2021

Expansion of Operation Crystal Shield

The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) announced the expansion of Operation Crystal Shield. This expansion includes the designation of two additional methamphetamine “transportation hubs” in 2021. Through this effort, the DEA is attacking the entire supply chain, locating and seizing meth shipments before they are broken down and trafficked into communities and neighborhoods. The Chicago Field Division and the San Francisco Field Division have been added to this initiative, along with the nine DEA field divisions originally selected to participate. In…


Conversations with Rural Law Enforcement Leaders: Volume 2

Funded by the Bureau of Justice Assistance and published by the Office of Community Oriented Policing (COPS) in partnership with the National Police Foundation, Conversations with Rural Law Enforcement Leaders: Volume 2 discusses how rural law enforcement agencies face increasing rates of crime and disorder, often with dwindling resources to combat them. To discuss critical issues in rural policing, this report has convened a listening session series with rural law enforcement stakeholders to discuss rural law enforcement’s common concerns, challenges…


New Firearms and Gear for 2021

Mike Boyle (photo by Jeremy Alford) For many years, I’ve looked forward to the annual SHOT Show with the same enthusiasm as a kid anticipates a visit from Santa Claus. As a self-confessed gear junkie, I manage to keep my buying habits in check, but I always look forward to walking the aisles to see what’s new. But, this year, that wasn’t meant to be. The SHOT Show might be described as the world’s largest gun bazaar where manufacturers promote…


BUSTED! – Real Stories of Genuine Absurdity March/April 2021

REAL STORIES OF GENUINE ABSURDITY JAMES L. MCCLINTON, PH.D. Oh, the weather outside is frightful and Santa’s carrying his patrol rifle… In Riverside, California, three men allegedly tried to steal a car at the local mall during a police undercover operation. “Two of the men saw the detective and ran off,” said a police spokesman. As officers swooped in, one yelled, “Get him, Santa!” Sure enough, St. Nick came running and tackled one of the suspects, backed up by a…


…AND NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH March/April 2021

Ramesh Nyberg “Thank you, but…” This column is dedicated to the memories of Officer Brian Sicknick, Officer Jeffrey Smith and Officer Howard Liebengood. Rest in peace, brave warriors. Nightmare scenario, perfect storm…whatever phrase you want to ascribe to January 6th, 2021, it probably doesn’t suffice in expressing the trauma, fear, stress, and downright desperation our brothers and sisters in blue suffered at the hands of the raging, violent mob which attacked our capitol building that day. It was the ultimate…


Recruiting and Retaining Officers in Small and Rural Agencies

The Office of Community Oriented Policing (COPS) published a report based on a daylong forum held on December 10, 2019, to discuss the challenges of law enforcement recruitment and retention, specifically focused on these issues in relation to smaller, more rural law enforcement agencies. The 32 participants included police chiefs, captains, lieutenants, academic experts, researchers, and agency directors of state police standards. The forum’s small size allowed for a wide-ranging discussion which focused on the qualities which make an effective…


New Training Module Available

Hosted by the National White Collar Crime Center (NW3C), and funded by the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) and the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), “Searching Without a Warrant” provides legal information on situations involving digital evidence in which the Fourth Amendment may not apply. Topics include the reasonable expectation of privacy in a digital context; private searches; “reasonable” government searches; and searches with consent. This is the third module in the training series, “Legal Concerns for Digital…


New Report Released by the Bureau of Justice Statistics

This report, Contacts Between Police and the Public, 2018 – Statistical Tables, examines the nature and frequency of US residents’ contact with police by residents’ demographic characteristics, types of contact, perceptions of police behaviors, and police threats or use of nonfatal force. It is the twelfth release in a series which began in 1996. The findings are based on data from the BJS’s 2018 Police-Public Contact Survey (PPCS), a supplement to the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS). To read the…


New Report on Averted Incidents of Violence

Sponsored by the Office of Community Oriented Policing, and in partnership with the International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators, “Targeted Violence Averted – College and University Case Studies” examines eight case studies of incidents in which planned violence targeting institutions of higher education was averted by the potential attackers’ peers, school administrators and other campus safety stakeholders including law enforcement. Each case includes a discussion of lessons learned by examining the potential attackers’ intentions and the actions of those…


New Brief on the Use of Predictive Analytics in Policing

This brief, published by the Bureau of Justice Assistance and the CNA Corporation, provides an accessible resource for law enforcement agencies and their stakeholders (e.g., crime analysts, policymakers and researchers) who are interested in learning more about the role of predictive analytics in police operations. Specifically, the brief summarizes the use of predictive analytics to inform policing operations; distinguishes between approaches to predictive analytics (person-based and place-based); highlights the emergence of machine learning algorithms as a preferred predictive analytics technique;…