This Post Could Save Your Life

By BitcoDavid I was reading an article the other day, about a woman who had a seizure while her helper-dog was distracted by a stranger petting him. It occurred to me, reading this, that there were lessons we learned, growing up, that don’t appear to be taught anymore. Everybody my age or older knows not

A Word on Police Militarization

By BitcoDavid On May 18th, President Obama signed an Executive Order, effectively banning the transfer of military equipment by the Federal government, to community police departments. This is a step in the right direction, and will help to end what has become nothing short of a war between the police, and the communities they are

When Officer Friendly Becomes Delta Force

By BitcoDavid I find myself bombarded by images and news stories of police committing what can only be called atrocities on American citizens. I’ve struggled with this for the past few weeks, because we’ve talked before – on this site – about the dangers of militarization of the police. Recently, our publisher asked me to

By BitcoDavid Here’s a joke. The President decides to stage a contest to determine which among the FBI, the CIA and the LAPD is the best law enforcement organization. He informs the three, that their challenge is to find a rabbit in the woods. A month goes by, and the President calls representatives from each

First Video Installment – Brookline PD

By BitcoDavid In order to maintain some continuity, I opted to make the first available video installment, the 1st section of the presentation by the Brookline Police, so as to fit in with the previous post. The video isn’t captioned, but there is a live interpreter in frame. If you need more help understanding it,

Symposium on the Deaf and the Justice System – Part 1

By BitcoDavid It’s going to take me several days to relay the vast amount of information that was shared at yesterday’s symposium, so please be patient while I get it all assimilated and posted. Essentially, we have a total of about 5 hours of video – between two sources, a half dozen different PowerPoint files

When Will They Ever Learn…

By Jean F. Andrews In their popular 1960’s folk song, Peter, Paul and Mary sing the ballad, “Where Have All the Flowers Gone.” In the ballad, is the echoing refrain, “When Will They Ever Learn,” that points a firm finger at a society engaged in the Viet Nam War, wondering sadly, Where have all the

Police Leaders – Speak Out! Reblogged from Improving Police

By BitcoDavid Improving Police is a Blog site we follow. It is the creation of retired Chief David Couper. As well as the site, he has written several books on the subject of making the job of law enforcement more beneficial to the community. Lest we forget, in 1972 we had fewer than 350,000 inmates

What does placing your signature on the Miranda Waiver Really Mean?

By Jean F. Andrews Jean F. Andrews is a Reading Specialist and Professor of Deaf Studies/Deaf Education at Lamar University. Deaf suspects are asked routinely to sign the Miranda Warning Waiver affirming they waive their rights. What does this mean? For the police and detectives this means that the deaf person understands the six statements

“Our goal is to protect both sides of the badge.”

“Our goal is to protect both sides of the badge.” Sheriff Lt. Robert Henry of the Houston Police Department made these thought provoking remarks in this morning’s Houston Chronicle’s front page article, “Keeping calm in face of crises: Harris County sheriff’s team trained to defuse irrational behavior, Friday, Sept. 28, 2012, p. A1, A14). Lt.