Ramesh Nyberg Is the grass really that much greener? The other day, I was on the Web site of my old department to look up someone’s name and I found myself looking around the site and how it was presented to the public. I decided to share my thoughts with you, my fellow brothers and sisters in blue (and brown – we wore brown uniforms and nicknamed them “the brown gown”). Let me begin by telling you that I worked…
Ramesh Nyberg Full Disclosure Okay, this is almost full disclosure. A couple of years ago, a close family member confided in me that they had taken LSD at some point in their young life. A year later, a second family member admitted the same thing. I was flabbergasted. LSD? The stuff which made Art Linkletter’s daughter jump out of a window because she was convinced she could fly? That stuff? No, I was told, this is not – in essence…
Ramesh Nyberg We Didn’t Start the Fire… By the time you read this, the holiday season will be in full swing. So, this column focuses on reflection of the past, and thanks – yes, thanks – to our brothers and sisters in blue from the past. What they had to deal with, and how they dealt with it, is an exploration most of us don’t really know about and it has shaped what we – as law enforcement agencies…
Ramesh Nyberg Recently, I had this dream – a bad dream. Officers were getting shot with regularity. In fact, some were being hunted, ambushed and killed without even an interaction with anyone. In my nightmare, law enforcement was synonymous with racism, brutality and corruption, so much so that police became the object of cynical late night jokes. Comedians would get an easy laugh talking about some poor “person of color” being the target of a drooling, bigoted policeman. This…
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…
Ramesh Nyberg Old-timers and Old Guy Moments When you retire from law enforcement these days, there is usually some other occupation waiting for you on the other side. If there isn’t, there should be. I say this for two reasons: 1) It’s damn expensive to live these days and living beats the hell out of the alternative; and 2) it’s just good for you to do something. Yes, retire from your job; just don’t retire from doing things because, well…
Ramesh Nyberg On the Outside Looking In At first, being on the other side in the civilian world was odd after being in law enforcement for 27 years. Then, things started settling in and I learned that certain humility comes with retirement and I let things be. That was 12 years ago. Just a month ago, I learned a new side of civilian life: being the family of a crime victim. Someone very close to me, a minor, was molested…
Werewolves Hiding in Plain Sight Among Sheepdogs Ed Nowicki – Guest Columnist Many of you are familiar with Lt. Col. Dave Grossman’s brilliant metaphor, “Of Sheep, Wolves and Sheepdogs,” when Col. Grossman equates the role of law enforcement to be similar to that of a sheepdog, protecting the herd (society) from the wolves. I absolutely agree with Col. Grossman’s observations. There is another predator I see lurking among the sheepdogs. While this predator may not be as physically dangerous as…
Ramesh Nyberg A Disappearing Act Like No Other Not long ago, my wife and I saw a play by a small acting group here in south Florida, called “The Camp.” It was about an American regiment pressing towards Berlin at the end of WWII. During a stop in a small German village, they come across a strange area and start to investigate. To their horror, they find a concentration camp, abandoned by the Nazis, but still occupied by dead and…
Ramesh Nyberg Policing is anything but simple these days. Policing in the 21st century has taken on some pretty complex and interesting tasks. We’ve gone from the cheery “constable” who used to walk down the sidewalk, twirling a baton, to a high-tech entity carrying things like TASER®s, body-worn cameras and weapons with laser sights. Our “control and regulation” is way beyond the simple scope of poking our head into the doors of shopkeepers and asking how their day is going….