assophisticated as military flight simulators enveloping theoperator’s senses completely. In fact some say our senses areoverwhelmed — more on that later.
The first rule of using simulators is: They do not teachproper driving techniques. However, they can and do giveeach and every student the experience of driving whileteaching consequences. While some actions are impossible toreplicate in the field due to the cost, danger and potential ofcausing great bodily injury, the consequences of our actionscan have very negative results. I’ve experienced these person-ally, landing me in the trauma center during my career. Sowhat are simulators really good at doing? Simply put, rein-forcing certain skills or decision making thought processeswith regard to steering, braking and collision avoidance. Theyget you to think about driving while you’re driving and notjust guiding 4,000 lbs of steel in a Code 3 pursuit.
us to think aboutdriving before,during and afteryou put the pedal to the metal to catch a suspect at any cost.The problem, the cost could be your life or the life of an inno-cent bystander. And that’s much too high a price to pay. In Cali-fornia, The Commission on Peace Officer Standards andTraining recognized the problem and is taking steps to reducethe number of police equipment collisions by developing a per-ishable skills simulator program.
COP VIDEO GAMES
Continued on page 78
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So You Want To Be A Correctional OfficerM
y friends and I used to playcops and robbers, cowboys andIndians, and soldier until thestreetlights went on and it was
time to go home. However, in none ofmy early childhood memories can Irecall a single instance where we said,“Let’s lock each other up in the basementand play correctional officer.” It’s not anoccupation one aspires to. In fact, I am ata loss to explain why anyone would ever
want to walk the beats we walk with over80 assaults on correctional officers daily.
I never met anyone during my 26years in this business who told me theyalways wanted to be a prison cop. I’vemet several legacies however; these areofficers whose family members wherein corrections and they were alsodrawn to it. Even they didn’t reallydesire to work behind the walls; it wasan easy job to get, especially if you
already had family members in theindustry. In many cases even the lega-cies viewed corrections as a stepping-stone to other more visible andrespected jobs in law enforcement.
Of the thousands of correctionalofficers I’ve met, I’ve yet to encounteranyone who began by actually wantingto become a Correctional officer —rightfully so. Correctional officers arefaced with some troubling numbers:
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When we leave this job, we want to believewe contributed something and changedsomething for the better. Perhaps we
made it safer for those in our footsteps. One of themost important things we can do is to be vocal advo-cates for our profession and for the much-neededchanges to make our prisons, jails and juvenile deten-tion centers safer — for everyone. It’s not gettingbetter behind those walls, it’s getting worse.
There’s a lot more to corrections then countingheads and locking doors — so, come prepared. It canbe an incredibly rewarding career and knowing you’readding to the safety and security of our communitiesis a terrific feeling. Even if no one else realizes theimportance of your role, fellow officers will — that’sthe most rewarding feeling of all. Maybe the next gen-eration will grow up saying along with cops, soldiers,and firefighters they want to becorrectional officers, too.
I left out various other graveproblems, such as the overcrowdingand understaffing situations,increasing number of gangs in ourprisons and jails and the number ofseriously mentally ill inmates toping200,000. Now we’re dealing with
BRIAN DAWECORRECTIONSBEHIND THE FENCE.
Our Legacy
When we were growing up, we were taught to respectthe police, to honor our men and women in themilitary and to admire fire fighters. What were wetaught about correctional officers? Hollywood
stereotypes portrayed correctional officers as little more than copwanna-bes — only slightly better than the men and women wemaintain custody over. Watch any movie containing correctionalofficer characters; you’ll see exactly what I mean.
Nevertheless, despite the above, there are those of us whogrew to love working behind the walls. We understand the vitalrole we play in maintaining public safety, even if the rest of theworld is blind to our contributions. We go through hell and backwith our fellow Officers, and we come to develop a camaraderiethat’s second to none. There is something about sharing a lifeand death situation with another human being that changes usforever. After about 5 years behind the walls we get a real senseof what needs to be done, what changes our profession needsand how little the general public really knows about who we areand what we do. We also realize no one is going to advocate forthe changes our profession needs unless we do it ourselves.
CONDITIONING
*
incarcerated terrorists as well. Whoin their right mind would want to dothis job?
Most get into corrections out ofeconomic necessity or in the hopes ofusing it as a jumping off point forother law enforcement careers. At my
training academy back in 1982 wewere told to look around at ourfellow cadets and realize 80 percentwould not be working behind thewalls in five years — they wereright — most of them were longgone by then.
33,000 correctional staff assaulted annually
10 killed in the line of duty every year
2nd highest mortality rate of any profession
58 is our last birthday on average
18 months is the amount of time we live after retirement
2 times an officer will be assaulted during their career
39 percent higher suicide rate than any other professions
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Printing, or imprinting as my wife calls it, can getyou killed. I admire the cop mentioned for actu-ally carrying his gun off duty. Too many of myfriends choose not to carry off duty. This topic
can and has been debated at length, so I won’t beat it upanymore — for now. The whole purpose for carryingconcealed is so no one but you knows you have a gun.Heaven forbid you buy better cover-up shirts or worse,pry open your wallet — the four pound one with thebright, shiny badge or star living inside and spend somecash on a smaller more concealable gun.
The badge flash by accident or for the discount (weknow that never happens) is just pure stupidity. You justgave the cashier a piece of information you should keepto yourself. If you paid by credit card or swiped sometype of club card, they know who you are and maybewhere you live. Call me paranoid if you will, but thistype of info in the wrong hands can be trouble. If theflash was intentional for the “Oh you’re a cop, let megive you the LE discount,” just don’t make a scene anddemand it. The public thinks we’re all crooked anywaywhy give them ammo because you’re cheap.
GETTING HOME IN THE SAME CONDITION YOU WENT TO WORK IN.
SAMMY REESEOFFICERSURVIVAL
HE’S GOT A GUN!!!
I’m very proud of my service as are most cops. I have adrawer full of SWAT t-shirts, a rack of hats and all otherkinds of paraphernalia. I only wear them at home or atfunctions where everyone else is wearing it too. If you
leave the house wearing a shirt emblazoned with Sleep Safe,Take A Cop To Bed, a belt buckle the size of a trash can lidwith SWAT on it, a hat from the Police Olympics, black wraparound sunglasses and pressed Wranglers with Danner boots —you are in the shoot me first uniform.
Shoot Me First
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P OA, Fraternal Order stickers are well inten-tioned (don’t write me I’m on the Job) or thisvehicle protected by fill-in-the-blank gun makerstickers are an invitation to either get your ride
vandalized or broken into. I call them, I may have a gunstashed in my vehicle — break in stickers. Hidden gunor not now you have to deal with your insurance to payfor the damages.
Take a serious look at how you do business off duty.Your own personal safety and your family’sdepend on being discreet and diligent. *
STUPID STICKERS
While standing in the checkout line with a basket full of groceries, Iwaited patiently while the lady in front unloaded 600 cans of cat food,14 bags of kitty litter, four boxes of Ho-Hos, 27 Slim-Jims and twogallons of Yellow Label Gin. While silently chewing myself out for
picking the wrong line, I noticed a guy in the next check out line “printing” quitebadly — my guess was a full size Glock under a way too small shirt. The button upshirt was so light in color and form fitting; I could almost read the serial number onthe Roscoe. My suspicion was confirmed when he whipped his four pound walletout and flashed his badge as he paid for the groceries.
I thought to myself, there’s got to be an article here — and there is. In no partic-ular order, here are just a few off duty screw-ups I’ve seen lately. Some are safetyissues — some are just plain bad taste.
Off DutyOOOPs
Jerry Meloche
a JF08 COP sec1 11/21/07 9:05 PM Page 24
There’s another protection optionfor departments with largerbudgets or maybe your depart-ment is looking to spend all
those Homeland Security Funds. Fordis now offering ballistic door panelsfor their Police Interceptor. They comewith a $1,200 price tag per door but
yourself as a target without thinking theobject in front of you will actually stopbullets. Then as a second step we alwaysdisplay our theories for the non-believers. I’d never want to send a stu-dent away with any doubt in their mind.
Maybe you’re the first on thescene or you come up unex-pectedly on a robbery inprogress; could be a domestic
and tempers are flaring when you rollup or it’s the traffic stop gone bad. Badguys have guns and most aren’t afraidto use them. Out of 122 officer deathsso far this year 48 were from gunfire.Many incidents happened in andaround the patrol vehicle. How muchtactical firearm training do you get inand around your mobile office? Howmany departments actually challengetheir trainers to do the research andtrain cops in surviving a gunfight inand around the vehicle?
During many vehicle environmentfirearms programs it’s very common tosee students dashing behind car doors forprotection. In pre-class discussions Ioverhear talk about how the car will stopbullets. I’m not sure if this comes fromTV or it’s one of those assumptionspassed down through generations. Aneffective way to start off class is with ageneral discussion about cover and con-cealment and what it means to minimize
The first physical test or demonstration is to place a target in the centerof the car sideways between the seat and center console facing thedrivers door. The target isn’t necessary, but it gives a reference pointof where the round traveled after penetrating the driver’s door. Then
we fire some standard 9MM through the driver’s door. Most of the time therounds go in the driver’s side door penetrating the cardboard target and con-tinue straight through the passenger door — a possible position you could endup in during a scramble for cover. It shows more times than not there’sabsolutely no protection whatsoever.
When caught in or around your car in a gunfight your first reactionshould be to drive away and re-establish a better position — if at all pos-sible. If that’s not an option, try to get to better cover. If you’re trapped in oraround your vehicle and unable to get to better cover, then remember youcan use the car as concealment to reduce your exposure but it’s not going togive you much protection. Try to stay back from the car several feet andmaneuver behind the tires firing over the hood. The engine block and tirewill provide the most protection, but there are no definite areas of protectionaround the car. It depends on what type, size and velocity round the bad guyis using as well as their experience level.
ANTHONY RICCIEVOC
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Anthony Ricci is the owner and president of Advanced Driving and Security (ADSI). He’s been teaching cops to drive for over 10 years. www.1adsi.com.
SURVIVING IN YOUR MOBILE OFFICE.
It’s NOT Cover
PROTECTIONOPTION
Your Vehicle —Cover vs.Protection
a JF08 COP sec1 11/21/07 9:05 PM Page 26
are well worth it if you’re working in ahigh-risk area.
I had a great conversation withAndrew McCleister from ProtectiveProducts International, the companyproducing the Ballistic Door for Ford.Andrew tells me they worked with sev-eral Police Departments in creating thisproduct and the panels went throughextensive testing — meeting NIJ LevelIII-A protection and the doors are crashcertified passing Federal Motor VehicleSafety Standards. As well as beingcovert, lightweight, weather tested from-49°F to 104°F, they don’t interfere withinterior space or window mechanisms.They can be retrofitted into yourexisting fleet as well as purchaseddirectly from Ford.
Got To TrainTraining is a must in my opinion. To
purchase any product without trainingwill only gives a false sense of security.Remember armor will provide protec-tion, however if the bad guy is comingprepared you need to understand thedynamics of the tool you purchased.Most fully armored vehicles only buyyou 30 to 40 seconds.
It’s very important to rememberonly the door panel is armored — notthe glass or side beams. Therefore, youstill have to use the door as a shield andknow how to work around it. Don’tmisunderstand, I much rather have aprotective shield than a piece of Swisscheese between me and the bad guy,but not understanding and practicinghow to work in and around this protec-tive shield could produce the sameresults as not having it in the first place.This goes along with one of my goldenrules: practice does not make perfectbut perfect practice makesperfect — sometimes.
For More Info: www.body-armor.com
*
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Agood illustration is Greenpeace,whose worldwide “directaction” techniques are fre-quently deployed against
western multinational corporations(MNC). Their sophistication oftenmatches companies they target: recentefforts include using front companies,such as investment firms and retire-ment fund managers, to purchasestock allowing the holder of boughtshares (our disruptive friends atGreenpeace) legal authority to attendannual meetings.
Of course, the true nature of thisintelligence gathering is not to showup, eat the cookies and quietly listento boring annual reports. It’s expresslyintended to disrupt the session byholding hostage the microphone,reading their own manifesto, distrib-uting leaflets, overpowering the daisand attempting to force board mem-
PRIVATESECURITYISSUES AND TRENDS ON THE PRIVATE SIDE OF LAW ENFORCEMENT.
28 WWW.AMERICANCOPMAGAZINE.COM • JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2008
ED PALUMBO
T he high drama of the 70s and 80s resulted in a massive shift within cor-porate intelligence gathering units, spurring creation of internal andsecret groups designed to mimic federal intelligence agencies, in form ifnot effectiveness, away from examining consumers to targeting dis-
senting organizations and anticipating future problems. Put another way, Corpo-rate America decided to institutionalize something existing in ill-defined waysfor over a century. No American did more in this area than the God of AmericanBusiness, Henry Ford, whose internal security forces, while publicly infamousfor their oft-brutal uniformed suppression of union activity, they were evenmore adept at infiltration.
As publicized by any number of high-profile corporate spying scandals —Wal-Mart spying on its employees, Hewlett Packard spying on its board andreporters — corporations are using techniques like phone and e-mail screeningand recording, watch-dogs trotting the globe to follow employees and internaldata collection efforts designed by former CIA and FBI agents. Such efforts notonly track the activities of consumers, dissident organizations, and competitors,but also employees and shareholders with increasingly sophisticated technologies.
These are only examples of intelligence-gathering efforts with an unlawfulcaste; most corporations employ such efforts to gather data and build counter-intelligence operations in a covert manner — and to the surprise of many, ethi-cally and legally — to protect proprietary information, assets in particular venuesand shareholder meetings often at the top of the list.
Henry Ford Direct Action
Keep your friends close, and your ene-mies closer — catchy phrase. Sun Tzuinforms us the most skillful warrior isone who could seize the enemy
without fighting. So, what the hell does thishave to do with private security? A lot: Muchwas learned after the Watergate public melt-down of FBI and CIA by private sector data
collection entities about howthey went about theirwork, why they didwhat they did and,not surprisingly,how to better shieldtheir efforts from themedia, not to men-tion Congress.
Private sector andgovernment agencyinterests often coin-cide, they bothengage in essentiallythe same thing:Keeping a watchfuleye on your friends,neighbors, competi-tors, employees andprying media types.Spying is probably theoldest business tacticknown to mankind.
Corporate Spying
Sequoia Blankenship
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bers to accept petitions in a forcedpublic display of surrender. There’snothing new under the sun. For thoseof us old enough to fondly recall the’60s, this sounds comically similar toevery campus revolt and buildingtakeover mounted.
Counter-IntelligenceEfficient and thoughtful corporate
security agents will know about thesethings in advance, at least have anidea about their possibility, and beginto plan and implement countermea-sures, while simultaneously not vio-lating the rights of any participant,and dimming any possibility of nega-tive public relations, and stillthwarting the direct action groups:Seizing the enemy without fighting.There you are, Sun.
This shadow world of intelligenceand counter-intelligence is chock fullof players, each endeavoring to eitherfind information, stop the flow of thatinformation or study the effects of theintelligence. The Society of Competi-tive Intelligence Professionals (SCIP)says, “Competitive Intelligence is thelegal and ethical collection andanalysis of information regarding thecapabilities, vulnerabilities, and inten-tions of business competitors.”
From Sun Tzu to the 21st centuryboardroom, from the dusty, dry, hotplains of China — 2,600 years ago! —in the time of warlords and theirJapanese adversaries, to IBM, Wal-Mart,Intel, the CIA, HP, Greenpeace, Eco-ter-rorists, PETA and literally tens of thou-sands of modern participants on the bothsides of that invisible, corporate chainlink fence, still trying to know, by anymeans possible, what theyneed to survive. *
g
CompetitiveIntelligence is thelegal and ethical
collection andanalysis of
information regardingthe capabilities,
vulnerabilities, andintentions of business
competitors.
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PERRY W. HORNBARGERRESERVESDEDICATION AND PROFESSIONALISM THAT GOES BEYOND PAY.
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Perry W. Hornbarger is the Unit Commander of the Chesterfield, Va. Auxiliary Police Unit. He can be reached via e-mail at [email protected].
What does your department do foryou? In order to make auxiliary orreserve members want to stay,departments must do some-
thing appealing. But we alsomust ask ourselves ifwe’re worthkeeping around.
Do we reallyprovide servicethat’s an asset tothe department andthe citizens?There’s a magicpoint when thescales tip andreserve/auxiliaryofficers become aliability rather thanan asset. That“magic point” isdifferent,depending on whatjob volunteers aredoing, their level oftraining, and theirprofessionalism.Some membersseem to want tooperate the unit asa he-man socialclub, but we needto be better.
We have a job todo and we took anoath to do it to thebest of our ability.But as an auxiliaryofficer, carrying agun and a badge, we’reparticularly vulnerable to
becoming a big liability. We’re equipped andtrained — minimally at times — to go out anddo a job others are paid to do. It’s especially
important our training program beaggressive since we do our job
so infrequently — maybeone night every otherweek. At this rate, it’seasy to forget the finerpoints of our training.
That’s where wecould really becomea liability. Chiefsmust decide whatthey want theirreserve officersdoing on the street.Our goal shoulddemonstrate the onlydifference betweenour paid counter-parts and us is thepaycheck, but this iscertainly difficult toachieve. Most of usshould simply func-tion as an “assistofficer” and receiveadditional training inthis area. We alsoneed to maintain ahigh level of profi-ciency in this area.On the other hand,I’ve been out herelong enough to knowthere’ll be situationswhere we will needto be the primary but
that should be the excep-tion rather than the rule.
$ome administrators need to put anumber on our value. For those people, VIPS(Volunteers in Police Service) has a chartlisting the “Value of Volunteer Time” you can
use to put a dollar figure on your service. I can’t justgive you the number because each state is different. Ifyou’re interested in the numbers, classes they offernationwide on police volunteer topics as well as othervaluable stuff you can go to their Web site(www.policevolunteers.org). They’re associated withthe International Association of Chiefs of Police. Addi-tionally, they have an Internet newsletter you canreceive via e-mail. I started doing this a year or so agoand have been very pleased with their newsletters.
How VALUABLE Is Your Service?
Avaluable training program we require our membersto attend is CERT (Community EmergencyResponse Team) Training. It’s designed for theaverage citizen participating in a Community
Response Team and is available in most areas of the countryusually free of charge. In a natural or man-made disaster,CERT Teams can be invaluable for community survival. As apart of our Homeland Defense mission, we scheduled classesand attended as a unit. The idea was we could operate as aux-iliary officers and work closely with our CERT Teams if weunderstood their mission and their level of training. In thesetypes of situations our value can really be noticed. When wecompleted the training we opened it up to other family mem-bers as well. This gave it an almost family atmos-phere and proved very beneficial.
CERT Training
*
$ Ca-Ching $
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JOHN MORRISONSTREETLEVEL
John Morrison served in combat as a Marine sergeant, and retired as a senior lieutenant from the San Diego Police Department, having served there as Director of Training, Commanding Officer of SWAT and divisionexecutive officer. He has taught, written and lectured widely on training, tactics and leadership. Contact him at [email protected].
There’s a strong subconscious presumption held by someill-motivated high ranking brass that you have a morbidfear of losing your job, and that you’ll do anything —eat any crap, abase yourself in any way — to avoid that.
Many practitioners of casual persecution simply love to stickneedles into people, and causing strong, self-assured, confidentyoung supervisors to cringe and piddle like cowed cockerspaniels is particularly sweet to them. That’s just a fact of life. Inmany ways, the interpersonal dynamics of LE agencies are verymuch like the behavioral dynamics of prison populations:“punking the proud” is a sport and pastime.
Threatening your job is the heaviest hammer they have, soget rid of the hammer. The following suggestions are presentedin an order, but get moving on all four simultaneously.
First, without unreasonablyaffecting your family, bankand reserve a minimum
of six months income — preferably, a year’s worth. (I didn’t saythis would be easy, did I?) It makes sense and you know it; youshould do it in any case. If thinking of it, as “possible resignationinsurance” doesn’t work for you, call it “family emergencyfunds.” Carrying out suggestions number two and three canmean you’d never have to draw it down too much.
Second, get a concealed weapons carry permit, just like acivilian. Yeah, I know you don’t need one as a cop. But if youwalked out of PDHQ without a badge tomorrow, (a) you’d wantto be packing, wouldn’t you? And (b), if you leave enemiesbehind, getting approval for one in the future might be “problem-atic,” right? It’s easier to renew than to acquire.
Third, develop another vocational skill you could fallback on quickly. Get qualified, if appropriate; certified ifrequired, and keep yourself current. No matter if it’s heavy
equipment operation, TIG-welding, locksmithing,alarm installation or nuclear weapons disposal.Get and maintain solid contacts in that trade. Beas ready to jump as possible.
Here’s a good one: Get a commercial driver’slicense and a chauffeur’s certificate. Learn how to
wheel a stretch limo, even if you have to“donate” an evening to a limo service
occasionally to stay in practice. Ifyou’ve been around the block, you’vegot a chauffeur’s ticket, and you packlegal heat, you can make more in onenight than in a week as a police
sergeant, and double that in tips.Note: Gem dealers frequently needarmed driver-escorts operatingplain-Jane sedans or SUVs — and
they like ex-cops.
Modalities Of Elementary Posterior Protection
Heaving The Hammer
Arecently promoted sergeant got a baptism of fire inthe crucible of company politics. He learned —among other things — getting along often meantblind obedience, giving up his own sense of ethics
and morality, and even if he went along, if he didn’t alignhimself as a pawn of some powerful patron, there were high-ranking officers who would either pointedly or recreationallytry to “get him” and make his life miserable. He wanted somestraight talk about the tactics of agency survival.
Inter-organizational tactics are fine, but if they’re not builtupon some solid strategies for organizational survival, they’re
like paddles without a lifeboat. Straight talk? Here it is:
It ain’t a pretty picture, but it’s undeniably true that in someagencies, the only sin greater than speaking up is standing up;for yourself, for your troops, for what’s right; for demandingorders must not only be legal, but ethical and moral, or youwon’t carry them out; for refusing to smile and say “It must beraining!” when somebody pisses down your shirt collar.
If you really want to keep your badge, your career andyour integrity, the best thing you can do is be prepared tothrow down the first two and walk away. On any given day atany time, the more ready you are to turn in your badge, theless likely it is that it’ll be taken from you — and the moreconfidently and masterfully you can carry out your duties.
Get Your OwnPet Wolverine
Finally, retain your own lawyer,preferably one with establishedcreds in criminal defense, laborlaw, and civil service proce-
dures if you’re in such a system. Oth-
STRAIGHT TALK ON SUPERVISION & LEADERSHIP ON THE FRONT LINES — THE STREETS.
Sequoia Blankenship
a JF08 COP sec1 11/21/07 9:06 PM Page 32
erwise, get a gut-ripping criminaldefense ferret whose firm has special-ists in those other areas. Remember,you don’t need a “nice guy;” youneed a well-organized, resolutelyruthless representative.
Believe me, there are lots of seem-ingly anti-cop lawyers who only seemanti-cop because they’ve successfullydefended crooks and cops who’vegone over to the “dark side.” Many ofthem actually like cops, are strong onlaw and order, and they’d love tohave good cops; honest, wrongedcops for clients. Find one before youneed one.
Consider forming a retainer groupwith a handful of other cops you trust.Small monthly payments can beshared. Hammer out a contract that
will assure the initial response andadvice is covered by retainer, andnegotiate an established-client rate formore involved defense representation.
Yeah, I know your “employer willprovide legal services” for (selected)duty-related matters. This could be apainfully junior assistant city attorneywith a week on the job, or a deputyDA who’s been quietly told to “repre-sent” you, but leave you twisting inthe wind. It happens, guys.
The bottom line is if you haveethics, you make enemies. Be pre-pared, and keep your preparationsconfidential. The first time you needan attorney at 0300 on a Sundaymorning and he or she shows up atHQ within the hour wearing a pressedsuit, shined Gucci’s, and a mean“game face,” you’ll be gladyou went the extra mile. *
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Many practitioners ofcasual persecutionsimply love to stick
needles into people,and causing strong,
self-assured,confident youngsupervisors to
cringe and piddlelike cowed cocker
spaniels is particu-larly sweet to them.
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CLINT SMITHREALITYCHECK I ICOUNSEL, WISDOM, GUIDANCE AND TEACHING.
You know the old saying, “When it rains itpours?” Well today I was drowned by commentsor even what I might call complaints. Two verysenior cops I hold in high regard called me
today to complain about the direction the newer rifleguys of their respective departments are being led bysome of the resident LEO rifle “newer” experts.
I started teaching a rifle program in 1983 I titled“Urban Rifle.” The concept was based on personalexperiences and what was missing in the lawenforcement community and private sector in theapplication of fighting with rifles. This programwasn’t necessarily intended for SWAT. In my mind’seye, I simply wanted to teach others to fight smartwith the AR or other magazine fed rifle platform in acompressed environment.
The first few years were slow going and I got lotsof strange looks and even stranger calls about teachingtactics and techniques for the rifle inside normally con-sidered effective pistol distances or ranges.
Now, 24 years later, I’ve probably taught more rifleclasses than any other class I teach and I think I’velearned a few things about what makes a serviceablerifle system for law enforcement — especially for thepatrol cops bellying up to the rifle carry bar. So, Ithought to share these concepts with you.
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I’m Sorry,You’re NotAn Operator
First and foremost street cops from San Diego to SanJose to Savannah need to understand you are notoperators — you’re a cop in America. You aren’tstorming around the desert in armored vehicles, you
are responding to barking dogs and noisy neighbors, so takea pill or something. Can you respond to man with a gun, bar-ricaded suspects or answer radio calls to the Bank ofAmerica where bad guys have automatic weapons? Yes itmight, can and perhaps will happen. Could you find a viableuse for the rifle? You bet and I help every cop I can get arifle and learn how to use it well. Then again being a cop inAmerica and not a SEAL, Delta Spec Ops guy inAfghanistan you probably don’t need to hang every piece ofaftermarket crap made for the AR platform known tomankind on your patrol car rifle.
Sorry, you’re not an operator you’re a cop. Maybe weshould act and think like the law enforcement officers wein fact are. A
YOU’RE A COP
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Can you say everything, always, right now and free?Okay, so injecting a bit of fairness. A couple ofpoints, heavy rifle barrels aren’t more accuratethey’re just heavier. Longer rifle barrels aren’t more
accurate they’re just longer. So, why do the LEO patrolrifles have to be heavy? Damned if I know.
A retractable stock may be helpful if you wear hard orheavy armor, or if you’re small in stature. Everybodywants an epointaimdotgumsight. Glass and electronicsights do not help you shoot better. Glass may help yousee better and seeing better can be important as long as thefield of view isn’t restricted to the door hinge from acrossthe street in the looking down a toilet paper tube mode. Noglass sight will compensate for a jerk jerking on thetrigger. And I don’t see the sense in a glass sight if theiron on the rifle isn’t properly zeroed and the cop carryingit can’t shoot iron in case the battery or lens is fouled ornot working for their sake — yeah, I know they alwayswork — not.
A potential concept, maybe American cops could (note:could not should) put whatever optical sight they like on theircarry rifle after basic rifle marksmanship skills with ironsights are achieved.
Operators Or Cops
Ithink, train and work to help every Police Officer Ican with training in handgun, rifle and tactics. And,to get and use the proper equipment including armor,helmets, rifles and handguns that work. In reality
American cops aren’t operators you’re the police. Maybeyou should train and acquire equipment appropriate to thejob. A rifle that works, sights you can see, a light to iden-tify threats and the practice to apply marksman-ship skills for the problem at hand.
And, REMEMBER THE DAMN SIGHT OFFSET Pleeeease!
Rifles, What American COPs Need
This is easy, American copsneed a lightweight rifle thatworks. They need to acquireand maintain regularly prac-
ticed basic skills with using iron sights.They need a white light to identify
potential threats encountered and
*
Don’t Fix It
Iam not opposed to equipment that solves a problem. Then again,much of the rifle gear carried by American cops might be a bitover done. This seems more prevalent on big departments —they have more funding. Since most of the departments in the
US are small, funding is so short they’re lucky to even have rifles andeven luckier if they have money to buy service ammo. As to whetherthere’s training ammunition — that’s another question. Remember,qualifications — even if elaborate or done often — are not training.
My local Police and Sheriff’s Office are constantly struggling to gettraining ammo funds for their handguns. much less their rifles. And here,
unlike a lot of places, these guys can actually use rifles pretty regularly.Lake County, Oregon’s north county officers are spread so thin their closest
back up is usually 100 miles away.So, excuse me if I kind of laugh when “big city” SWAT teams on the Dis-
covery Channel are talking about how tough it is for them as they drive up in bigass armored truck and 20 guys that stepped out of a BlackHawk catalog climb outto beat down a front door of the house where the perp just flushed two ounces ofgrass down the toilet. And so the whiners don’t get fired up at editor Dave, yesyou can get just as dead in a big city or state with cover 10 seconds out as inChristmas Valley, Oregon a hundred miles from a back up.
Here are a couple of facts as I see it. Patrol cops need rifles. SWAT will be pissedbecause patrol rifles step on their tactical toes. SWAT won’t be there for an hour ortwo. You can get mad and write a letter of complaint — except it’s true.
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they really should practice. Officers needto understand and apply without pausethe placement of the projectile on a targetwhile applying the mechanical offset ofthe AR15/M16 rifle platform especiallyinside twenty-five yards. Officers need amethod of transporting the lightweight
rifle by sling allowing them to havefree hands to conduct the other tasksof their job. Officers need to haveextra rifle ammunition whether inpouch or gun mounted format. If theofficer was left-handed an ambisafety is a good thing too.
Rifles, WhatAmerican COPs Want
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CARRYOPTIONS
More STUFF
favor when thetime comes. One of the best protectionsis to carry your sensitive stuff in one ofHardigg Cases’ rugged line of StormCases. They’re extremely tough andbuilt to keep equipment safe and secureno matter what the elements dish out.They’re waterproof, dustproof, bearproof and you can even drive a truckover them — not sure why you’d wantto, but you can.
Since most in this business are prac-tical people, we realize size does matter.The finest case in the world won’t help
O ne of my favorites for transporting my work gear isthe iM2400 (18"x13"x6.7"). I can’t believe howmuch stuff I’ve gotten in it. The multi-layer cubedfoam inside makes for easy customization. I’ve put a
couple of extra handguns, some knives, flashlights (many),extra ammo, batteries, handcuffs and it’s still only about twothirds full. It’s an awesome case as are the iM2100, iM2200,and iM2300, which all fit in the small-to-medium size utilityniche. In fact, Smith & Wesson uses the iM2100 for their out-standing pre-packaged “Emergency Survival Kit,” and theiM2300 for their “Disaster Ready Kit.”
Another of my favorite Storm Cases is the iM3100. It’sthe shortest of their long-gun cases measuring36.5"x14"x6" on the interior, and has an outside length of39.8". That’s big enough to fit a Scattergun Technologies870 with a collapsible stock and a flattop AR-15 with anAimpoint and a collapsible stock. And, it easily fits acrossthe bottom of the trunk in my Crown Vic.
Besides the sizes being right for a wide variety of applications, Storm Cases aremade from a very tough proprietary HPX resin. This tough material ismolded into a unique design, which incorporates stacking ribs, hinges withfeet for sturdy upright standing and integral lock hasps allowing use of your
own padlock. Additionally, they’re packed with other features adding to their overallutility. The Press & Pull latches are wide and require an easy, yet deliberate press toopen so they won’t pop open if dropped. The handles have a soft rubberized overlaycovering making them more comfortable to carry. Also, Storm Cases have a VortexValve designed into their construction, which automatically adjusts to changingenvironmental pressures. Heavy-duty in-line wheels and rugged telescoping handlesare added to the larger cases for ease of transport with heavy loads.Overall, these are damn fine cases you can trust with your best gear.
For More Info: www.StormCase.com and www.Hardigg.com
uality gear should be carried inquality cases. You don’t want thegear your life might depend on toget thrashed around in your trunk
or manhandled in transit. Precisionequipment like your guns, optics, pho-tography equipment and electronics geardeserve the protection of a good case.Protect your gear and it’ll return the
*
if you can’t fit yourgear in it, or you can’t fit it in your trunkafter your gear is stowed inside. Cur-rently Storm Cases come in 19 differentsizes from the iM2050 –(9.5"x7.5"x4.25" interior) for precisiongear like digital cameras, GPS units, or anight vision monocular, up to the hugeiM3075 (29.8"x20.8"x17.8" interior) forthe big stuff. I’ve seen the iM3075 and ithas a warning to keep children fromplaying with it so they don’t get trappedinside! Yeah, it’s that big, and thewarning isn’t a joke. Like I mentioned,they are water tight, which meansthey’re air tight, too.
MARK HANTEN
FROM HOLSTERS TO HAVERSACKS.
Secret Formula?
Q
AnotherCASESolved
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returned with a vengeance, jumpingAlam and fighting him for the shotgun.The weapon went off, scarin’ the crapoutta both but injuring neither one. Alamheld onto the gun. This time, Walker ranout and kept going, but during hissecond mad dash, a truck driver guessedwhat was happening and jotted downWalker’s license number. A short timelater, Walker’s Albany apartment filledup with tear gas and seriousdudes in black tactical gear.
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Talk about a shortageof details — how’sthis? Police in SiouxFalls, South
Dakota reportedthey have arrested a60-year old man forburglary,unlawfuloccupancy,indecentexposure,and “com-mitting sexacts with traffic signs.” Even more enigmatic,local officers said they confiscated two yearsworth of 8mm film and VHS videotapes onwhich the suspect filmed himself in flagrantewith those innocent signs. Now, we can under-stand him taking advantage of a sign clearlysaying “Yield,” but when a sign says “STOP,”that means stop.
Area residents apparently knew some-thing weird was going on, and whenone observed Verle
Peter Dills cavorting near a traffic sign with histripod and video camera, there was some kinda con-frontation. He was chased to a nearby garage andarrested there.
Initially, we really wanted to know what the heckthis guy was doing with those traffic signs. Now,we’re not so sure. Besides, it’s probably legal inCalifornia, New York
and Massachusetts.
apparently so surprised and pleased withall the cash Alam pulled outta the reg-ister he made gurgly little happy noisesand plunked his shotgun down on thecounter — so he could fill his pocketswith both hands. That’s when Alamreached over, picked up the shotgun andturned it on Walker. The whole scenewas caught on surveillance videotape.
Wisely, Walker turned and fled outthe door. He could have gotten awayclean. About one minute later though, he
K asey G. Kazee, 24, gets our vote for “Stupid Crookof the Month.” When he apparently couldn’t comeup with a ski mask, a paper bag or panty hose, he
wrapped a couple of yards of duct tape completelyaround his head and face, leaving openings only for hiseyes and mouth before holding up Shamrock Liquors inAshland, Kentucky.
He almost made a clean getaway after robbing afemale clerk, but Shamrock employee Craig Miller hap-pened by and tackled him in the parking lot. Miller wasthen joined by a buncha good ol’ boys who (officially)“detained Kazee until the police arrived.” Judging fromthe bloody split lip and closed, swollen right eye visible
COMMANDER GILMOREONTHEJOBA CAREFULLY SELECTED COLLECTION OF SLAPSHOTS AND SNOT-FLINGIN’ FUNNY STUFF FROM FELLOW COPS.
Got something to share? Send it to me at [email protected] and if I use it, I’ll fish around in my desk and find some kinda cheap gizmo to send you.
Sometimes, you ought to justgive up and go home. That’swhat 22-year old Jason Walkershoulda done.
Disguised in sunglasses and a hoodedsweatshirt, shotgun-wielding Walkerpulled a lightning-like robbery raid onthe front counter of Quail Street News, anewsstand and convenience store inAlbany, New York. After waving hisscattergun in clerk Hafiz Alam’s faceand making his demands, Walker was *
IF AT FIRST YOU DON’T SUCCEED
between swatches of duct tape, we think it was what youcall “an active detention.”
Despite being jumped and pummeled at the scene,handed over directly to the police and being the onlydude within 50 miles with his head wrapped in ducttape, Kazee vehemently denied his guilt, saying “I’m notno duct-tape bandit — do the math, do the homework,man.” A judge did the math and set bail at $250,000.You can catch Kazee’s lame hip-hop assertion of inno-cence on YouTube athttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUB-90bCm6U anddecide for yourself. After watching it, even if he wereinnocent, we’d say, “Put this one away.”
So Exactly How Do You “Do It” With A Traffic Sign?
Jerry Meloche
Is There A Shortage Of Panty Hose Or Paper Bags?
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SAMMY REESEPhotos: IchiroNagata
One is none, two is one andwhen you are talkingKimber Covert IIs, three isfun. Editor Dave droppedthe plain brown box on mydesk. I knew from the
shape it most likely held guns. In thiscase it had three, all three sizes of the
new Kimber Covert II series — full-sizeCustom Covert II, Pro Covert II and the
Ultra Covert II were unwrapped checked forclear and fondled. When I asked Dave who was
going to review them, he didn’t respond.When I looked up he had the cat-that-ate
the-canary grin on his face. “Youdude,” was his reply as he walked
away. The results of my beggingand pleading for a feature in COPwere now being paid back in tripli-cate. “By the way, I need it bynext Tuesday.” It was FridayDamn, now I have to go the range.Luckily, Jeff Hoffman had recentlysent three different Blackhills .45ACP loads for another test.
The GunsAll three look alike — the dimen-
sions obviously aren’t the same. The two-tone deserttan KimPro II finish frame wrapped in the digital
Kimber Covert IIs
TRIO
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Kimber Covert IIsKimber Covert IIsKimber Covert IIsKimber Covert IIsKimber Covert IIsKimber Covert IIs
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camo Crimson Trace lasergips, con-trasted with the matt black oxide slidemakes for visual sensation saying, thisgun is all business.
All three are equipped withKimber’s Tactical Wedge tritium nightsights. The front straps are serrated at30 LPI in Kimber’s new borderedbase pattern. As a note, the CrimsonTrace Laser grip’s activation buttononly covers a small portion at the topof the frontstrap. The custom shophand fits each one and does a carrymelt treatment making for a supersmooth feel.
Both the Custom and the Pro have alanyard loop. A feature no one caresabout until they look down and noticetheir holster is empty.
The Custom is full-sized 1911 tippingthe scales at 31 ounces with the emptymagazine. The slide has cocking serra-tions — front and rear. The Pro is acommander-sized 1911 weighing in at28 ounces — same magazine capacity asthe Custom, with an inch shorter slide.The Ultra Covert is small, but veryserious carry package. It weighs in at 25ounces and is only 6.8"long and 4.75" high,making it .5" shorterin height than
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its full sized brother.While doing research on the Covert
IIs, I was pressed for time so I calledKimber to get the scoop on how theseguns came to be.
Consumer requests drive heavily whatKimber makes. The features included onthe Coverts are a collection of indepen-dently requested items summarized bythe custom shop into one pistol.
They’re extremely proud of how thisfamily of pistols turned out and added,“like all Kimber pistols, Coverts are 100percent made in American factories.”
Red DotThe addition of the Crimson Trace
Laser Grips to the Covert family is aforce multiplier. I know the debateabout lasers is almost as fanatical asthe Weaver versus Isosceles stance.Anything adding to the success ofwinning a deadly-force encounter is agood thing. However, without havinga good grasp of the basic marksman-ship fundamentals — like a smoothtrigger press — it won’t matter whattype of sights you use. If you smashthe trigger causing the muzzle to besomewhere other than on your targetwhen the bullet leaves the barrel —guess what — you miss.
The use of the laser takes practice;don’t assume it will “just work.” Oneof my shooting partners who helpedwith this review remarked “I can’t seethe laser.” If you find out for the firsttime under fire you can’t see the red dotat high noon in a parking lot, doom onyou — know your gear.
The laser really shined duringdiminished light conditions and whenworking with only the non-dominatehand. Most of the shooters took to itquickly and remarked at how easy itwas to make very fast accurate hits.
Some of the local departmentswho’ve approved the laser for duty usehave seen a dramatic increase of hits inofficer-involved shootings. They’vealso had suspects give up when theysee the red dot on their chest. You havechoices — choose wisely.
Shoot ‘EmAll the shooters who helped during
the testing process were familiar with1911-style handguns. One stated inthe beginning he wasn’t a real a fan,but the end of the day, I believe wehad a convert.
Due to a very short deadline testingwas going to be simple — load themand shoot them. I was concerned withfunctioning and functional accuracy.Functional accuracy to me is a groupat 25 yards in the cardiovascular tri-angle covered by the palm of the hand.If these were bull’s-eye guns, we
Continued on page 66
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Using Counterinsurgency Ideas fo
Lt.Col. David Kilcullen is a
man who knows battle.
He served 21 years in the
Australian Army and
fought in hot spots
around our globe. He served his country
and then began a tour of duty with our
State Department. In response to what he
Diagnose
There’s usually one major problem in an area and
many smaller ones. Every neighborhood has crime or at
least the potential. Certain neighborhoods seem to attract
certain types of crimes. Smart cops can smell the major
problem on their first pass through.
Organize Intelligence
There’s only so much you can know. Things
happen when you aren’t around. Stay up to speed
on crooks and crimes by talking to everyone,
including your beat partners, cops from other agen-
cies, detectives, citizens, kids, mail carriers, and, of
course, your informants.
Know Your TurfYou should know your beat, work area and yourneighborhoods like the back of your hand. Understress, the best cops can get to the hot spots withouthaving to stop and consult their map books.
Interagency OperationsIn the post-9/11 world, it’s not about credit for thearrest; it’s about sharing intel. If you’re in the city, talkto the sheriff’s deputies at jail or in areas adjoiningyour beat. If you’re working rural areas, talk to citycops about crooks and crimes. Make friends with statetroopers, state investigators, and local federal agentsassigned to your region.
Travel Light
The average cop is loaded down with about 30
pounds of gear — add heavy boots, a backup weapon,
radio and this weighty number creeps even higher. The
average fleeing felon wears shorts, really expensive bas-
ketball shoes and a tank top. Decide what you need
versus what’s nice to have.
Find An Adviser
Besides a snitch or a CI, you may be able to cultivate
a talking relationship with a delivery guy, security guard,
or convenience store clerk. Face facts: there are people in
your area who know what’s really going on or what
might be going down.
Train And Trust ThemThis is for lieutenants in general and sergeants inparticular: put your best troops in charge and let themdo good work. Cops work best when they have a goal— random patrol isn’t a goal. Each squad hassomeone who can run the show when supervisorsaren’t in the field or on other assignments. These copsmake good decisions and shouldn’t need to wait forapproval to get the job done.
Rank Vs TalentEvery squad has officers whom others turn to,based on expertise and internal leadership — not nec-
essarily created by stripes and bars. There are copswho’ve been on for 25 years and are worthless andcops who’ve been on for five and are the real go-get-ters, the searchers for felony crooks.
Adapting The “saw as the growing sophistication of
Iraqi and Afghani fighters, he wrote a
manifesto of sorts and titled it,
“Twenty-Eight Articles: Fundamentals
for Company-level Counterinsurgency.”
Where you work may not look like Iraq
or Afghanistan; it’s sad to say if we
don’t do our jobs one day it might.
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SteveAlbrecht s for Street-Level Encounter
Have A Plan
One reason why routine patrol is so boring: it’s
mostly aimless driving. You should hit the field every day
with the idea to rid your community of some far too
active human scourge. Police work is more than just
dirtbag control; it should be driven by daily and weekly
goals and by projects pertaining to each shift.
Be ThereOne reason so many departments made the movetoward community-oriented policing is it forces copsto get out of their cars and meet citizens. Contrary topopular jaded police belief, not all people are jerks.Most normal people want to live their lives in peace,free from worries about crime and they want you intheir neighborhoods.
Avoid Knee Jerk ResponsesThere are the reasons why you think somethinghappened and there’s the real reason it did. There arelong-standing neighborhood feuds going on beforeyou got there and will continue long after you leave.You can’t always make assumptions based on whatyou think you already know.
Prepare For Handover
At some point, you’ll change shifts, leave your beat or
your division, get promoted, go to an investigative or,
Heaven forbid, administrative assignment. Make your
replacement’s path easier by sitting down and briefing him
about who’s who and what’s what in the area.
e “28 Articles”
Build Trusted Networks“This is the true meaning of the phrase ‘hearts andminds,’ which comprises two separate components.‘Hearts’ means persuading people their best interestsare served by your success; ‘minds’ means con-vincing them you can protect them, and resisting youis pointless. Note neither concept has to do withwhether people like you.”
Start Easy
You can’t get everyone to love you or even like
you; you can, through time, win them over and start to
give you help, information or support. Don’t try to
lock up the local street gang leader on your first day in
a new neighborhood. Figure out who supports the
gang and who doesn’t. Then charm the socks off the
second group — who’d just as soon see the guy dead.
They’re much more likely to give you information
leading to his arrest.
Seek Early VictoriesGain a lot of credibility by solving little problems forpeople. Fixing a longtime parking problem with new redcurbs, getting rid of the renters in a chronic party call houseor getting the local homeless, psycho drunk locked away orinto rehab, can earn you a lot of bonus points. Knock downthe easy pins first — then go for the big strikes.
Deterrent Patrolling
We’re not successful if bad guys are attacking,
assaulting, ambushing, or shooting at us first. Work
constantly to change and adapt your methods to keep
the bad guys off balance. Keep them guessing with
new approaches.
Prepare For SetbacksCops get injured or killed while doing this job. Wewin way more deadly force encounters than we lose.You can — will — and do make a difference in the
lives of people in your community.
The Global Audience
Everything you do can, might or will show up on a
video tape, a cell phone camera or even on Internet. Be
wary of what Col. Kilcullen calls “the scripted enemy,”
meaning those contacts or encounters involving con-
trived or staged situations concocted by a community
irritator to be part of a media ambush. They want to get
you on camera saying or doing something dumb,
seemingly racist or unnecessarily violent.
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Fight Strategy, Not Forces
There are always going to be more crooks than cops
and more people who want to use guns, drugs or alcohol
and use fear to get their ways. You can’t stop or catch
them all. Spend a lot of your quality work time inter-
rupting their opportunities. Seek to be visible and pro-
tective for the public and be visible andproactive toward the crooks.
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*
Women And ChildrenWomen are connectors to your crooks. They knowwhere the guns are stored, where the dope is beingbought and who did what to whom last Saturday in theparking lot. Learn when and how to separate them fromtheir men to get the real story.Kids take guns to school or carry them on the streetsto kill their rivals. They’ll certainly not stop justbecause you’re on scene. If you are not prepared toengage in a deadly firefight with someone who lookslike your son or nephew, quit now and go sell shoes.
Take Stock
What can I improve? What equipment do I need to
add to my belt, car or trunk? What equipment do I need
to remove either because it loads me down or more
importantly, haven’t trained with it enough to be tacti-
cally perfect. Good cops measure their performance.
Single NarrativeWhat is my “mission statement” for my beat or ser-vice area? What is the one thing I can tell everyonethat I’ll do this week, this month or during my yearsworking here? Take back one drug corner, no matterhow many arrests I have to make? Drive the paroleesand registered sex offenders out of my area? Takeback a park, a shopping mall or a neighborhood, sonormal people can feel safe again?
Armed Civil AffairsIn many cities and towns police are the problem-solvers for the community. While people may rely onthe Fire Department for medical, accidental orthermal stuff, it’s the cops they call when they needhelp with frightening, life-threatening events. A bigpart of your job is to become good at solving prob-lems that make civilized life possible.
Small Is Beautiful
Good ideas are good ideas anywhere. Low-key crime
fighting efforts in one neighborhood often work in
another. But your experience should already tell you good
and small ideas often fail when they try to become big and
bold. Creating a task force or taking a “if three cops were
successful, then 23 cops will be better” approach is
doomed. The KISS acronym also stands for Keep it
Simple and Small.
Build SolutionsOnly attack the enemy when he gets in the way.Police work can turn into a game of keep-away, chasingthe same crooks while they thumb their noses at ourefforts to lock them up permanently. Sometimes it helpsto use selective enforcement and ding some bad guysagain and again; other times it can be a distraction fromyour overall mission of community safety. Catch the bigfish with a sharp hook and stop sweeping the ocean witha tattered net, looking for small fry.
Keep A Secret
Don’t tell the citizens or street people anything
about yourself. Don’t discuss your kids, family or
even what part of town you live in. Don’t tell them
you’re about to go off duty, when shift changes or
how many other cops are in the area. The smallest
piece of information can be “socially engineered”
into too much news about you, your colleagues or
your plans.
The InitiativeCol. Kilcullen puts it succinctly: “If the enemy isreacting to you, you control the environment.” Weneed to keep them guessing and show up when andwhere they don’t expect us. We need to use tactics andprocedures they haven’t seen, including cutting-edgesearching and handcuffing techniques, assertive andunique vehicle stop methods and out of the boxresponses to radio calls.
Mirror The Enemy
You know you can trust no one, especially CIs or other
crooks. At the end of the day, you should always be in
control of the flow of information, what it means and what
it’s leading to. People who work with you to provide
information can put themselves at extreme risk. Even the
suspicion someone — civilian or hood — is working with
the cops can cause that person or his or her family to be
intimidated, tortured or killed.
Adapting The “28 Articles”
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opinion that fits the spin they’re applying to a truly sad event.Those same reporters view their job as a competition andtherefore seek that one tidbit of information none of the otherreporters have. When they can’t find it they’ll sometimesoffer their own, and usually ill-informed opinions on how andwhy events unfolded. At the scene of any criminal event largeenough to warrant national attention the most obvious andvisible target are the law enforcement professionals.
If you think back to the news coverage as it occurred thatmorning most of the photos and videos were of cops at var-ious places on the scene. In fact, one of the first criticismsto come out of the mainstream media was attached to thephoto of two officers, guns in hand, behind the cover of alarge tree. The reporter was quick to report those officerswere “just standing around in a safe place” whilestudents/children inside were being gruesomely murdered.The implication was law enforcement hadn’t learned any-thing from the Columbine event in 1999 and in spite of con-temporary Active Shooter protocols, cops were outsidestaying safe rather than aggressively making entry to save
Virginia TechAnd The MainStream Media
On Monday, April 16, 2007 at approximately 0715,Seung Hui Cho murdered two people in a dormroom at West Ambler Johnston Hall, VirginiaPolytechnic Institute and State University morecommonly known as Virginia Tech. Two murders
in a dorm room isn’t national news, but it’s enough toattract attention from local news reporters in the small townof Blacksburg. What happened two and a half hours laterreally caught the nation’s attention and caused swarms ofreporters to flock to the college town. Not well known fortheir tact and diplomacy, mainstream media representativesdid such a good job of searching for trivial information thatby Sunday the 22nd many restaurants and bars in Blacks-burg had put up signs saying, “Media Not Welcome.”
SpinSuch a reaction can only be caused by reporters who view
themselves as so dedicated to their jobs that they “dig for thetruth”. Here’s the reality: everyone’s truth is different andwhat those reporters are really digging for is some fact or
Frank Borelli
At the scene of any criminal event large
enough to warrant national attention the
most obvious and visible target are the
law enforcement professionals.
At the scene of any criminal event large
enough to warrant national attention the
most obvious and visible target are the
law enforcement professionals.
a JF08COP sec2 11/21/07 8:58 PM Page 51
52 WWW.AMERICANCOPMAGAZINE.COM • JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2008
those children.
Reality Vs SpinHere’s the reality: The first 911 call
came out of Norris Hall — where Chomurdered 30 victims — at 9:46 am.Per the statements of officers whowere on the scene, Cho’s last shot wasfired at approximately 9:54 am. Per
other statements,two SWAT Teams — Virginia Techand Blacksburg — were on the sceneat Norris Hall within two to three min-utes of the first 911 call being dis-patched. Reality is, while those twoofficers were behind the cover of thattree they were on a perimeter positionand not making entry because there
were already two SWAT Teams andother patrol cops making entry. In allits great experience and wisdom themainstream media knows nothing ofpolice operations outside what they’velearned from the Lethal Weaponmovies and the Cops television show.
Today’s Active Shooter responseprotocols do mandate first arriving offi-
The first 911 callcame out of NorrisHall — where Cho
murdered 30 victims— at 9:46 am.
The first 911 callcame out of NorrisHall — where Cho
murdered 30 victims— at 9:46 am.
a JF08COP sec2 11/21/07 8:58 PM Page 52
WWW.AMERICANCOPMAGAZINE.COM 53
cers form a hasty entry team. Howeverthere are a couple of specific items thatshould be noted, and it’s these specificitems the media seems to either be igno-rant of or completely miss as they reporton such events.
First, the need to form a hasty teamand make entry doesn’t remove theneed to secure a perimeter. Not every
responding cop can be part of an entryteam. Some are needed to secure aperimeter if for no other reason than tokeep the, so-called, intelligent reportersfrom getting into dangerous places.
Secondly, not every Active Shooterevent starts out that way. I recentlyexchanged e-mails with a televisionproducer under the impression the
Amish SchoolShooting in Nickel Mines, Pennsyl-vania was an Active Shooter eventfrom start to finish. He wanted anexplanation as to why officers stoodaround outside for 20 to 25 minutesinstead of making entry. Well ,because there’s a big differencebetween an Active Shooter and a
Per the statementsof officers who
were on the scene,Cho’s last shot
was fired atapproximately
9:54 am.
Per the statementsof officers who
were on the scene,Cho’s last shot
was fired atapproximately
9:54 am.
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54 WWW.AMERICANCOPMAGAZINE.COM • JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2008
Hostage Barricade situation.
Active Shooter Or HostageOne thing that’s hardest to train in
Active Shooter Response is the pos-sible transition to a hostage barricadesituation. Once the shooting stops andthe shooter has simply taken hostagesin a secured location then it’s a barri-
caded suspect withhostages. Who’s to say the eventcan’t start that way? That’s what hap-pened at Nickel Mines. The shooterbarricaded himself in the schoolbuilding with his victims. He wasn’tshooting them — yet . He hadhostages. I don’t know of anyresponse protocols requiring patrol
cops to form a hasty team and rushinto a barricades suspect situation.Indeed, doing so may result in theunnecessary deaths of the hostages.
Such “trivialities” seem lost onmainstream media reporters ferventlysearching for that spin or tidbit that’llput them ahead in their imaginaryrace. Such reporters use these
a JF08COP sec2 11/21/07 8:58 PM Page 54
events of theattack and took comments from the
community members. During everysession there seemed to be only twoitems of importance: gun control (orlack thereof) and mental healthreporting factors.
Everyone knows Cho wasn’t a
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Continued on page 64
tragedies to improve their reputationas a reporter — even if, at the sametime, it lowers their standing as adecent human being.
SheepThe next item we need to focus on
at such events is how the victims didor didn’t defend themselves. Now,
don’t get mewrong: I amnot criticizingthose poor souls who died at Cho’shand. However, there are those whohave used this event to further theirown agenda. I spent several hours on acouple of different days watching thecommittee sessions as they reviewed
Two SWAT Teams— Virginia Tech
and Blacksburg —were on the scene
at Norris Hallwithin two to
three minutes ofthe first 911 callbeing dispatched.
Two SWAT Teams— Virginia Tech
and Blacksburg —were on the scene
at Norris Hallwithin two to
three minutes ofthe first 911 callbeing dispatched.
a JF08COP sec2 11/21/07 8:58 PM Page 55
My lastt w oc o l u m n sproduced someinteresting reac-tions. Many thought I
was right on target with my observations andrequests for permission to reprint the articles were made.No surprise, most came from association officials who toolong toiled under the scrutiny and abuse of oppressivemanagement. I think they feel unloved. In fact, during onecall I could have sworn I heard the Righteous Brothersplaying in the background: I need your love, I need yourlove. Probably just a coincidence. As unbelievable as itsounds, many management types didn’t seem to embracemy words. Apparently, I just don’t understand the trials andtribulations managers encounter every day. “Every day,dammit!” Oddly enough, they too feel unloved. Sorry, no
song inthe back-
ground, appar-ently only in their
hearts — their empty,cold, cruel hearts. Clearly,
we all have work to do if we’re tostraighten this out.
Just Some ObservationsSome observations about the nature of police managers,
cops and organizations are in order. Together, they form asystem that’s reasonably functional and does a good job sup-pressing crime and protecting the community. While policeagencies typically do a good job; they perform at far fromtheir best due to the nature of their systems. The most funda-mental element of effective leadership and organizations istrust. Trust between peers; managers and subordinates;
56 WWW.AMERICANCOPMAGAZINE.COM • JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2008
One Coin; TOne Coin; T
Steve
Cartw
right
a JF08COP sec2 11/21/07 8:58 PM Page 56
sworn offi-cers and civil-ians; horses andcanines; the Clam-petts and the McCoys —you get the idea. Yet trust can bein short supply because of territorialism,attempts to gain power, ego, covering yourself, blame and aculture, unfortunately, appearing to value looking good morethan being good — most agencies don’t even try to differen-tiate the two. All of these combine to produce a toxic brewthat’ll persist until the various factions come to put the orga-nization before themselves (did I just hear someone faint?);try to address the collective good stop engaging in self-serving actions only serving to divide the organization andcome to understand each others’ perspective. All these sub-organizations with internal political agendas based on race,ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, nose hair, earlobe size,
innie or outie, orwhatever are unhealthy.
Look Out ManagersLet’s start with management.
My earlier articles produced some col-orful feedback from police managers. Most
had to do with “this is a really tough job” — wow,never occurred to me — “the department won’t let me,” adeputy chief actually said that in one of my seminars. It tellsyou how deeply ingrained our sense of helplessness can be —and, if you want to be a leader, don’t ask, just do; “they don’tlike it when things change.” There’s a term for that in people— it’s called “dead.” Finally the ever present “you don’tunderstand.” Yes, I do. Taken together all of this makes for asentence, not a career. You just don’t want your career to be amodel of that country song: “If I had shot you when I firstwanted to, I’d be out of prison by now.” More importantly,
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Continued on page 68
Two Sides Two SidesRich DeParis
Sequoia Blankenship
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HOW A PDCHANGED
— AND TRAINED
HOW A PDCHANGED
— AND TRAINED
Going 1GoingRoger EckstineRoger Eckstine
a JF08COP sec2 11/21/07 8:59 PM Page 58
WWW.AMERICANCOPMAGAZINE.COM 59
Recruiting and retention are problems suffered bydepartments throughout the US. Agencies, big andsmall, are struggling to come up with strategies toremedy the issue but most fall short. Harrison,Arkansas Police Chief Lyle Smith and Major Sam
Martin came up with a novel, in their case effective, effortto offer better training to the troops and possibly attractmore recruits by instituted a policy of issuing first classside arms, ammo and gear. Harrison is a city of approxi-mately 13,000. Thanks to an influx of large corporations,it’s experiencing renewed growth. Workers from out oftown exponentially boost the daytime population adding
pressure to all city services.Patrol and Detective cops in Harrison now carry Spring-
field Armory Loaded stainless steel 1911-A1 45ACP pis-tols. Springfield’s pistols were selected based on qualityand the fact the city was able to deal directly with the man-ufacturer. The uniform patrol gun is the model PX9151Lfeaturing a five-inch barrel, cocobolo grips and Novaksights. The more compact Champion PX9142L with a four-inch barrel is issued to the detectives. The Champion addsNovak night sights and a ramped bull barrel as well as amulti spring recoil guide rod. Both include features, notlong ago, considered custom such as aluminum trigger,
g 1911a JF08COP sec2 11/21/07 8:59 PM Page 59
skeletonized hammer, beveled magwell, oversized beavertail, ambidex-trous thumb safety and high visibilitysnag proof sights.
Morale And PolicyAccording to Chief
Smith the shift inpolicy benefits boththe city and theircops. But, does thelack of choiceaffect morale.Actually, there
was a sense of relief among the troopsfrom having the burden of choosing aproper sidearm passed on to the
department. Previous policy allowedthe choice of any high quality gunchambered for calibers of at least 9mmor 38 Special. But, more often than notthe choice of weapon was based onwhat they could afford. The Spring-
field Armory pistols carry a sug-gested retail price of more than
$900, which is well above theprice an average cop typi-
cally spends on a dutygun. The department
issuing the dutypistol not only
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a JF08COP sec2 11/21/07 8:59 PM Page 60
does put some income back in theofficer’s pocket but it also accountedfor a reduction in liability — makingthe bean counters happy too.
More safety features are includedwith the 1911 when compared torevolvers or double action only pis-tols. The grip safety must be com-pressed in order for the gun to fire.Springfield Armory added a speciallow mass/low inertia firing pin toreduce the possibility of ignition dueto impact. Each pistol is fi t withthumb-operated safeties whichamount to a virtual on/off switcheasily controllable for right- and left-handed officers.
Training And More TrainingIntroduction to the Springfield
Armory 1911A1 pistols began with aclassroom session focusing on opera-tion and basic field maintenance. Thenext day conducted at the range wastheir first qualification session withthe new guns. Of all the qualified offi-cers, 52 percent shot better scoreswith the newly issued 1911s. Severalshot a personal best including oneofficer with a ninety-seven percentdespite changing to .45 ACP from a9mm double action pistol.
After an ammo demonstration fea-turing the new duty round, Rem-ington’s jacketed hollow point 230-gr.Golden Saber, the combat portion ofthe training was then turned over toReserve Detective and world classIPSC competitor Ross Carter. Carterdesigned separate courses of fire forboth the day and night shoot. The firstcourse of fire began with a suspectinterview gone bad and progressed toa reload behind cover movement toengagement of steel targets and
moving targets as well.Creating distance, using cover and
moving safely with the gun are neces-sary skills. But, the course of fire also
underscored the need to masterreloading techniques. The biggest con-cern among HPD personnel was thereduction in total capacity to 7+1
rounds. With directedpractice and challengingreality based trainingreloading can becomesecond nature, efficientand fast.
As the sun began toset on the small outdoorrange carved into ascenic hillside, Har-rison’s cops broke fordinner and changed fromDon Hume leather toUncle Mike’s BDU webgear. A patrol car wasmoved on to the rangeand a fresh scenario waslaid out. Headlights androof lights includingflood and flashers wereengaged. The course offire began with theofficer exiting the patrolcar and engaging severalsteel and paper targetsfrom behind the openeddrivers side door. Theymoved to the back of thecar and engaged targetsfrom behind the rearquarter panel.
The next task was torescue an innocentvictim while engaging
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62 WWW.AMERICANCOPMAGAZINE.COM • JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2008
three hostile targets. In the dim lightthe officer picked up the dummy andmoved it to cover. Hits were confirmedby breaking balloons mounted on eachpaper target. The final positionrequired engagement of five additionalsteel targets. The officers soon learnedfinding the Novak sights against a par-tially illuminated background wasn’tas difficult as feared and theergonomics of the 1911 helped themget on target quickly.
Good Old DaysThe next day reflecting on the
training session, Assistant ChiefMajor Sam Martin commented, “Inmy days as a patrolman, we neverwanted to go home. When our shiftended we just rode with our buddieson the next shift. Today’s recruitswant to know what the job can do forthem and I understand that. But, it’sthat old time enthusiasm that we wantto build here.”
Certainly part of the incentive towork in Harrison is the beautiful naturalsurroundings. This is the reason manysmaller municipalities are a great placeto be a cop and supplying first classtools like the Springfield Armory1911A1 Loaded pistols is another reasonwhy Harrison, Arkansas ismoving forward. *
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a JF08COP sec2 11/21/07 9:01 PM Page 63
64 WWW.AMERICANCOPMAGAZINE.COM • JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2008
mentally healthy individual. Whetheryou think this was an emotional dis-order, mental disorder or simply hewas misunderstood — whatever.Something’s wrong with a man wholoads up with almost 500 rounds ofammo and uses two handguns to huntteachers and fellow students in asecured facility. A great deal of com-mittee focus seemed to be on whetheror not Cho’s stability was correctlyreported, and if so, was it correctlyacted upon. The bottom line waswhile everyone involved did every-thing as required by and within theconfines of the law, there were thosewho felt the need to blame this eventon someone besides Cho. Members ofthe mental health and the attachedreporting community were also aneasy target.
Good Guns And Bad GunsThen came the gun communities:
both anti-gun and pro-gun. The guncontrol proponents called for morestringent laws governing the sale andpurchase of handguns. Obviously ifCho hadn’t gotten his hands on thoseguns he wouldn’t have killed anyone— according to them. On the otherside of the debate is the claim that ifVirginia Tech had only allowed prop-erly licensed students to carry con-cealed weapons then perhaps someonecould have ended Cho’s attack prior topolice arrival.
Let’s be honest: those guns didn’tcome alive and kill anyone. They weretools used by Cho to kill students. Hecould have just as easily used swords,explosives or sharp scissors — and thevictims would be just as dead. Theabsence of guns in the hands of the“good guy” students may or may nothave played a role. One reality we doneed to address is if there were armedstudents, would they have had to havethe will to use them?
Counter AttackConversation with some responding
officers indicated those students whosurvived were those who took somepositive action to escape the violence.They dodged, ducked and somejumped out windows. Again, whileI’m not criticizing survivors and cer-tainly not any of the dead, I have toask this question: why wasn’t thereany counter-attack? With violenceactively being performed against fiveclassrooms full of teachers and stu-dents, how come no one attempted toattack back? It’s called self-defense. Iknow what I think the answer is —we’ll discuss it in thenext issue. *
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would have shot a lot of bull’s-eye tar-gets. What we found was in the righthands the Custom and the Pro couldpass as bull’s-eye guns. One of ourshooters could use the Ultra and be atop shooter in any type of completion.
The day started out with approxi-mately 1,500 rounds of Blackhillsammo. 230 gr. JHP, 230 gr. FMJ and185gr JHP. At the end of the day all of itwas empty brass. I’m no math wiz, but Iwould put that at 500 rounds per gunwith no cleaning.
Not a single malfunction was reportedduring any string of fire. The guns were
shot limp wrested and in awkward posi-tions intentionally trying to induce mal-functions — nada — not a single one.
Accuracy was in the eye and handsof the shooter. The “I’m not a 1911fan” shooter turned in the tightestslow fire groups and was super fast onthe quick strings. His comment wasstraight out of a Bill Ingval skit. “Iguess I shouldn’t bad mouth some-thing I haven’t tried.” He told me hebelieved all the old hype about 1911sbeing inaccurate and they jam all thetime. What he found was he shot allthree Coverts better than he shoots hisduty Sig 226 in .40. By the time thishits print I’m sure he’ll have added a1911 to his collection.
Favorite?Picking a favorite would be tough.
For duty, the full-size would be my topchoice with the Pro coming in a closesecond. I have to admit I’m a big fanof commander-sized pistols. I’ve car-ried a Pro-Carry for almost 10 years.For ultimate concealment the surpris-ingly soft shooting Ultra would be thewinner. Each shooter had a favorite,and none said they didn’t like a partic-ular pistol. Coming from this groupI’d say the Covert IIs receiveda glowing endorsement.
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He believed all theold hype about 1911s
being inaccurateand they jam all thetime. What he foundwas he shot all threeCoverts better thanhe shoots his duty
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exhibiting a sense of hopelessness, riskaversion, complacency and an unwill-ingness to challenge the status quosimply doesn’t inspire trust. If policesupervisors and managers want to lead,these behaviors have to be abandoned infavor of those giving the organizationvitality and a sense of strength.
Broken WorkforceWe have to ask, how these behaviors
developed. People don’t come to thepolice workforce broken. Rather, theyadapt to existing dysfunctional systemsdeveloped over decades. It’s Darwin inan organizational environment. Survivalof the fittest. But the “fittest” in a policeagency is the person mirroring theinformal values of the organization —healthy or not. The organization repro-duces itself over and over again using thesame DNA. Watch Deliverance if youwant to see what happens when that’sgoing on. This tends to perpetuate obso-lete values and approaches that just don’twork well in today’s police environment.How’s this cycle broken when the meansby which people are promoted is oftendoing what the department wants ratherthan doing what the department needs?These don’t have to be two differentthings but all too often are. True leadersmake certain they are one and the same.
Career-minded people cannot befaulted for adapting in this fashion. Infact, my experience is most police man-agers work diligently and try to con-tribute. They don’t realize they’veslipped into a pattern making them farless effective. Change needs to comeby shifting the department’s tempera-ment and focus to a more energetic,achievement-oriented approach wherepeople aren’t just expected to treadwater — but swim. However, I don’tthink making rules stops those soinclined from doing foolish things.Rules don’t mean anything to thosefolks unless they’re caught breakingthem. Change will come from leadingand inspiring, mutual respect and focuson achievement. When that happens,people want to follow. They want to bepart of the action. They’ll develop prideand once developed, they don’t want tobreak the rules and won’t allow thosearound them to do so either.
Management TerrorHere’s the kicker though. The
reason all these restrictive administra-tive systems — and the culture pro-duced — exists is largely because ofthe self-centeredness, selfishness, lackof work ethic and misconduct bymembers of the workforce causingmanagement to feel the need to con-trol behaviors and restrict autonomy.
ONE COIN, TWO SIDESContinued from page 57
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This has developed over decades andstill shapes our agencies and our cul-ture. How though is the cycle broken?In many ways, the answer is the work-force needs to behave in a fashioninspiring trust from management.Frankly, I can fully understand whymanagement takes the approach theydo. We all know cops might damnwell do anything. Almost nothing isbeyond the realm of possibility and itscares the bejeezuz out of manage-ment. Remember the cops at a policeconference in DC who got drunk anddecided to go surfing? They went tothe second floor of their hotel, pouredvegetable oil on the stainless steelbetween the escalators, stripped com-pletely naked and slid into the lobby— all 15 of them. Now that’s a chief’sbriefing I’d give anything to attend.I’d have fired them too.
Peer PressureSo, if you’re reading this while
pushing a beat car around, keep inmind the workforce has an obligationto conduct itself in a manner inspiringtrust and confidence. But, it doesn’tstop with you. It extends to ensuringyour peers also engender trust. Theworkforce needs to police i tselfthrough peer pressure. That’s the onlymeans by which perceived need formanagerial pressure will subside —clearing the way for greater autonomyand effectiveness. Take a look at thebehaviors management deals with:putting oneself before coworkers orthe organization; an unbelievablesense of enti t lement even amongbrand new employees; unwillingnessto engage in disliked activities; lack-adaisical work ethic; little respect forrank or authority; lack of devotion tothe profession; chronic complainingabout everything; and on and on. Self-centeredness and self-importance arefar too prevalent. Peers simplymaking it clear the behavior is unwel-come and unacceptable can change it.Until then, can anyone begin to blamemanagement for being watchful? Icertainly can’t.
Toro Caca?The last couple of columns caused a
number of managers to take the com-ments personally and become verydefensive. That’s an interesting reac-tion. My observations are general andseek to bring to the surface generaltrends impacting many of us. They cer-tainly don’t apply to every organiza-tion, manager or cop. They’re justsomething to consider. However, if youwant a checkpoint — here it is. If youtake my observations personally thenyou probably engage in the practices Irail against. Before you say “ToroCaca,” at least giveit some thought. *
The Night Sentry“Fits between your mattress & boxspring!”
The sound of window glass breaking or the caralarm in the driveway...How fast can you prepare todefend your loved ones and your property?
The “Night Sentry” will work with most any sizeor type of holster you provide, while your flash-light is always within easy reach. Also great forcell phones, mace or stun guns.
The “Night Sentry” can be a lifesaver!Makes A Great Gift!
To order your “Night Sentry” visit our web site at
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a JF08COP sec2 11/21/07 9:01 PM Page 70
ULTIMATE PATROL BAG 2Delta Tactical
The rookie is ready for duty, The Ultimate Patrol Bag 2 hasa main compartment that measures 19"x14"x13.5" andincludes luggage-quality carry handles and shoulder strap.Features include a large, lockable main compartment, two
weatherproof open compartments and various open,mesh and zippered compartments designed to hold note-books, ticket books, cell phones, office supplies, businesscards and more. There is even a drink holder and loopsto secure the bag with a seatbelt. To see more of the Ulti-
mate Patrol Bag 2, log on to www.deltatactical.com.
For more information on seeing your product featured in “Spotlight,” contact Delano Amaguin (888) 732-6461.
SLEET BOOTS5.11 Tactical
Ideal for cold weather, the mid-height Sleet 6 and taller Sleet 8boots feature antibacterial and moisture-wicking Drilex liningand Thinsulate insulation. Sleet boots are bloodborne pathogen-resistant and feature non-metallic construction, full-grain pol-ishable leather toe, 1200D nylon upper and oil and slip-resistant, quiet outsole. Other features include Shock Mit-igation System, Phylon comfort mid-sole, EVA dual-density insole and waterproof/breathable mem-brane. The Sleet 8 also includes a hidden pocket andconvenient side zipper. Sleet boots are available in sizes 4-15with wide widths from 7-13. Upgrade your boots at your local5.11 dealer and visit www.511tactical.com to read more than3,000 boot testimonials.
THE REMORAMaxpedition Hard Use Gear
The Remora is the newest and smallest member of theGearslinger line, designed to be lightweight and comfort-able yet, like all Maxpedition products, loaded with fea-tures and attachment points. Both the main and rear com-partments have loop fields for attaching internal CCW acces-sories. The shoulder strap is ambidextrous and concealable. TheRemora can be piggybacked onto larger packs using SlikClips. Formore information, call toll free 1-877-629-5556 or visit Maxpedi-tion on the Web at: www.maxpedition.com.
SPOTLIGHT
COOL T-SHIRTSBenchmade Knife Company
Benchmade has a new apparel line. These are not yourrun of the mill products. Custom designs, quality mate-rial and distinctive Benchmade insignia create a t-shirtwith a serious statement. With slogans like, “Failure isnot an option...” and “One chance, one cut...” — it’salmost like these shirts were specifically designed forlaw enforcement, but then again their knives are. For acomplete listing of the new Benchmade apparel line visitwww.benchmade.com or e-mail [email protected].
PUBLICATIONSSupport Law Enforcement
Support Law Enforcement began publishing informationfor the law enforcement industry in 2003. Since then,law enforcement agencies across the country haveacquired its publications. Their mission is to promotewellness and build strong law enforcement communitiesto better support the industry. The company was startedby an LE family and content for publications was con-tributed by many different members and families in lawenforcement who have endured and overcome some ofthe challenges the industry can bring. Check out theirofferings at www.supportlawenforcement.com.
72 WWW.AMERICANCOPMAGAZINE.COM • JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2008
WEAPONLIGHTSureFire
When SureFire introduced its X200WeaponLight series several years ago,they decided to offer two versions. With theintroduction of the new X300, users can nowenjoy the best of both in one light. With a maximumoutput of 110 lumens, the X300 is bright enough to both illumi-nate a threat and temporarily overwhelm his night-adaptedvision. Check it out online at www.surefire.com.
OHAI HOLSTERCrossBreed Holsters
The Ohai replaces the floppy holster found in some con-cealed carry bags. It features a molded kydex scabbardmounted to a leather backer with Velcro backing. It canbe used in any sling, pack, bag or pouch with a Velcro-lined pocket. The holster can also be mounted to manysurfaces such as the underside of a desk. Check out theOhai on the Web at www.crossbreedholsters.com or callthem at 1-888-732-5011.
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a JF08COP sec2 11/21/07 9:01 PM Page 73
74 WWW.AMERICANCOPMAGAZINE.COM • JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2008
Appropriate force related to vehiclesis a complex and serious issue with fewsimple answers. The federal prosecutor isquoted as offering, “...we’re concernedlaw enforcement has the understandingthey are not to use firearms as spikes.This is not constitutionally permissive.This is the message I hope this court notonly sends to the this defendant, but alsoto all of law enforcement.” By their ownadmission they wanted to boil down acomplex use of force issue and make anational example out of this poor deputy.
This deputy faced over 10 years inprison for what they claim was abuse ofthe criminal’s civil rights. These criminals
were allegedly illegal aliens, allegedly inthe act of illegal entry, trafficking inhuman smuggling, car theft, evadingarrest, attempted battery on a cop,resisting arrest, escape from custody, taxfraud, money laundering and organizedcrime. But the Deputy is the one whoneeds to be prosecuted and face jail time?
Whose Job Is I t?It’s the Federal Government’s job to
secure our borders. When the feds failto do their job it falls upon individualcops — all wearing guns. Only now, ifthey make a mistake, they face prison.
We all hate dirty cops; they shouldfeel the full fury of the criminal justicesystem. But honest hard working cops,who make mistakes, act out of fear orsimply royally screw up should faceappropriate punishment — variousadministrative sanctions, economicloss, and even loss of employment.They shouldn’t face more time inprison than a murderer.
The next time a politician talks abouthow we need more “gun control” forcrime problems, remember this example.Cops are being used as shills to deceivethe public into believing more gun con-trol is needed. Cops are also being prose-cuted and put in prison — in part —because politicians pass more gun con-trol laws. Every person with a badge andeveryone who loves and cares for themneeds to start screaming. Go publicagainst your police “leaders” and politi-cians who continue to push more guncontrol as crime control. It allows cops tobe screwed by politiciansseeking glory.
LEAAContinued from page 16
*
Every person witha badge and
everyone wholoves and cares
for them needs tostart screaming.
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76 AMERICAN COP • JULY/AUGUST 200676 WWW.AMERICANCOPMAGAZINE.COM • JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2008
BIGGEST PACKAGE YET!WIN!WIN!
SMITH & WESSON M&P .40S&W,BLACKHAWK DUTY GEAR AND ASP COMBOSMITH & WESSON M&P .40S&W,
BLACKHAWK DUTY GEAR AND ASP COMBO
American COP Magazine is starting offthe New Year with our biggest prizepackage yet. Some lucky reader will
win this ultimate duty package from Smith&Wesson, BlackHawk, ASP and NorthendWoodcrafters — everything you’ll need to hitthe field.
Smith & Wesson M&P .40Smith & Wesson’s law enforcement workhorsecomes with a legacy of more than a hundred yearsof service to cops and the military. The M&P wasspecially designed to meet the needs of soldiers andcops all over the world. It’s specifically engineered itto provide professionals with the high-level perfor-
mance and safety critical in our day-to-day duties.This is one truly duty ready pistol. It offers distinc-tive features providing durability, safety and ver-satility. They include a polymer, reinforced frameand stainless steel barrel and slide, a passivetrigger safety to prevent firing if dropped and aunique trigger mechanism eliminating the need topress the trigger to disassemble the firearm. TheM&P’s ergonomic design is enhanced with threeinterchangeable grip sizes — changeable in amatter of seconds. It also features an ambidex-trous slide stop and mag release. A universalPicatinny-style equipment rail allows the additionof tactical lights and lasers.For More info: www.smith-wesson.com
Also includes the new Kimber GuardianAngel non-lethal OC self defense tool!
a JF08COP sec2 11/21/07 9:02 PM Page 76
Photo: Dave Douglas
O
INCLUDED INTHIS ULTIMATE
DUTY PACKAGE:NORTHEND
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DUTY PACKAGE:NORTHEND
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Model: M&PCaliber: .40 S&WCapacity: 15+1 RoundsBarrel Length: 4.25"Front Sight: Steel Ramp Dovetail MountRear Sight: Steel Novak Lo-Mount CarryTrigger Pull: 6.5 lbs.Finish: Slide and Barrel Black MeloniteOverall Length: 7.5"Material: Zytel Polymer Frame, Stainless Steel
Barrel/Slide and Structural ComponentsWeight Empty: 24.25 oz.Overall Height: 5.5"Width: 1.2"
TO ENTER CONTEST: Use a postcard (no envelopes, please) andfollow the sample shown. Send to AMERICAN COP Dept. X1, P.O.Box 501930, San Diego, CA 92150-1930. Entries must be receivedbefore March 1, 2008.
Limit 1 entry per household. This contest is open to individuals whoare residents of the United States and its territories only. Agentsand employees of Publisher’s Development Corporation and theirfamilies are excluded from entering. Contest void where prohibitedor restricted by law. Winners must meet all local laws and regula-tions. Taxes and compliance with firearms regulations will be theresponsibility of the winners. Winners will be notified by CERTIFIEDMAIL on official letterhead. No purchase necessary to enter.
SampleCOP JAN/FEB 2008:Name ___________________________________
Address _____________ City, State, Zip____________
Email Address _______________________
If I win, please ship my prize through:Dealer ___________________________________
Address _____________ City, State, Zip____________
Phone ( ) ____ - ________ Store hours __ am __ pm
WWW.AMERICANCOPMAGAZINE.COM 77
BlackHawk Duty GearCops have had to make a choice between the crisp look of
molded nylon or the abrasion resistance of Cordura. Molded nylonis easily damaged by abrasion and Cordura nylon alone can becrushed and lose its shape in the field. BlackHawk’s Law Enforce-ment Duty Gear, developed by a team of former beat cops and tac-tical officers, not only looks great but also has the built-in Corduratoughness and a superior ballistic nylon appearance.
This gear will look great, day after day. They use a proprietary5-layer laminate that’s tougher than anything else out there today. It’sDuty Gear Done Right.
This great Law Enforcement Duty Gear package from BlackHawkincludes the duty belt, a double magazine pouch, Gladius pouch, hand-cuff case, baton/flashlight holder, radio case, silent key holder, latexglove pouch and molded keepers.
The holster for the S&W M&P is the BlackHawk Law Enforce-ment Duty Gear SERPA Auto Lock Technology Level 2 duty holster.It combines lightning-fast gun presentation by you and welded-to-your-side retention when a bad guy is stupid enough to attempt todisarm you.
Also included is BlackHawk’s CQD Mark I knife featuring milledaluminum construction, plunge lock mechanism, recessed belt/cordcutter, carbide glass breaker and secondary safety lock in manualconfiguration. The Mark I is specifically designed to make rapiddeployment and stowing of the knife a one-handed operation, evenwhile wearing gloves.
To cap it all off is possibly the most innovative handheld tac-tical illumination tool to arrive on the scene — the Gladius. It’s a 6volt, lithium battery powered, high-output LED illumination tool. Itwas designed from the ground up for the realities of closequarter conflict.For More Info: www.blackhawk.com
ASPASP Chain Handcuffs incorporate a stainless steel eyelet, TIG
welded stainless steel links and a ball bearing smooth rotation.Each swivel is protected by a stainless steel reinforcing collar.These cuffs were designed in the field with input from officers andinstructors in over 75 nations where ASP currently conductstraining. As a result, their design incorporates practical featuresrequested by cops on the street. It’s a stainless steel handcuff thatweighs less than standard designs.For More Info: www.asp-net.com
Northend WoodcraftersNorthend Woodcrafters has taken the straight stick to a new level.
They’re works of art you can carry around to whack real opponents.The third generation of design is just a joy to swing. The handle iswrapped tightly and stays gripped to your hand even when wet fromrain, blood or a spilled mocha latte.
Batons can be ordered in a number of exotic woods and all aremasterpieces of wood crafting. Any miscreant should be down righthonored to have their femur shattered by one.For More Info: www.northendwoodcrafters.com
a JF08COP sec2 11/21/07 9:02 PM Page 77
78 WWW.AMERICANCOPMAGAZINE.COM • JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2008
where you need to make decisions. Theyinclude: intersection clearance, defensivedriving tactics involving other motorists,communications, multiple unit responseall while considering the integration ofyour agency’s driving policy and statelaws. If you make it through the trainingwithout colliding into to something I’dbe surprised, not because you’re a baddriver, mainly because you haven’t reallythought about driving for years. Instruc-tors can also throw curves at students bychanging roadway friction, adding brakefade, altering weather conditions andcausing equipment failures all to see howstudents react to unexpected incidents.
But the real training comes from tech-nology’s ability to show you what youdid, what you should have seen and howyou reacted or, more likely, didn’t reactto hazards. Let’s call it driving instantreplay. That’s when a good EVOCinstructor earns their money teaching andcoaching students while relating virtualtraining to real world experiences.
Down Sides?Yes, I can think of two off the top of
my head. One they’re expensive to pur-chase — in the neighborhood of $100Keach. But that’s cheap compared to costof litigation. The other issue is simu-lator disorientation sickness or Simula-tion Adaptation Syndrome. To somedegree, nearly everyone experiencessome degree of SAS. It’s a direct resultof mixed signals being sent to the brain.The balance mechanism in your eartells the brain you’re not moving. How-ever, your eyes are seeing movementand sending a contradictory message.Three of the current manufacturers(DORON, FAAC, and L3, formerlyGE/I-SIM) have excellent graphicswith high resolution and refresh ratesall of which are much more realisticlooking. This can compound theproblem because it looks so real. It’s upto the instructor to downplay this issueby introducing simulations as positivelearning experience. Besides, cops reg-ularly adapt to changing circumstances,this is just a new twist.
On a more positive note, cops who’vehad the training are more willing to ter-minate a pursuit because they recognizereal hazards and safety issues. Experi-ences learned in the driving simulatorsare successfully translated to actions inthe field. The catch ’em at any cost orpsychology of the chase, has yielded to amore commonsense approach. Officersare more aware, having had a personaland similar experience in the simulatorsand having been exposed to the result ofa crash which would have taken their lifehad it occurred in a real vehicle. Soremember, driving is a perish-able skill, use it wisely.
HIGH TECHContinued from page 20
*
a JF08COP sec2 11/21/07 9:02 PM Page 78
We are seeking highly qualified policeofficers for our lateral police officer school
commencing in May of 2008. $41,000-$44,000 starting salary depending on experience,State Police enhanced retirement, health and dental insurance,take home car, education pay, shift differential pay, remote dutylocation pay, specialty team pay, openings throughout the state.
Must have 3 years law enforcement experieince and 2 years withcurrent agency, 30 college credit hours, pass written exam,physical fitness test, polygraph, psychological and medical exams,background check, pass oral interview and Chiefs selection.
If you are interested in what it takes to be a New Mexico State PoliceOfficer, contact your nearest State Police Office or call
1-800-521-9911
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or visit our website @nmsp.com
a JF08COP sec2 11/21/07 9:02 PM Page 79
Al Mar Knives 62ALS Technologies 8ArmaLite 31ASP 7,9,11Benchmade 21Bianchi 33Black Hills Ammunition 10Blackhawk 37Blade-Tech 66Brownells 9,64Buffer 69CCF Raceframes 62Command Arms Access 11CopQuest 29Cylinder & Slide 78DeSantis Holsters 27Diamond Sentry Distributors 70DPMS 73Elite Sports Express 6First Light 7Glock 23Hardigg Storm Cases 65ICMA-RC 63
Iosso 78Kahr Arms 68Kiesler Police Supply 27Kimber 14,84Maxpedition 25Mec-Gar USA 74Mogul Security Equipment 10New Mexico State Police 79Pearce Grip, Inc. 19Power Custom 67Revision Eyewear 3Rock River Arms 19Safariland 15Smith & Wesson 17Springfield 83STI International 68Surefire 2Tactical Design Lab 12,13TOPS KNIVES 64UK International 70Wilson Combat 6Wilson Tactical 74Windy City Cop Shop 29XS Sights 69
80 WWW.AMERICANCOPMAGAZINE.COM • JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2008
ACCESSORIES
Classified ads $2.00 per-word per insertion. ($1.50 per-word per insertion for 3 or more) including name, address and phone number (20 word minimum). Min-imum charge $40.00. Bold words add $1.00 per word. Copy and rerun orders must be accompanied by PAYMENT IN ADVANCE. NO AGENCY OR CASH DISCOUNTS ONLISTING OR DISPLAY CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING. All ads must be received with advance payment BY NO LATER THAN THE 1st of each month. Ads received after closingwill appear in the following issue. Please type or print clearly. PLEASE NOTE*** NO PROOFS WILL BE FURNISHED. Include name, address, post office, city, state andzip code as counted words. Abbreviations count as one word each. Mail to AMERICAN COP CLASSIFIEDS, 12345 World Trade Drive, San Diego, California 92128. NOTE:WE NOW HAVE DISPLAY CLASSIFIED ADS IN BOTH GUNS MAGAZINE AND AMERICAN HANDGUNNER. ASK FOR OUR NEW RATE CARD, Or call (858) 605-0235.
AMERICAN COP
COLLECTORS
EMBLEMS & INSIGNIA
The companies listed have featuredadvertisements in this issue. Look to them
first when you are ready to make a purchase.
INDEX OF ADVERTISERS
a JF08COP sec2 11/21/07 9:02 PM Page 80
INSIDERRUMINATIONS Continued from page 82
Let’s get this straight. From the time someone’s con-victed to when they’re actually executed usually takes 15or 20 years. The electric chair hasn’t been used in 47years. And they test it every quarter? That’s the “are youfreakin’ kidding me” moment.” Bureaucracy at itsunthinking finest. We have a rule saying test it. So wetest it. Do they think, they’re going to have someonefast-tracked; have about two days notice, and then lookbad? “Oh shit, I knew we should have tested that thing.”
Do The MathWell, I did — they’ve tested this thing 188 times since
its last use because they think this is a scene from BlazingSaddles. Harvey Kormann wanted an unscheduled
hanging of Cleavon Little? “Oh Boris, do you have timefor a special this afternoon?” “Oh I couldn’t possibly, I’mcompletely booked.”
But that’s not all. “The chair was modified in the1990s — controls were modified, voltage increased (Iguess that means it was even lower at some point — butwith electric bills today, who can fault them), and protec-tive devices were improved. Perhaps they miss the point –the idea is to kill this guy. I would think they’d want toremove protective devices, not improve them. Sorta liketaking the safety off on an automatic or the pin out of agrenade. It’s a simple enough concept. In any event, adiosMr. Holman. If they have a yellow safety warning on thechair, just ignore it.
INS
IDE
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STI Tactical .45 WidebodyYou just can’t have enough ammo when the day
— life — karma — or some parolee’s destiny —decides to take a big old steaming crap in your lap.And, it’s even better when the ammo is .45ACP.
The folks at STI realize this little fact of life too.They’re known for making great competition guns, butnot enough of us are aware of their tactical offerings.
STI’s Tactical is built on a modular steel frame witha polymer grip and delivers the benefit of high capacitywithout over-sizing the grip. You don’t need thosecatcher’s mitt size hands to get a proper grip. With thestandard mag, the gun holds 12+1; with their 140mmmag, capacity is 14+1. It’s well suited for any applica-tion when you need a light rail and high capacity.
Another value added feature is STI’s RecoilMasterguide rod system. It’s designed for softer recoil andbrings the pistol back to point of aim faster by usingtwo springs. It provides at least 10 times the life of aconventional recoil system and makes it a pleasure to
shoot — even with +P loads.
Two New Folders From SureFireIf MacGyver were issued SureFire’s Delta folding model
the show would have been titled SureFire — not MacGyver.He would have been just another don’t kill anyone, eco-friendly, resourceful, left wing Hollywood bartender waitingfor an acting gig.
The Delta folder is a rugged but lightweight combat/utilityknife. It features Crucible CPM S30V blade steel — renownedfor strength and edge retention and tough .125"-thick titaniumframe halves and liner lock. The frame incorporates a numberof practical tools — screwdriver, wire cutter/crimper, parachutecord/seatbelt cutter, wrench, and self-seating wrench slot forsmaller nuts. It also has a reversible pocket clip. It’s a toughtool for tough people — not MacGyver.
SureFire’s L.E.O. folder was designed with the needs ofcops and military professionals in mind. This titanium-framedfolder features a locking drop-point steel blade, which can bequickly opened with its integral finger guard or thumb stud.The blade has a ground-in flathead screwdriver — perfect forattaching or removing license plates. A low-profile flex-cuffcutter snaps neatly into the frame when not in use and cuts through both flex-cuffs and zip-ties. It toofeatures a strong, reversible pocket clip to keep it positioned in your pocket or tac vest.
Toro Caca (cont...)
WWW.AMERICANCOPMAGAZINE.COM 81
A COMPLETELY SUBJECTIVE LOOK AT THINGS I LIKE
*
a JF08COP sec2 11/27/07 11:52 AM Page 81
then start putting wet stuff on red stuff. After the fire wasout and the steam subsided they’d go around pulling downwalls, cabinets and ceilings to assure against re-ignition.Then they’d drag everything out into the yard and pourmore water on it. On a number of occasions I saw theseguys exerting themselves to the point where they’d run outof the building, lift their mask, puke, pull their mask backdown and run back inside.
Southern California just finished “fire season” and what aseason it was. The San Diego area lost almost 2,000 homesand structures and evacuated half a million people. We lost afire fighter and have four others with burns so devastatingthey needed to be put in induced coma.
So, the next time some fire weenie stomps through yourcrime scene dragging a hose, flipping things over, wettingeverything down and generally making your evidence col-lecting life miserable; remember — they’re nuts. They don’tknow better let alone care. Don’t yell at them or get up intheir grill. These are the folks who’ll be prying your sorry buttout of the twisted metal of what used to be your cruiser andthe tree you hit or saving your home from a firestorm. Just saythanks and be glad they were in the wrong line — not you.
82 WWW.AMERICANCOPMAGAZINE.COM • JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2008
DAVE DOUGLAS
INSIDERRUMINATIONS Continues on page 81
INS
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INSIDERRUMINATIONS
Guest Toro Caca by Dick London
Ihad one of those “are you freakin’ kidding memoments” recently that should surely qualify as aToro Caca moment.
USA Today: Tenn. Killer Set To Die In Electric Chair.It’s USA Today so first, I thought they spelled 10 incor-rectly, but it seems they actually meant Tennessee. DarylKeith Holton — blah, blah, blah — chose the electric chairinstead of lethal injection (contaminated needles can causeall kinds of health problems) because he thinks he’ll dieinstantly and painlessly. Maybe so, but then I saw TheGreen Mile and this might be shaping up to be one of thoseKodak moments. The last time the Tennessee electric chairwas used for an execution was Nov 7, 1960. That’s neither
here nor there, but it is where this starts to get good.
Administrative StupidityThere seems to be some debate as to whether the chair will
work properly — the guy who built it says it’s been modified insuch a way it will not work as intended. At some point, someonedecided to reduce the voltage. Who the hell would even think ofthat — someone trying to get an award from the cost savingssuggestion program? Let’s see, two minutes of electricity at $2per kilowatt-hour divided by the weight of the prisoner —damn, Harley, look at this. Check my goes-intos will ya.
It’s Al Gore’s home state, but I don’t think it really savesthat much money to reduce your only electric chair from 2,000volts to 1,750 volts — why take the chance? If I were seated init, I’d much rather be the functional equivalent of a fly hitting abug zapper than feeling a tingling sensation until I melt. Thestate did explain, however, there’s no need for concern. I thinkthey meant for the rest of us, but not Holton — because “thechair is inspected and tested quarterly.”
Toro Caca
Iworked Arson for a few years. The unit was a full timejoint Fire Department and Police Department team.The cops were trained in fire investigation and the firefighters in police procedure with enough hours to
qualify as state certified peace officers. I always thoughtcops were highly adept at sniveling until I spent a lot oftime with fire fighters. These guys were Olympians when itcame to sniveling and I couldn’t figure out why. Theyworked 9 days a month, slept half their shift, had greatmeals in the station, didn’t go to court on their day off andmust have cornered the market on Barcoloungers and bigscreen TVs. I thought, “Boy I sure stood in the wrong lineat the job fair.”
Then I saw what they did at a fire — not the smallkitchen fires where they’d run in with an extinguisher butthe “smoke and active fire showing” types. The crazy bas-tards would start grinning ear to ear, pull their breathingapparatus down over their face and run in the door. Smokewould be billowing out; fire would be rolling in boilingwaves across the ceiling and they were still smiling. Who, intheir right mind, would do something like that?
They’d scurry around the house looking for rescues and
"The crazybastards wouldstart grinning e
arto ear, pull the
ir
breathing apparatus
down over theirface and run in
the door."
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