Policing Matters

During the annual conference of the International Law Enforcement Educators and Trainers Association (ILEETA) in St. Louis, Policing Matters podcast co-host Doug Wyllie roamed the hallways and ran into countless law enforcement trainers and experts, some of whom were willing to sit down and talk about what they're teaching and what they're learning. In this podcast segment, Doug sits down once aga...

During the annual conference of the International Law Enforcement Educators and Trainers Association (ILEETA) in St. Louis, Policing Matters podcast co-host Doug Wyllie roamed the hallways and ran into countless law enforcement trainers and experts, some of whom were willing to sit down and talk about what they're teaching and what they're learning. In this podcast segment, Doug sits down with Dan...

During the annual conference of the International Law Enforcement Educators and Trainers Association (ILEETA) in St. Louis, Policing Matters podcast co-host Doug Wyllie roamed the hallways and ran into countless law enforcement trainers and experts, some of whom were willing to sit down and talk about what they're teaching and what they're learning. In this podcast segment, Doug sits down with Pol...

During the annual conference of the International Law Enforcement Educators and Trainers Association (ILEETA) in St. Louis, Policing Matters podcast co-host Doug Wyllie roamed the hallways and ran into countless law enforcement trainers and experts, some of whom were willing to sit down and talk about what they're teaching and what they're learning. In this podcast segment, Doug sits down with Pol...

During the annual conference of the International Law Enforcement Educators and Trainers Association (ILEETA 2019) in St. Louis, Policing Matters podcast co-host Doug Wyllie roamed the hallways and ran into countless law enforcement trainers and experts, some of whom were willing to sit down and talk about what they're teaching and what they're learning. In this podcast segment, Doug sits down wit...

During the annual conference of the International Law Enforcement Educators and Trainers Association (ILEETA) in St. Louis, Policing Matters podcast co-host Doug Wyllie roamed the hallways and ran into countless law enforcement trainers and experts, some of whom were willing to sit down and talk about what they're teaching and what they're learning. In this podcast segment, Doug sits down with Pol...

During the annual conference of the International Law Enforcement Educators and Trainers Association (ILEETA) in St. Louis, Policing Matters podcast co-host Doug Wyllie roamed the hallways and ran into countless law enforcement trainers and experts, some of whom were willing to sit down and talk about what they're teaching and what they're learning. In this podcast segment, Doug sits down with Chi...

During the annual conference of the International Law Enforcement Educators and Trainers Association (ILEETA) in St. Louis, Policing Matters podcast co-host Doug Wyllie roamed the hallways and ran into countless law enforcement trainers and experts, some of whom were willing to sit down and talk about what they're teaching and what they're learning. In this podcast segment, Doug sits down with Lee...

During the annual conference of the International Law Enforcement Educators and Trainers Association (ILEETA) in St. Louis, Policing Matters podcast co-host Doug Wyllie roamed the hallways and ran into countless law enforcement trainers and experts, some of whom were willing to sit down and talk about what they're teaching and what they're learning. In this podcast segment, Doug sits down with for...

During the annual conference of the International Law Enforcement Educators and Trainers Association (ILEETA) in St. Louis, Policing Matters podcast co-host Doug Wyllie roamed the hallways and ran into countless law enforcement trainers and experts, some of whom were willing to sit down and talk about what they're teaching and what they're learning. In this podcast segment, Doug sits down with Bel...

Following the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, a great deal of attention was paid to the fact that the gunman had exhibited myriad signs of mental instability—hurting animals, threatening and/or fighting with other students, previous mental health treatment—that may have been enough for relatives or school authorities to ask law enforcement to keep him fr...

In Baltimore, it has been reported that from 2014 to 2017, dispatch records show the number of suspected narcotics offenses police reported themselves dropped 30 percent. The number of people they reported seeing with outstanding warrants dropped by half. The number of field interviews dropped 70 percent. This type of de-policing has emboldened criminals and crime now is on the rise. In September...

In mid-February someone called 911 in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina claiming to be Robert McCord, a reserve officer with the department. The caller told dispatchers he’d just shot his wife and was going to kill the rest of the people in the house. Police responded as one might imagine they would respond to such a call—they sent in SWAT to ensure the safety of innocents. McCord exited his home with...

In 2004, Congress passed the Law Enforcement Officers Safety Act (also known as LEOSA), which allows qualified active and retired officers to carry a concealed firearm in any jurisdiction in the United States—with certain exceptions and restrictions. Recently introduced legislation—the LEOSA Reform Act—would expand where current and retired officers can carry a concealed firearm, as well as reform...

Some members of the public have put themselves in harm's way to help an officer survive a deadly situation. We've seen incidents in which an officer is struggling with a resistive subject—and potentially on their way to losing that fight—when a Good Samaritan appears seemingly out of nowhere to help bring the suspect under control. We've seen citizens race to help an officer wounded in a gunfight....

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis fired Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel—who served as the 16th sheriff of that county—on January 11, 2019. Many would argue that his firing was long overdue. His agency was derided for failing to take control over a shooting at the Fort Lauderdale airport in 2017. Then, in 2018, deputies with the agency failed miserably in their response to the mass murder taking pl...

Henry Ford once said, “When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it.” This famous quote can easily be applied to law enforcement in 2019, with so many factors seemingly going against the profession. Winston Churchill once said, “Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak. Courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.”...

In early January, Blue H.E.L.P. — an organization that tracks officer suicides while simultaneously seeking to prevent such tragedies from occurring — issued an announcement stating that in 2018, at least 158 officers died by suicide. This is nine percent more than the total number of line-of-duty deaths resulting from 15 other causes such as felonious assault, patrol vehicle accident, heart attac...

According to FBI data released in 2018, hate crimes rose by 17 percent in 2017 compared with the previous year. It was the third straight year showing an increase in hate crimes. The offenses were most commonly motivated by hatred over race, ethnicity or ancestry. Nearly a fifth of the offenses were motivated by hatred over religion. Sexual orientation and gender identity hatred were also listed a...

Walking the beat is a fundamental element to community policing. Other forms of patrol aimed principally at community engagement have officers mounted atop equine partners, and rolling around town on tricked-out mountain bikes. In all these cases, officers on foot create opportunities for the public to connect with their police (and vice versa). Conversely, when officers are wrapped in two tons of...

Proponents of the First Step Act — a bipartisan law aimed at reforming the criminal justice system — say it would significantly improve the prison system. Opponents say there are loopholes that would allow dangerous criminals with a high probability to reoffend to be released from prison. The text of the law says that the BOP would adopt a risk assessment tool, assess all federal prisoners for the...

Last year, rights groups and even Amazon employees and stockholders sought to stop that company from providing its Rekognition software to law enforcement agencies. By all accounts, that effort has failed, as police are using the software—as well as solutions from other vendors—more and more to identify wanted criminals, missing people and suspected terrorists spotted on video. In this podcast seg...

Traffic stops are one of the most common activities for law enforcement officers on patrol. They are the epitome of proactive, self-initiated policing. They are also, however, sometimes deadly. Officers can be struck by passing vehicles, dragged by a vehicle fleeing the stop, assaulted physically either with personal weapons (fists and feet) or by weapons up to and including firearms. In this podc...

In New York, some 20,000 DUI arrests are in jeopardy because of false verifications due to aging and inaccurate equipment. Agencies are required to conduct regular maintenance of a variety of types of equipment, and yet it would appear that in some cases, that regular maintenance is not being conducted, putting not only convictions at risk, but possibly even lives. In this podcast segment, Jim and...

The end of the year is upon us, and looking back it is clear that 2018 zipped by like lightning. During the year, Jim and Doug covered many topics in the weekly Policing Matters podcast. In this special segment, the pair takes a look back at some of the trends and events that mattered in law enforcement in the past 12 months—from lip sync battles to policing the homeless to immigration enforcement...