Frank Borelli
Editor-in-Chief
Officer.com

I’d like to solicit the opinion of our readership on this topic. Awhile back I had written an article (or a blog - I can’t remember which) about necessary upgrades for today’s active shooter response tactics. Part of the discussion was about rifles and part of that sub-discussion was how many agencies are avoiding AR/M16 style weapons because they look too aggressive or they look too militaristic. Along the way I got an email (or a comment) from an officer down in Florida who said he had a solution: lever action rifles. Read the rest of this entry »

Frank Borelli
Editor-in-Chief
Officer.com

I happened to have opportunity over the weekend to observe several traffic stops. In one instance, after the fact, I had the chance to speak with an officer about his cruiser lights and why they were wired the way they were. You see, during the course of the stop I realized that the primary officer was being blinded by his back-up officer’s lights. I didn’t understand why the back-up officer didn’t turn off the emergency lights facing forward on his cruiser. The short answer was he couldn’t. Read the rest of this entry »

Frank Borelli
Editor-in-Chief
Officer.com

I have recently had the pleasure of being on an internet radio show called “The Cop Doc” radio show on BlogTalk Radio. After having been a guest on the show twice, and now having been on NRA News Radio about a dozen times, it occurred to me that the Internet is far from being just the World Wide Web of info anymore. Yes, I’m a tad slow… Read the rest of this entry »

Frank Borelli
Editor-in-Chief
Officer.com

On July 26th, Officer.com posted the poll question: Do you believe that the so-called ‘assault weapons’ ban makes police officers safer?. As the Editor for the site I was responsible for posting that poll and I fully expected to receive some blow-back from it. After all, we’re constantly hearing from gun-control groups that the rank-and-file police officers in the United States strongly favor any and all gun control measures, right? So, I kept track as the responses grew. Read the rest of this entry »

Frank Borelli
Editor-in-Chief
Officer.com

This morning (Wednesday, 7/21) I had the unfortunate job of editing and posting this article from the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund detailing how officer fatalities have surged in the first half of 2010. Fatalities are up 43% compared to 2009 - and there are simply no words to describe how that feels. Read the rest of this entry »

Frank Borelli
Editor-in-Chief
Officer.com

As the editor for this website I get the privilege (said with some sarcasm) of moderating virtually every comment made on any article posted. Since members of the general public (non-law-enforcement) are free to comment, and since there are some members of the general public who don’t like the police, some of those comments can be quite negative. Now obviously some folks are just never going to be happy with law enforcement officials / representatives. Some folks would only be happy if state dissolved and all law enforcement authority ceased to exist. For those folks, there’s nothing I can say except, “Oh, well.” Read the rest of this entry »

Frank Borelli
Editor-in-Chief
Officer.com

I’ll apologize in advance to anyone I aggravate with this blog entry but a situation was brought to my attention yesterday and it has simmered… and now I realize how frustrated I am with it. I know of a law enforcement agency currently being sued by several former employees. The former employees maintain that they were fired in retaliation for calling out wrong-doing in the agency administration and they have filed a lawsuit for millions of dollars. Read the rest of this entry »

Frank Borelli
Editor-in-Chief
Officer.com

There is currently a poll question posted on the Officer.com homepage which asks, “Is there an American flag patch / pin on your uniform?” As I type this there have been 320 votes with 61% of them in the NO column. 39% have answered YES. Now I’m not sure which way exactly I should be looking at this… Read the rest of this entry »

Frank Borelli
Editor-in-Chief
Officer.com

Law enforcement should be impartial. It should be the service of justice. However, that service of justice must be accomplished within the confines of the legal structure our country, states, counties, and localities all have in place. Since the legislation goes hand-in-hand (in most places) with politics, it can be difficult to enforce the law impartially. Sometimes an officer has to consider the protected status of either the victim or the suspect and modify his (or her) normal enforcement actions accordingly. Wait… I’m wrong. That’s not sometimes. It’s all the time. Read the rest of this entry »

Frank Borelli
Editor-in-Chief
Officer.com

As I type this, just this morning I was editing an article about the threats that can exist to a police officer’s career from within his or her own department. The article is titled Police Self Defense and I highly recommend you read it here on Officer.com. Now some may read it and consider it a negative piece about police work. I disagree. I think it’s accurate and I further believe that law enforcement professionals today need to realize that the security and stability of the thin blue line requires focus and commitment to each other - not just to one’s own career. Read the rest of this entry »