News

The COPS (Community Oriented Policing Services) Office recently announced the release of a publication suite focused on creating an organizational culture of wellness for officers and their support networks. Law enforcement officers regularly experience stress and secondary trauma during their shifts and rely on their families and friends as a positive social support network to maintain holistic wellness. Family Matters: Executive Guide for Developing Family-Friendly Policies, Procedures, and Culture and its companion tools for families and agencies guide professional dialogue…

Produced by the FBI’s Office of Partner Engagement, the report, “Active Shooter Incidents 20–Year Review, 2000–2019,” encompasses statistical data regarding 333 active shooter incidents in the United States between 2000 and 2019. Each page focuses on a particular active shooter-related topic and has been designed specifically for law enforcement officers, other first responders, corporations, educators, and the general public. To view a copy of the report, visit https://tinyurl.com/yvpajfhc

The Bureau of Justice Assistance National Training and Technical Assistance Center (BJA NTTAC) released a checklist which provides standard best practices which agencies of all sizes can implement in their crime analysis units. The checklist includes questions and recommendations which may help an agency increase the unit’s effectiveness and capacity. Specifically, it includes recommendations for staffing, communication, crime analysis products, technology, and resources.  Visit https://tinyurl.com/bmwdfjxa to view the checklist.

Published by the Police Executive Research Forum, this toolkit discusses how first-line supervisors are essential to critical incident response. When major events occur, the first officers on-scene will look to their sergeants for direction, and the first-line supervisor will likely be the incident commander on-scene during event response. The toolkit includes topics such as preparation before a critical incident; how to handle a critical incident; and what to do following a critical incident. The toolkit was designed with the input…

In 2017, an estimated three million persons (1.25% of all persons age 18 or older) reported that they were victims of personal financial fraud during the prior 12 months. About 95% of fraud victims, or 2.9 million persons, experienced one type of financial fraud. The remaining 156,700 persons experienced two or more. Types of Fraud Of the two million victims (0.81% of all persons) of consumer products and services fraud – the most commonly reported type of financial fraud –…

The Congressional Research Service (CRS) has released several new reports detailing topics related to policing. The first report, “Policing Reform Legislation: Conditions on Funding and New Grant Authorizations,” discusses the new police reform legislation, the George Floyd Justice Policing Act of 2021 (JIPA, H.R. 1280), as an omnibus measure which would address a variety of policing reform topics and approaches, including police funding. The second report, “Programs to Collect Data on Law Enforcement Activities: Overview and Issues,” discusses how JIPA…

Retired Homicide Detective Ramesh Nyberg shares tips and techniques from his 27 year law enforcement career and his ten years of operating a private investigation agency. This new book is filled with information and guidance you can use to be the best detective possible. Surveillance, tech tools, interviews, and valuable investigative strategies are included. Detective Nyberg worked in one of law enforcement’s most elite homicide offices at the Miami-Dade Police Department starting in the 1980s. He was right in the…

Published by the National Institute of Justice, Serial Killer Connections Through Cold Cases discusses cold case investigations and how to better resolve and prioritize cases. In 1965, approximately 80 percent of homicide cases were cleared, according to the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reports, but, in 2017, only about 60 percent of homicide cases were resolved. An estimated 250,000 unresolved homicide cases exist in the United States and more than 100,000 have accumulated in the past 20 years alone. In part, limited…

This training, funded by the Bureau of Justice Assistance and hosted by the National White Collar Crime Center (NW3C), introduces the history of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) and the ways they are commonly used – both legitimately and in relation to a crime. It also focuses on the ways law enforcement can gather and analyze evidence involving drones. Topics include gathering evidence, both internal and external to the drone, as well as methods for manually processing flight logs and displaying…

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…