July 2019

Nationwide Survey Shows Scope of Law Enforcement Contact with Mentally Ill Individuals

Nearly all law enforcement officers have had an interaction with an individual who is mentally ill or experiencing a mental health crisis and 60% of officers say mentally ill individuals make up at least 11% of their contacts. The statistics come from a recently released report from Lexipol, the nation’s leading source of mission-critical training and state-specific policy solutions for law enforcement agencies. People experiencing a mental crisis have a higher chance of an interaction with law enforcement officers. Some…


Law Enforcement Response to Sexual Assault Crimes

Investigating and responding to sexual assault crimes is a priority for law enforcement and the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) has tools to help agencies as they continue to evaluate and examine their responses to sexual assault crimes. These tools are designed to help law enforcement agencies enhance their support of survivors of sexual assault crimes and agencies’ ability to hold offenders accountable. One aspect of supporting survivors is ensuring that the law enforcement agency they report to…


Emerging Issues in American Policing, Volume 7

The Vera Institute of Justice’s Policing Program develops the quarterly digest Emerging Issues in American Policing to deliver information on innovations in the field of policing to police practitioners and community members. Vera’s Policing Program gathers the material presented in the digest from leading academic journals and research publications, compiling them for easy access and analysis by justice professionals. The latest edition of the digest, Emerging Issues in American Policing, Volume 7, focuses on topics including the following: Reviewing mental health calls in a…


COMBATIVE SHOTGUN

The MOST Effective Close Quarter Small Arm Currently in Existence! Mike Boyle For almost 50 years, the shotgun was “king of the hill,” but of late there has been a shift in the paradigm. The resurgence of the rifle has caused many police departments to reconsider the shotgun as a viable weapon system. Some outfits have done away with shotguns entirely whereas others now limit them to special applications, such as door breeching or a less-lethal munitions delivery system. Without…


Video Analytics

Bill Siuru, Ph.D, PE Video analytics, also called video content analysis, is needed today as the availability of digital recording devices explodes exponentially. Surveillance cameras monitoring a middle school detect a suspicious person lurking on the school grounds. This triggers an alert sent directly to the local police, even before the person tries to enter the school building and the alarm system is activated. Thus, the police can be dispatched to investigate a few minutes sooner, perhaps fast enough to…


Ballistic Armor Update: 2019

Bill Siuru, Ph.D., PE The 26th Annual Report on the Latest Advances in Ballistic Armor Technology and Design The big news for 2019 is the issuance of NIJ Standard 0101.07 (or the pending issuance) which comes over a decade after the release of NIJ Standard 0101.06. This new standard improves the test methods, along with the performance requirements, for the level of ballistic resistance body armor must have to protect the torso from handgun and rifle fire. The NIJ Standard…


How Law Enforcement Is Using Genealogy Testing Services to Solve Cold Cases

Dr. Chuck Russo and Katherine C. Russo Recent news headlines highlight the creative and effective ways law enforcement agencies are using commercial Direct To Consumer (DTC) genealogy tests to close decades old cold cases. By using DTC genealogy testing services, police have been able to identify suspects linked to the murders of Christy Mirack, Tanya Van Culenborg, Jay Cook, and the many victims of the Golden State Killer. This investigation technique opens the door to potentially solving many more cold…


BUSTED! – Real Stories of Genuine Absurdity July/August 2019

James L. McClinton, Ph.D Road hog?… In Minnesota, a driver who was pulled over for having trouble staying in his lane turned out to be operating the vehicle with a 250 pound pig on his lap. He also had a smaller pig with him. The man’s erratic driving was apparently caused by the larger pig leaning against the steering wheel. A spokesman told reporters that the man had his pigs on his lap because he was moving to another part…


…AND NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH July/August 2019

Ramesh Nyberg Hooray for Hollywood – Where You’re Terrific, if You’re Even Good… I’m not a big Hollywood guy. I like a good show every so often, but most of the stuff I see on TV and on the big screen leaves me unmoved, especially the police stuff. How often have you gotten this from your friends or new people you meet: “Oh, you’re a cop! Wow, did you see that last ‘48 Hours’? Wasn’t that crazy? What’s your favorite…