Frank Borelli
Editor-in-Chief
Officer.com
Earlier today I received an email inquiry from one of our Officer.com ad sales folks. Nikki is a Wisconsin resident who had seen, as she describes, an almost explosive growth in participation on a Facebook event surrounding the disappearance of Beau Butschke. Since I’m a police officer, she had contacted me to ask two things: 1) what is the police outlook about such citizen activity? and 2) would that question be worth a blog post? Read the rest of this entry »
Frank Borelli
Editor-in-Chief
Officer.com
Now that I’ve seen several supportive comments about wearing a vest while working, I feel the need to address another concern: heat injuries. With large portions of the United States under heat warnings the past few days, and looking like that’s going to continue the next few days, be aware and take the proper precautions to stay cool. Read the rest of this entry »
Frank Borelli
Editor-in-Chief
Officer.com
It’s that time of year again: the time when you are dripping sweat under your vest, saturating your t-shirt, delighted that your patrol vehicle has good air-conditioning and apologetic to your spouse for having to do laundry so often. Yep: it’s summer, it’s hot and you put on an added layer of insulation eveyr day. You’d better - it might save your life. Read the rest of this entry »
Frank Borelli
Editor-in-Chief
Officer.com
It was with some distress that I read about the TSA’s most recent controversial search: apparently some TSA officers believed that a 95-year-old wheelchair-bound grandma presented so much of a threat that they had to not only pat her down but asked her relatives to take her to the bathroom to remove her adult diaper for closer inspection. I believe that the mere fact some TSA agents found this necessary is indicative of how ludicrous our security measures have become - but I blame it on our country’s drive to be politically correct in all we do. Read the rest of this entry »
Frank Borelli
Editor-in-Chief
Officer.com
While I know and completely understand that raising children is not the responsibility of our law enforcement professionals, it’s an unfortunate circumstance of life that we, and society, often have to deal with the results of what I believe is poor parenting. In today’s world, far too many children are being raised by music video, movies and television and common sense (apparently) plays little role in their upbringing or day-to-day life. As an example I offer up the story reported today through multiple outlets about the 20-yr old university football player who refused to pull up his pants to cover his underwear and argued so hard about it on a plane that he ended up arrested. Read the rest of this entry »
Frank Borelli
Editor-in-Chief
Officer.com
It struck me not so much as sad as morally repulsive when I read this article on msnbc.com about how fire crews and police officers stood and watched a man drown because “policy strictly forbade them from trying to save the 50-year-old”. I know it’s not my place to criticize and typically I would assume an “I wasn’t there so I can’t judge” outlook, but even after the man had drowned himself it took a civilian witness to pull the body out of the water. What the heck? Read the rest of this entry »
Frank Borelli
Editor-in-Chief
Officer.com
It’s that time of year again: POLICE WEEK. Although it officially (according to legislation) is whatever week May 15th falls in (which means it STARTS this year on the 15th), the Candlelight Vigil is on the 13th and other events occur around that. Foremost on our minds and in our hearts should be honoring those brother and sister law enforcement professionals who made the ultimate sacrifice.
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Frank Borelli
Editor-in-Chief
Officer.com
In a recent news article out of Columbus, Georgia, we learn that senior NCOs (non-commissioned officers) from Ft. Benning joined Columbus Police Department in patrolling the “uptown” are of the city. Oddly, “uptown” is actually the downtown area and before we get upset about having soldiers patrolling our streets, we need to also know that it’s only TWO senior NCOs and they are acting in support of Columbus PD. Is this anything new? or anything to worry about? Read the rest of this entry »
Frank Borelli
Editor-in-Chief
Officer.com
Back a few years (more than I want to admit) I enlisted in Uncle Sam’s Army and became a Military Policeman. I can clearly remember the physical training (PT) we underwent each morning and the PT tests we took every couple of weeks to measure our progress and (hopefully) improvement. One of the discussions I remember having with my fellow soldiers-in-training focused around the applicability of the PT and testing with regard to actual actions performed in combat. We couldn’t find a correlation; apparently, decades later, neither has the Army. So, it’s been announced that the Army has developed a new PT regimen that is more applicable to combat performance.
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Frank Borelli
Editor-in-Chief
Officer.com
This week you’ll see a poll question (bottom right side of the home page) that asks about whether or not you do “spring cleaning” for your cruiser / patrol vehicle. Although I know some folks who seem to ONLY clean their patrol vehicles in the spring, I also knew plenty who washed their car every other day. In fact, I used to work with a guy who steam cleaned his engine weekly. Read the rest of this entry »
