Unraveling the Threads: Understanding Hate Crime Investigations

By: Joel E. Gordon

Hate crimes are more than just ordinary offenses; they’re fueled by bias against a person’s race, religion, sexual orientation, or other identity factors. Imagine walking down the street and being targeted not for what you did, but for who you are. That’s the harsh reality for many. Hate crimes leave a deep scar, not just on the victim but on the entire community. Understanding the investigation process is vital to combating these acts.

Why is it crucial to probe hate crimes thoroughly? These offenses can create fear and division within communities. When a hate crime occurs, it sends ripples of anxiety and uncertainty. Investigating these incidents helps restore a sense of safety and ensures that justice is served. It shows that society stands against hate and is committed to protecting its members.

The Investigation Process

When a hate crime is reported, the police are on the front lines. Their immediate response is critical. Officers need to assess the situation, gather evidence, and support the victim. They often ask key questions: What happened? Who was involved? And most importantly, why did this happen? The answers can guide the entire investigation.

Think of evidence as pieces of a puzzle. The more pieces you have, the clearer the picture becomes. Investigators gather physical evidence, such as graffiti, weapons, or digital footprints, and collect witness statements. These accounts often provide insights into the incident, helping to establish motives and connections. Every detail matters, no matter how small.

Investigators don't just look at individual cases; they examine patterns too. Are there multiple incidents targeting the same group in a specific area? By analyzing data, law enforcement can identify trends and deploy resources effectively. This proactive approach can prevent future hate crimes and ensure that communities feel safe.

Overcoming Challenges in Hate Crime Investigations

Many hate crimes go unreported. Victims may fear retaliation, feel ashamed, or believe their experiences won’t be taken seriously. This underreporting complicates investigations and skews statistics. Law enforcement agencies are working to create environments where victims feel safe to come forward.

Navigating the legal landscape can be tricky. Hate crime laws vary by state, making it challenging to pursue justice in some cases. Investigators must be well-versed in the laws to effectively advocate for victims. It’s like trying to solve a mystery without having all the clues.

The Role of Community and Advocacy Groups

Community involvement plays a crucial role in supporting hate crime investigations. Advocacy groups work tirelessly to raise awareness, provide resources to victims, and ensure that investigations are thorough. When communities unite against hate, the message is clear: intolerance has no place here.

The fight against hate crimes is far from over. As society evolves, so too must our methods of investigation and support for victims. Encouraging open dialogues, fostering understanding, and creating inclusive environments can significantly reduce instances of hate. Together, we can turn the tide against hate and build a future where everyone feels safe and valued.

Hate crime investigations are essential for fostering safe communities. By understanding the complexities and challenges faced during these investigations, we can better support victims and work towards a society more free from hate. It’s a collective effort that requires commitment from everyone. Remember, hate affects us all, but love and understanding can conquer hate.

Joel E. Gordon, Managing Editor of BLUE Magazine, is a former Field Training Officer with the Baltimore City Police Department and is a past Chief of Police for the city of Kingwood, West Virginia. He has also served as vice-chair of a multi-jurisdictional regional narcotics task force. An award winning journalist, he is author of the book Still Seeking Justice: One Officer's Story and founded the Facebook group Police Authors Seeking Justice. Look him up at stillseekingjustice.com

The Power of Drug Task Forces: How They Work Toward Keeping Communities Safer

By: Joel E. Gordon

A drug task force is a specialized group made up of law enforcement officers from different agencies. They team up to tackle drug-related crimes in a specific area. This partnership is like a superhero squad—everyone brings different skills to the table, making them stronger together. By combining resources, they can fight against drug trafficking and abuse more effectively.

As the Kingwood West Virginia chief of police, from a law enforcement standpoint, I felt that it was essential that we work on the huge drug problem plaguing our rural community. The Preston County Sheriff’s Department was already participating in a federally funded five county rural drug and violent crime task force covering Taylor, Tucker, Randolph, Barbour and Preston Counties in West Virginia. I hired and assigned an officer joining this task force and become the task forces  Vice-Chairman as well.  Our task force was successfully, albeit slowly, making positive progress in our “war on drugs” and criminal activity and was quite good at developing revealing and useful “intelligence” type information.

Why is teamwork so crucial in these task forces? Simply put, drug issues don’t follow city or county lines. Criminals often distribute drugs across various locations, which means law enforcement agencies must work together to tackle the problem head-on. Sharing information and strategies helps catch bad guys and disrupt their operations. It’s kind of like how puzzle pieces fit together to reveal a complete picture. Each agency contributes vital pieces that create a clearer view of the drug landscape.

Drug task forces don’t just focus on users; they go straight to the source. By targeting manufacturers and distributors, they aim to reduce the supply of drugs in the community. This proactive approach is like cutting weeds at the root to prevent them from growing back. When “big players” get taken down, it makes it harder for smaller dealers to thrive. This helps lower drug availability and keeps the streets safer for everyone.

Communities are a big part of the success of drug task forces. Local residents often serve as the eyes and ears of the squad. When people feel empowered to report suspicious activity, it creates a safer neighborhood. Think about it: if everyone watches out for one another, it’s like having a big safety net. Task forces can do more with the help of community tips, leading to arrests and raids that decrease drug activity.

Beyond enforcement, drug task forces also engage in education. They run events and programs to teach people about the dangers of drug use. Knowledge is power, right? By informing communities about the risks, task forces help prevent drug abuse before it starts. It's similar to wearing a seatbelt; it’s much better to be safe than sorry. This approach combines strength and wisdom, making neighborhoods better places to live. Modern drug task force initiatives also involve themselves in participation for substance abuse treatment and rehabilitation efforts throughout their territory working in collaboration with EMS and available treatment and addiction support programs.

Of course, it's not all smooth sailing. Drug task forces face various challenges. For example, drug traffickers are often well-funded and clever, constantly finding new ways to evade law enforcement. This is much like a cat-and-mouse game, where one side tries to outsmart the other. Additionally, changes in drug trends, such as the rise of synthetic drugs, force task forces to adapt quickly. Staying informed and ready to protect the community is essential.

In summary, drug task forces play a vital role in enhancing public safety. Through collaboration, targeting supply sources, community engagement, and education, they tackle drug issues from multiple angles. Just like a well-oiled machine, each part works together to create a significant impact. The efforts of these task forces lead to safer streets, healthier communities, and ultimately, a brighter future for everyone involved.

Joel E. Gordon, Managing Editor of BLUE Magazine, is a former Field Training Officer with the Baltimore City Police Department and is a past Chief of Police for the city of Kingwood, West Virginia. He has also served as vice-chair of a multi-jurisdictional regional narcotics task force. An award winning journalist, he is author of the book Still Seeking Justice: One Officer's Story and founded the Facebook group Police Authors Seeking Justice. Look him up at stillseekingjustice.com

Dueling Crime Statistics

As we approach the presidential election of 2024 along with the races for Congress and other statewide races, crime looms large as an issue that many voters will take into account when they go to the polls. When voters are surveyed, they cite three issues that are at the top of the list, and it doesn’t matter who is doing the survey. Inflation and the economy is number one, the southern border and illegal immigration is number two and crime is number three.

Everybody running for office at election time claims to be an advocate for tough on crime policies including incumbents with a past anti police voting record and who have made inflammatory cop hating statements. No politician wants to be known to the voting public as soft on crime except for state prosecutors who were swept into office because of George Soros money. Even several of those were recalled and kicked out of office. Most candidates seek endorsements from police and sheriff deputy unions and fraternal organizations and proudly announce it if they get the endorsement. This is because it is generally what the voting public supports, and it transcends party affiliation. Everybody wants to be safe and feel safe in their homes, their neighborhoods, and their schools.

The post George Floyd riots have gotten the attention of the public. Cop haters and organizations like Black Lives Matter and Antifa declared and waged war on police. Local legislators in many left leaning cities defunded their law enforcement agencies. This movement caused many officers to leave the profession either outright or by taking early retirement. The hiring to fill the mass exodus has been unable to keep up. Many agencies are working with all-time high vacancies. Response times to calls for service have gone up. Some calls go unanswered, and some crime victims are told to report to police precincts to report even serious crimes with low solvability chances because there are no officers available to respond. In my last column I wrote about the Seattle Police Department no longer responding to burglar alarms without verification that an entry was actually occurring. I thought that was the job of the police. In a car jacking incident in Milwaukee, Wisconsin the 9-1-1 operator asked the caller if the suspect was still on the scene. When the caller responded no, the operator told her to drive to the nearest police district station to report it.

So, with this as the backdrop, let us see what all of this has done to crime rates across America. It all depends on whose statistics you want to use or believe. Statistics are subject to manipulation no matter who is using them. As Mark Twain said, there are lies, damn lies, and then there are statistics and that they can be used to bolster weak arguments or cast doubt on an opposing convincing argument. Because crime and violence are high on the list of things voters care about, left leaning folks are pushing the narrative that crime rates are down under the Biden administration. On the other side, conservative office seekers are claiming that violent crime has risen since Donald Trump left office.

So, what do the people who collect crime statistics say? The FBI reports that violent crime has decreased under Biden by 15%. Some point out that the FBI is not a statistical agency and that their numbers are unpolished and incomplete. They have no standards for collecting data and that reporting is voluntary, resulting in many large urban agencies not reporting crime incidents to the FBI. The National Crime Victimization Survey put out by the US Department Bureau of Justice Statistics reports that violent crime is up 40% from 2019. The NCVS reports that 55% of people who reported being victimized by a crime did not report it to the police and therefore when you look at reports of crime by the FBI, you are missing a lot of data. Additionally, the FBI only reports year to year data and does not look at crime over a longer period.

This statistical view of crime leaves out an especially essential element. The human the economic element and the psychological damage done not only to victims of crime and violence but the fear it creates in those around it. It is a quality of life issue. It causes people to withdraw from public life and changes their behavior. It disrupts their lives. Crime causes insurance rates to rise not only for the victim, but for those living in high crime neighborhoods. How do you measure that?

The bottom line is that talking about crime strictly from a statistical viewpoint is irrelevant to the human pain it leaves in its wake. There is simply too much crime that occurs for an industrialized and now high-tech nation like the United States. And now there is the emergence of migrant crime due to our open southern border.

To whether crime rates have increased or decreased, I say this. It depends on whose ox is being gored. If it is not disrupting your life, the human nature tendency is to simply turn the page. If it is, you view things through a different lens other than looking at statistics.

Sheriff David A. Clarke Jr. is former Sheriff of Milwaukee Co, Wisconsin, President of America’s Sheriff LLC, President of Rise Up Wisconsin INC, Board member of the Crime Research Center, author of the book Cop Under Fire: Beyond Hashtags of Race Crime and Politics for a Better America. To learn more visit www.americassheriff.com

Building the Blueprint: Essential Skills in a Police Officer's Career

By: Joel E. Gordon

*Image Source: https://pixabay.com/illustrations/success-steep-above-plane-curve-1648574/

A career as a police officer isn’t just about wearing a badge and driving a patrol car. It’s all about the skills that get us through tough situations and help us serve the community. From communication to critical thinking, each skill plays a crucial role in keeping our neighborhoods safe and sound. 

When you think of a police officer, it’s easy to focus on physical strength. But here’s a surprise: the real muscle lies in communication. The ability to talk to people and be understood is vital. Whether it's giving directions, explaining the law, or calming a tense situation, effective communication can make or break a scenario. Have you ever tried to diffuse an argument? It takes patience and knack for saying the right thing. In the same way, police officers need to practice active listening and clear speaking. We often translate complex legal terms into everyday language, helping folks feel more secure and informed.

Every day brings new challenges for police officers. Like a puzzle with missing pieces, we have to figure out how to bring everything together. Being a great problem-solver means thinking on your feet and making quick decisions. Imagine driving to a scene where tensions are high. Officers must analyze the situation fast and determine the best course of action. We weigh the pros and cons in mere seconds. With strong problem-solving skills, we often create peace where there might otherwise be chaos.

Empathy isn’t just a buzzword; it's crucial for building trust between officers and the community. Police work isn't all about authority; it's also about connection. Understanding and relating to the feelings of others fosters better relationships. When officers show empathy, we become more than just enforcers of the law. We transform into community helpers. When people feel understood, they’re more likely to share information and cooperate. It’s like planting seeds of trust that can grow into strong community bonds.

Let’s face it: policing can be physically demanding. Whether chasing a suspect or managing a crowd, physical fitness is non-negotiable. Officers need to be in shape, ready to run, jump, and defend when necessary. Just like athletes train for their sport, police officers engage in regular fitness routines to stay sharp. Physical fitness also boosts mental energy. A healthy body can lead to a focused mind, crucial during high-pressure situations.

In today’s world, police work isn’t just about badges and cars. It also involves technology—computers, databases, and even social media platforms. Officers must know how to use these tools effectively. Think about it: gathering evidence often requires tech skills, whether it’s reviewing surveillance footage or processing crime scene data. Being tech-savvy helps officers solve cases more quickly and efficiently. It's like having an extra pair of eyes on the crime scene.

Police officers face unpredictable situations every day. Adaptability is key. Just when we think they know what’s coming, things can change in the blink of an eye. Having the ability to adjust and respond to new challenges is essential. Imagine planning a seemingly routine traffic stop (as if there is such a thing) only to find out it’s something more serious. Officers need to adapt quickly and respond appropriately. Flexibility in thinking allows us to navigate through surprise situations with confidence.

In the end, the world of policing is complex and always evolving. Officers combine strong communication, problem-solving skills, empathy, physical fitness, technological know-how, time management, and adaptability to serve as modern-day peacekeepers. Every day presents an opportunity to grow and learn. With each skill sharpened, we become better equipped to protect and serve the communities that we love. We can later on transfer those skills to countless opportunities in the private sector upon retirement from government service.

Police work is not just a job; it’s a calling that requires a highly developed and unique skill set of great value now and throughout our lifetimes.

Joel E. Gordon, Managing Editor of BLUE Magazine, is a former Field Training Officer with the Baltimore City Police Department and is a past Chief of Police for the city of Kingwood, West Virginia. He has also served as vice-chair of a multi-jurisdictional regional narcotics task force. An award winning journalist, he is author of the book Still Seeking Justice: One Officer's Story and founded the Facebook group Police Authors Seeking Justice. Look him up at stillseekingjustice.com

School Bells: Ringing the Alarm on School Safety

By: Joel E. Gordon

The deadly school shooting in Georgia is currently leading to sincere discussions in the City of Baltimore, with the incident bringing up a recurring argument over whether to arm police resource officers inside city schools.

The discussion brought to the forefront after two armed resource officers at Apalachee High School in Georgia are being praised for their quick action in helping to stop the shooter. Officials say that within 120 seconds of the first shot being fired, the officers were able to find and take the suspect into custody. Great work indeed.

Regarding the issue of arming school police in Baltimore, Sgt. Clyde Boatwright said the choice is clear. "It strikes me that we're one incident away from saying, we shoulda, coulda, woulda."

"These type of situations are happening across the county and we just don't want to be on the wrong side of history and have a situation where a police officer could've taken corrective action and did not have the tools available to do so," said Boatwright.

Under Maryland law, school resource officers must lock-up their guns at the start of their shifts retrieving them only when “needed.” But Baltimore city school resource officers are the only police officers in the state who cannot carry weapons inside of schools and Boatwright is ringing the alarm.

"I will say Baltimore City Schools has done an amazing job with the technology that city schools have invested in. But still, all that technology is great but you still need an armed police officer if you have a scenario where a person has evaded those preventive measures and begin to actively shoot."

As a point of reference, Baltimore school officers have recovered at least 15 guns at city schools each year for the last four years.

Further exasperating issues in Maryland are limits under current Maryland law which restrict investigations once a shooting incident occurs or with any crime involving a juvenile suspect. Just after a deadly school shooting occurred at a Harford County Maryland school, Harford County Sheriff Jeff Gahler expressed his frustration over the limits his investigation could take.

"We have a person charged as an adult for committing a heinous crime in a school and we're not allowed to talk to him. That is lunacy," said Sheriff Gahler.

Maryland's Child Interrogation Protection Act, passed by the legislature two years ago, bars police or prosecutors from interviewing juveniles without the consent of an attorney. Proponents insist the new law protects the constitutional rights of juveniles but law enforcement has rightly maintained it stands in the way of justice.

"Even if a parent says 'yes' you can talk to my son or daughter, a lawyer is saying 'you can't talk to my client'," said Baltimore City State's Attorney Ivan Bates.

"It's becoming more and more difficult to hold juveniles accountable," said Prince Georges County Maryland Executive Angela Alsobrooks.

In Harford County there are many questions following the school shooting with few answers. "With our criminal-friendly legislature in Maryland, this is a 16-year-old suspect and we are not allowed to talk to him," said Sheriff Gahler.

The safety of school campuses is not limited to any setting or geographical location. As I write this, my local high school in rural West Virginia is being evacuated with students being dismissed early due to detailed social media posts threatening an allegedly impending shooting. Federal, State and local law enforcement here are currently actively engaged in the investigation to make certain that anyone responsible for criminal activity is held accountable.

School administrators, local governments, law enforcement, and Emergency Medical Services must all work together in unison to keep abreast of and implement best practices for school security and incident response. After each incident those same entities must perform comprehensive after action reviews to work on any improvements needed in future incident prevention and response. Continual learning and improvements must be achieved.

It’s long past time to end this violence and do everything possible to keep our communities and schools as safe as possible. Remember, soft targets in gun-free zones prohibit “bad guys,” often with guns and evil intent, from being able to be neutralized by the “good guys” with guns. Time is of the essence; it’s past time to have the right policies and actionable plans in place and stop the insanity.

Joel E. Gordon, Managing Editor of BLUE Magazine, is a former Field Training Officer with the Baltimore City Police Department and is a past Chief of Police for the city of Kingwood, West Virginia. He has also served as vice-chair of a multi-jurisdictional regional narcotics task force. An award winning journalist, he is author of the book Still Seeking Justice: One Officer's Story and founded the Facebook group Police Authors Seeking Justice. Look him up at stillseekingjustice.com

Fighting Shadows: How Police Can Prevent Terrorism

By: Joel E. Gordon

Terrorism is like a dark cloud looming over society, threatening the safety of everyday life. It’s an issue that keeps many people up at night. Thankfully, police forces play a crucial role in fighting this menace.

Terrorism isn’t just about big attacks; it includes smaller acts designed to spread fear. These can range from bombings to cyber attacks. Understanding the nature of these threats is vital for effective prevention. When police grasp the motivations behind terrorism, they can better anticipate potential trouble.

Intelligence gathering is the first line of defense. Think of intelligence gathering as a radar system for crime. Police use various methods to collect information about possible threats. We analyze social media, monitor suspicious activities, and collaborate with other agencies. This intelligence is like a treasure map, guiding law enforcement to the heart of potential danger.

Imagine a neighborhood where everyone looks out for each other. That’s the power of community engagement. When police build relationships with local residents, we create an environment where information flows freely. Community members can report suspicious activities, allowing police to act before a situation escalates. It’s teamwork at its finest.

Training is essential in the fight against terrorism. Police officers undergo rigorous drills to prepare for a variety of scenarios often learning how to handle bomb threats, hostage situations, and more. This training is like a sports team practicing for the championship. The more prepared we are, the better we can respond when the game is on the line.

In today’s tech-driven world, advanced technology is a game changer. Police use cutting-edge tools—like drones, surveillance cameras, and data analysis software—to monitor potential threats. This tech is akin to having a superhero’s toolkit. It provides officers with the resources needed to detect and prevent terrorist activities efficiently.

Terrorism knows no borders, and neither should the response. Police collaborate with federal agencies, international organizations, and even other countries. By sharing information and resources, we are able to create a united front against terrorism. It’s like a team of superheroes coming together to defeat a common enemy.

An informed public is a crucial weapon in the fight against terrorism. Police conduct training sessions and distribute materials to educate citizens about recognizing suspicious behavior. It’s like teaching people to be their own neighborhood watch. When citizens know what to look for, they can help the police protect their community.

The fight against terrorism is a shared mission. While police play a vital role, everyone has a part to play. By staying informed, building community ties, and working together, we can help create a safer environment. Together, we stand resilient against the shadows of terror, ensuring a brighter future for all. See something; say something.

Joel E. Gordon, Managing Editor of BLUE Magazine, is a former Field Training Officer with the Baltimore City Police Department and is a past Chief of Police for the city of Kingwood, West Virginia. He has also served as vice-chair of a multi-jurisdictional regional narcotics task force. An award winning journalist, he is author of the book Still Seeking Justice: One Officer's Story and founded the Facebook group Police Authors Seeking Justice. Look him up at stillseekingjustice.com

We Haven’t Learned the Lessons From 9-11

It has been 23 years since the terror attacks in America on September 11, 2001. That is nearly a quarter century ago even though it doesn’t seem like that much time has passed. If you recall what was determined by the 9-11 Commission convened by Congress to investigate what failed that allow the largest attack on American soil since the attacks on Pearl Harbor, they cited among other failures that the refusal of federal law enforcement agencies to share information up down and across the law enforcement spectrum was a critical factor. This included the refusal by federal agencies to share that information with local law enforcement. The Commission report referred to a “systemic resistance to sharing information” in their report.

Information sharing is vital to law enforcement efforts in keeping Americans safe. Front line local law enforcement officers are at street level interacting with people everyday. They collect huge amounts of raw information that should be collated, analyzed and turned into intelligence that can be shared with everyone responsible for public safety to prevent and disrupt crime. But is it?

Recently a report was published and given to the Congressional House Judiciary Committee prepared by whistleblowers, retired and active-duty agents and analysts. The report revealed several startling conclusions. Among the findings was that local law enforcement officers have a “disturbing loss of trust in the FBI” and as a result are hesitant to share information with them. Local cops complain that the information sharing is one-way. They share information with the FBI while the Bureau tends to hold their information close to the vest. The report goes on to point out that, “Police officers and sheriff’s deputies on patrol and detectives investigating illegal activity in their jurisdictions have unparalleled visibility into street crimes and when this information is not immediately shared with the FBI, the FBI is left to address complex, evolving threats facing the United States with the unacceptably vast and debilitating ‘blind spot’ because it does not have enough personnel and resources to see into every corner of the country.” Recall that the 9-11 hijackers were freely moving about the United States. They were on no-fly lists yet continued to board flights into and out of the U.S. as they planned their attack. In fact, 3 of the hijackers were pulled over for traffic violations by local law enforcement officers days before the attacks. The cops had no information that the terror suspects were on the infamous radar screen of federal agencies

This is highly disturbing in light of the role that a lack of information sharing law played in the 9-11attacks in 2001. This is not a recent phenomenon. In all my nearly 40 years in local law enforcement this problem has existed. I am a graduate of the FBI National Academy-a program designed to strengthen the relationship between FBI agents and local police. Apparently, it isn’t working. At the Academy in Quantico, Va you could feel that sense of superiority by new agents. There is still this adoration of the Bureau’s first Director J Edgar Hoover.  It is as if his ghost lives there. The previously mentioned report describes FBI personnel generally as, “almost always arrogant, aloof, condescending without any tactical skills to support themselves or the safety of their teams while out on the street.” A source says this is the result of the “new agent training at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Va, which promotes a cult of narcissism by imbuing a false sense of superiority over all local, state and federal law enforcement.” Their title is “special agent”. What is it that makes them special someone needs to ask.

I can attest to this characterization of FBI agents. A news story on this report says that the picture that emerges of the FBI is of an incompetent, arrogant, bloated bureaucracy that includes a new generation of DEI hires described as ‘completely worthless’ and ‘the worst batch of people’. This inflated self worth should have a hole poked in it and replaced with a sense of humility and professionalism when dealing with local street cops and their agencies said a news story. The FBI used to seek out new hires who had military or law enforcement experience, but it sounds today like diversity, equity and inclusion social engineering experiments in hiring takes precedent.

These are not my descriptions of the agents of the FBI, but it is hard to disagree with the former agents, analysts and whistleblowers. Is it any wonder that at the local level, officers refer to the initials FBI standing for (F)amous (B)ut (I)ncompetent. It would be funny if it wasn’t so serious. This relationship must be repaired and fast. With terrorism re-emerging as a threat again, the next attack according to Director Wray is a question not of if, but when. The success of any relationship starts with a foundation of trust. In my view it is incumbent on the federal agencies to take that first step.

Sheriff David A. Clarke Jr. is former Sheriff of Milwaukee Co, Wisconsin, President of America’s Sheriff LLC, President of Rise Up Wisconsin INC, Board member of the Crime Research Center, author of the book Cop Under Fire: Beyond Hashtags of Race Crime and Politics for a Better America. To learn more visit www.americassheriff.com

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: A New Era of Policing?

By: Joel E. Gordon

Artificial intelligence (AI) is not just a buzzword; it’s reshaping how police work. Picture a world where crime-solving isn’t only about foot chases and detective work. Instead, it’s about algorithms and data. AI is becoming an essential tool for police departments everywhere. AI in policing refers to the use of computer systems to perform tasks that usually require human intelligence. This includes recognizing patterns, analyzing vast amounts of data, and even predicting criminal activity. Imagine having a supercharged assistant that can process information faster than any human could. That’s what AI brings to the table.

AI isn’t just about catching criminals; it’s also about building trust within communities. With transparency in AI use, police can show community members how data is being utilized. This can help demystify police work, making citizens feel more involved and less apprehensive about law enforcement practices. Community engagement can greatly improve when people understand how AI benefits them.

One of the most significant ways AI helps police is through predictive policing. This uses historical crime data to forecast where crimes are likely to occur. It's like having a crystal ball that gives officers a heads-up on where to focus their efforts. By analyzing trends, AI can help predict when and where crimes may happen, allowing officers to be in the right place at the right time.

Ever seen those high-tech movies where a face pops up on a screen, and instantly, the character’s whole life story is revealed? That technology is becoming a reality with AI-powered facial recognition. Police can quickly identify suspects, missing persons, or even witnesses. This can speed up investigations significantly. However, it does raise questions about privacy. Can we trust these technologies to be accurate and fair?

Collecting evidence can be a tedious process. Imagine sifting through piles of documents or hours of video footage. With AI, this process is streamlined. Algorithms can sort through vast amounts of data, identifying critical pieces of evidence more quickly than any human could. This means officers can spend less time digging and more time acting on crucial information. It's like having a powerful magnifying glass that helps you find the needle in the haystack.

While AI presents many opportunities, it’s not without its challenges. Relying solely on algorithms can lead to biases. If the data fed into AI systems is flawed, the results can be skewed. It’s essential to ensure that the systems are fair and just, preventing discrimination against certain groups. Policymakers and police departments need to work together to create guidelines that address these ethical concerns.

AI is not just a fad; it’s revolutionizing how police operate. From predicting crimes to identifying suspects, AI opens up new doors for law enforcement. However, with great power comes great responsibility. As technology advances, so should our understanding of its implications. The future of policing looks promising, but it’s crucial that we navigate these changes thoughtfully and ethically. Embracing AI could mean a safer society for everyone, but only if done right.

Joel E. Gordon, Managing Editor of BLUE Magazine, is a former Field Training Officer with the Baltimore City Police Department and is a past Chief of Police for the city of Kingwood, West Virginia. He has also served as vice-chair of a multi-jurisdictional regional narcotics task force. An award winning journalist, he is author of the book Still Seeking Justice: One Officer's Story and founded the Facebook group Police Authors Seeking Justice. Look him up at stillseekingjustice.com

Who’s On First?

Here we go again. Many of you may have seen the Comedians Abbott and Costello skit of mass confusion about a baseball game. If you have never seen it, you should. It is pretty clever. We just witnessed a version of this with the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania. That wasn’t so funny. I want to explain why. This is not an attempt to second guess. This is an honest analysis of the information that we have now. Yes, we will learn more moving forward.

First of all, I want to qualify why I am competent to make this analysis on Presidential Protection Details. I was trained in dignitary protection by the United States Secret Service (USSS). I attended their 2-week dignitary protection program in Washington D.C. and received a certificate of completion signed by the then Director of the USSS. As the commanding officer of the Milwaukee Police Department’s Intelligence Division, we had responsibility for dignitary protection working side by side with the USSS on a directed patrol mission. I know how these details work and what should happen in a successful operation. I’m hearing many people who are being interviewed that do not know what they are talking about.

I want to start with the current leadership of the USSS and work down toward the event itself. Director Kimberly Cheatle is not qualified to lead the agents currently serving in that organization. She is an identity politics hire. She doesn’t realize that there is a culture problem within the agency. She has watered down their mission by inserting a social engineered experiment as something to be achieved. Cheatle has stated in an interview that she is committed to making sure that by 2030, she wants 30% of the agents to be female. That means more qualified males will have been passed over to achieve her goal. Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programs should not be part of their mission. They have one mission as it relates to their primary function-to protect high valued persons in the federal government from death or attack. They suffered a catastrophic fail in Butler, Pennsylvania. There is no way to sugar coat it. This security lapse almost cost the loss of a nominee from a major political party for President of the United States. Think about that.

What transpired after was typical of someone who doesn’t understand the moment. Cheatle started pointing the finger at the local police. She said that the USSS was not the lead agency. Like hell they aren’t. I have participated in numerous Presidential visits. The USSS is in fact the lead agency. They have to depend on a contingent of local police to accomplish the mission.  Here is how this works.  An advance team of Secret Service agents arrives in the city a few days before to do an inspection of the site. This includes mapping where the motorcade will take to the event. The advance team identifies every possible vulnerability on the route they will take plus the event location. They ask that the motorcade route be staffed with a law enforcement officer for route and site containment. The event location is swept the day before again on the day of the event. Local officers are to be in place early in the day and remain in place until the wheels up signal is given meaning the protectee or “package” as they are called now is on a plane in the air.

Now as it relates to the scene. Why the building that the shooter was able to access was not identified as a vulnerability is where a lot of finger pointing is still going on. Director Cheatle says that was not a part they were responsible for since it was outside the inner perimeter. Really? Then Cheatle said the roof was too sloped and dangerous to put a counter sniper on it. I thought the Secret Service job was to place themselves in harms way to protect in this case the former President?  The local sheriff said that they informed the Secret Service that they did not have enough personnel to post the building the shooter used. This is what pre-event meetings are supposed to resolve. I don’t care whose responsibility it is, the building needed to be posted as a vulnerability. Citizens attending the rally informed police in the areas of a guy with a rifle on the roof that the shooter eventually used. Nobody took and real action although it is reported that a local law enforcement officer went up on the roof and was confronted by the shooter who pointed his rifle at the officer who took cover and went back down the ladder. Why this wasn’t communicated to the USSS has yet to be determined.

Any of this series of interrelated events if acted upon effectively and decisively could have interrupted the assassination attempt. The shooter needed his series of events like scoping the area out several days before and even acting suspiciously at the entrance of the events with a range finder, making sure a ladder was available for him to get on the roof and counting on the directed patrol mission of protecting the former President to not take assertive action to stop him in order to succeed.

Everybody in law enforcement knows how critical seconds are to stopping a threat. The USSS and local law enforcement had not only seconds but minutes, hours and even days to prevent this. This is not second guessing. It’s stating the truth.

If the after action report follows its usual path, it will take a long time before one is released and even then, we may never find out the entire truth. In the meantime, members of Congress are already calling for hearings on what happened. You know where that is going. It is usually all theater with finger wagging and hollering at the witnesses called to testify. That circus serves no good. We need a thorough examination of what is wrong deep inside the USSS. We need structural changes and not technical fixes that over time disappear allowing the dysfunctional culture a chance to re-emerge.

With everything I have described, you can now make the comparison on what happened in Butler, Pennsylvania to the Abbott and Costello’s, Who’s on First, What’s on Second, I Don’t Know is on Third skit. It was total confusion. Add to that a lack of attention to detail and no sense of urgency and you can better understand how this happened. The only remaining question is how the USSS prevents this from happening again.

Sheriff David A. Clarke Jr. is former Sheriff of Milwaukee Co, Wisconsin, President of America’s Sheriff LLC, President of Rise Up Wisconsin INC, Board member of the Crime Research Center, author of the book Cop Under Fire: Beyond Hashtags of Race Crime and Politics for a Better America. To learn more visit www.americassheriff.com

Consent Decrees

USDOJ Should Butt Out of Local Policing

Ever since the Barack Obama administration went on a jihad against local policing and used the process of a consent decree to take away local control, cities have seen an increase in both violent and property crime. There is a plethora of data and evidence coming in that makes the case for the federal government to end this crusade.

Obama and his Attorney General Eric Holder held nothing but contempt and animosity toward local policing. Without cause they accused police officers of being inherently racist. Obama in a speech claimed that white police officers have a problem with people who do not look like them. Holder tells a story of being racially profiled as a college student while driving on the New Jersey Turnpike. He said he was stopped for speeding and was ordered out of the car and the car was searched. He told the audience he was speaking to that he was later racially profiled while walking in Washington D.C. when he was a federal prosecutor at the time. Holder said the experience humiliated him. Now let’s stop right there. There re numerous questions that beg to be asked of Holder.

First is that if this accusation is true, there should be a record of the traffic stop in New Jersey. Police are required to notify a dispatcher of the location of the stop and the color, make and registration plate number. This if for officer safety in case things go to crap. My point is that a historical search can be made to determine if Holder was ever stopped on the Turnpike. Next is that Holder said he was a federal prosecutor when stopped in the nation’s capital by law enforcement officers for no reason. If he felt he was racially profiled and felt so humiliated, he had an opportunity to file a complaint with the New Jersey State Police and demand that an investigation be conducted. But I guess he wasn’t that humiliated. People who feel humiliated are usually angry and want something done about it. Holder just went on his way. As a federal prosecutor, Holder knew that what he described was a potential federal civil rights violation that he was the victim of, and he didn’t file a complaint? Holder knows that in court there is a saying that if it isn’t documented, it didn’t happen. I’ll even go as far as to say that Holder’s claim is totally fabricated.

When Holder became the Attorney General of the U.S. Department of Justice, he weaponized the Justice Department to go after local police agencies for his spurious claim that police agencies generally engage in racial profiling. He first orders a pattern and practice investigation, the findings of which are the basis to for agencies and municipalities to acquiesce into a consent decree thereby taking local control away and imposing onerous rules of documentation and reporting that have to be followed in order to come into compliance. The USDOJ offers a little grant money to entice them into voluntarily surrender control to the federal government. Under Eric Holder, the USDOJ initiated 22 pattern and practice investigations against various police departments and found that 21 of the agencies engaged in a patter and practice of the nebulous accusation of racial profiling. That record of success doesn’t pass the smell test. It becomes an automatic conclusion. The Trump administration’s DOJ put the brakes on pattern and practice investigations leaving it up to the local municipality to address citizen concerns.

Another aspect of these consent decrees is that there is rarely an expiration date on them to end. They go on in perpetuity. The statistics rolling in now show that these things are having no affect on reform, may be causing crime to rise and are becoming expensive for cities. One reason is that officers end up spending valuable time off the streets filing required reports on traffic stops and field interview stops. Preventive patrols are lacking. Visibility is an effective crime deterrent. Criminals tend to operate where they see little police presence. Let’s look at some data. It’s hard to refute the correlation when the same thing is happening in so many cities under consent decree.

An Axios news site review found that of 12 agencies placed under consent decrees, 7 saw an increase in violent crime rates. According to FBI Uniform Crime Reports, Seattle after being put under a federal consent decree saw a surge in violent crime of 27%. Albuquerque saw a 36% increase in its violent crime rate after seeing a 30 year low before the consent decree. Los Angeles saw an increase of 61% in its violent crime rate. Seattle, Albuquerque and New Orleans also experienced increases in property crime rates. Smaller municipalities saw decreases in violent crime rates after being put under a consent decree. Some scholars indicate that they don’t know if the result of the increase can be traced back to the consent decree affect.

 A study done by the Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund (LELDF) studied the nature and scope of consent decrees over time. Key findings from the study pointed out that the pattern and practice investigations by the USDOJ relied on questionable evidence. It also found that these agreements impose policy preferences on agencies that are outside the scope of DOJ authority. In other words, arm twisting goes on to force an agency into acceptance of being placed under the consent decree. Another finding from the study points out that the metrics, timetables and outcomes for agency compliance are ill-defined, unachievable and subject to the whims of federal monitors and judges.

 The most notable finding in the LDLDF is that communities and departments under decrees suffer from rising crime and lower crime clearance rates, ballooning costs to local taxpayers, plummeting officer morale and greater community dissatisfaction.

 In the end, the law of unintended consequences kicks in. The reason is that the USDOJ is working on the wrong thing. They do not know how local urban policing works or doesn’t work. They do not understand the nuances and intricacies of crime control and deterrence. If there is a specific problem with a police agency, then fix that specific thing but do not overhaul or overtake an entire agency. The USDOJ objective is one of politics not police reform. Politics and policing are a volatile mix that often results in leaving more crime victims in its wake.

 Sheriff David A. Clarke Jr. is former Sheriff of Milwaukee Co, Wisconsin, President of America’s Sheriff LLC, President of Rise Up Wisconsin INC, Board member of the Crime Research Center, author of the book Cop Under Fire: Beyond Hashtags of Race Crime and Politics for a Better America. To learn more visit www.americassheriff.com

I should have been killed: But for the grace of God...

By: Joel E. Gordon

Five days after surviving an assassination attempt, President Donald Trump addressed the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. In a speech lasting every bit of an hour and a half, he described feeling the assassin's bullet hitting his ear and being smothered by Secret Service agents. "I'm not supposed to be here," he told the crowd, adding: "I had God on my side."

I fully understand the personal discovery that our own mortality is real and fragile and death or serious harm could be realized at any time from my own firsthand experience. This assassination attempt was President Trump’s moment brought to the forefront the revelation that the hazards he faces are for real and that public events are not just promotional fun and games.

While I have experienced such events over the course of my law enforcement career, while disarming armed and hostile subjects, wrestling people to submission fueled with adrenaline or chemical alteration displaying unnatural strength while being handcuffed, a serious attempt to stab me with a knife, and other occurrences which I often chalked up to being in the wrong place at the wrong time, there was one event that had the most significant impact on me. It was my event, experienced as a rookie officer, which made me realize the true hazards that I was facing from that point forward. I was truly my moment when reality struck me.

This event, my being the sixth patrol unit on the scene of the murder of fellow Baltimore city police officer Ron Tracey resulted in a newfound appreciation for due caution and likely kept me from serious physical harm or death for the years to follow.

Officer Ronald Tracey was shot and killed with his own weapon after being attacked at the intersection of Monroe Street and Baker Street. He was handling a traffic accident when an unrelated person came up behind him and attempted to disarm him. During the ensuing struggle the suspect was successful in gaining control of his weapon and shot him twice. The suspect was convicted and sentenced to 45 years in prison. By the way, he was paroled in January 2014.

Ron Tracey was a kind field training officer who had been a person on my shift who reached out to me in support of my rookie need for expanded information. I felt an immediate kinship with him.

Here is my recollection of this event as excerpted, in part, from my memoir Still Seeking Justice: One Officer’s Story:

I graduated the police academy in April of 1981. On Monday July 20, 1981, barely 3 months out of the academy, Ron Tracey, one of the officers who reached out to me on my first day, was shot and killed toward the end of our shift while on duty. I was the sixth car on the scene. 

Officer Tracey had served with the agency for six years. He is survived by his wife and child.

It was the end of a busy 4pm x 12am shift; I was waiting to be called in for shift change about three blocks south of the Western District Police Station at 1034 North Mount Street. Officers were to stay on their post until called in, but it was commonplace to sneak in close to the station to expedite the end of the shift. Ron Tracey had a different approach this night and volunteered to handle a late minor accident so as to be able to get off on time.  A little before midnight, still waiting for the next shift to conclude their roll call and to be called in, a static crackling noise emanated from the radios speaker/microphone I was wearing. I don’t know why but I immediately placed my patrol car into drive, feeling that something was wrong; but where to go?  Almost immediately citizens began calling in “officer down” at Monroe at Baker Streets. I was immediately en route with only a few blocks to go.  As the sixth car on the scene, I saw a uniformed officer down in the road, lying in a half fetal position, in the gutter of Monroe Street. He had been shot once in the abdomen and once in his head. Other officers rushed him by patrol car to the hospital but to no avail. I took my lead from veteran Field Training Officer Dwight Thomas who was also on scene by then.

Numerous calls began to come in with what turned out to be accurate information as to the suspect’s direction of travel. Even information on the suspect’s identity and address of his mother’s house were accurate. When we were informed of the suspect’s mother’s address, several other officers and I turned up at the address but the suspect was not found.

Officer Dwight Thomas, another veteran guardian angel of mine, told me that I should “call my people” to let them know I was alright. I was still living at home with my parent’s then. I called (and woke them up) to let them know I was okay.

Two shifts of officers stayed on the street in our attempt to locate the perpetrator for several hours. It was as if the rest of the world was at a standstill.  The suspect was located on Tuesday about fourteen hours later in the Northeastern Police District and was taken into custody, alive and unharmed.

I learned, that night, that this was for real. Life and death was hanging in the balance. When one works in an inner city high crime area you learn, not to understand, but to accept that there is a criminal element that has no regard for human life, yours or their own. The loss of a fellow officer in this fashion is something that you carry with you forever.

While the wounds received are sometimes but not always life-changing; the situations themselves are. Yes we are supposed to be here. As I have often said, God isn't finished with us yet as it relates to our purpose here on earth. May God bless and continue to watch over President Trump and us all.

Joel E. Gordon, Managing Editor of BLUE Magazine, is a former Field Training Officer with the Baltimore City Police Department and is a past Chief of Police for the city of Kingwood, West Virginia. He has also served as vice-chair of a multi-jurisdictional regional narcotics task force. An award winning journalist, he is author of the book Still Seeking Justice: One Officer's Story and founded the Facebook group Police Authors Seeking Justice. Look him up at stillseekingjustice.com

Police Pursuit Policies: Ensuring Public Safety

By: Joel E. Gordon

Too often we hear of police pursuits ending with a tragic loss to innocent life. Law enforcement has long worked to address the issue in finding the right balance between criminal apprehensions and public safety.

When I was chief of police in the Preston County seat of Kingwood West Virginia I implemented a pursuit policy that was rooted in public safety with a view toward not emboldening criminal suspects to flee.

Effective policies play a vital role in maintaining public safety. These policies guide law enforcement officers on when and how to engage in high-speed pursuits. By implementing clear and effective pursuit protocols, police agencies can minimize the risks associated with pursuits, protect innocent lives, and ensure accountability.

Police pursuits are undertaken to apprehend individuals who pose a threat to public safety or are suspected of committing serious crimes. While these high-speed chases are essential for law enforcement, they also carry inherent risks for officers, suspects, and innocent bystanders. Therefore, it is crucial to establish well-defined policies that strike a balance between apprehension and minimizing potential harm.

Effective pursuit policies provide officers with clear guidelines on when to initiate, continue, or terminate a pursuit. These guidelines take into account factors such as the seriousness of the offense, the level of danger posed by the suspect, and the prevailing traffic and weather conditions. By setting objective criteria, pursuit policies help officers make informed decisions in the heat of the moment, reducing the likelihood of unnecessary risk-taking.

A robust pursuit policy should include mechanisms for officer accountability. This includes thorough documentation of the pursuit, including reasons for initiation and termination, as well as any deviations from the established protocol. Regular review and evaluation of pursuit incidents ensure that officers comply with the policy and allow for corrective measures to be taken if necessary. By holding officers accountable, pursuit policies promote transparency and build public trust.

The safety of innocent bystanders and the general public should take precedence over the apprehension of suspects. Pursuit policies should emphasize the importance of assessing the potential risks to bystanders and the community at large. Officers must exercise judgment and terminate pursuits if the potential harm outweighs the necessity of capturing the suspect. Such prioritization ensures that the pursuit is conducted in a manner that minimizes the risk to everyone involved.

A comprehensive and effective pursuit policy should be accompanied by regular training and education for law enforcement officers. This ensures that officers understand the policy guidelines, are aware of best practices, and possess the necessary skills to make split-second decisions during pursuits. Continuous training also helps officers adapt to evolving tactics and technologies, enhancing their ability to handle pursuit situations safely and effectively.

Collaboration is a key element in pursuit policies. By fostering coordination with neighboring law enforcement agencies and other relevant entities, information sharing becomes more efficient. This enables a quicker response and enhances the likelihood of a successful apprehension while minimizing the need for lengthy pursuits. Mutual aid agreements and shared resources can significantly improve the effectiveness of pursuit operations.

Leveraging technological advancements can greatly enhance the effectiveness of pursuit policies. Tools such as GPS tracking, automatic license plate recognition systems, and non-lethal immobilization devices provide law enforcement with valuable options to safely monitor, track, and immobilize fleeing vehicles. Integrating such advancements into pursuit policies reduces the risks associated with high-speed chases while increasing the probability of apprehension. Law enforcement air support also is most beneficial when and where available.

Police pursuit policies serve as critical guidelines for law enforcement officers when engaging in high-speed pursuits. By prioritizing public safety, ensuring officer accountability, and incorporating elements like training, collaboration, and technology, these policies can reduce the risks involved in pursuits, protect innocent lives, and maintain public trust. Continual evaluation and improvement of these policies are essential to adapt to evolving challenges and ensure the safety of all individuals involved in pursuit incidents.

 Joel E. Gordon, Managing Editor of BLUE Magazine, is a former Field Training Officer with the Baltimore City Police Department and is a past Chief of Police for the city of Kingwood, West Virginia. He has also served as vice-chair of a multi-jurisdictional regional narcotics task force. An award winning journalist, he is author of the book Still Seeking Justice: One Officer's Story and founded the Facebook group Police Authors Seeking Justice. Look him up at stillseekingjustice.com

POLITICS IS TOUGH: Professionalism vs. Popularity

“Adhere to your purpose and you will soon feel as well as you ever did. On the contrary, if you falter, and give up, you will lose the power of keeping any resolution, and will regret it all your life.” – Abraham Lincoln

Lincoln was, perhaps, the most successful president that the United States of America ever had. After having been part of a greatly successful law practice, he saved the United States, helped to abolish slavery, and spoke some of the most memorable words in U.S. history, including the Gettysburg Address. Survey after survey on presidents put him at the very top or near top. I’d call that success. But history shows that he is a case study in failure throughout much of his lifetime. Consider the following:

• He was defeated for Illinois state legislator in 1832.
• He started a business only to see it go under. It was a store in New Salem, Illinois. His partner died and he could not sustain the business. He eventually paid off all the business’ debts.
• He lost his run for Congress in 1843 and again in 1848.
• He lost his bid to become a U.S. senator in 1855.
• He ran for vice president of the U.S. in 1856 and lost.
• He again ran for the U.S. Senate in 1859 and lost yet again.

Not unlike Lincoln, have you ever found yourself feeling somewhat Lincoln-like? I have. There have been times throughout my work years in the past where politics and popularity had seemingly trumped a track history of knowledge, problem solving achievement, and success.  (A side-note: My wife nee’ Herndon is a direct descendant of Lincoln’s law partner of 16 years, William Herndon, her dad’s namesake).

I was a naïve 19-year-old when promoted by my then-employer Radio Shack to become a company store manager. This early performance-based career success falsely affirmed my belief that high-level performance and knowledge would translate to success elsewhere (and everywhere).

Imagine my dismay when upon becoming a Baltimore City police officer my career path was stymied while being bumped out of career development assignments and promotional opportunities by candidates benefiting from favoritism under affirmative action mandates. But I adhered to my purpose.

Since then, I have gone on to become a successful manager of a residential resort, police chief, published newspaper columnist, and managing editor of the BLUE Magazine to name a few successes; all based upon performance and ability. I was honored to be awarded for “Excellence in National Law Enforcement Leadership” by my peers at a well-attended police conference in Florida, perhaps the pinnacle of recognition of my career successes.

POPULARITY OVER PERFORMANCE: The Dilemma Unveiled

In today's fast-paced world, we often find ourselves at a crossroads when it comes to navigating the fine line between professionalism and popularity. The age-old question lingers: Should one prioritize a polished, professional image, or strive for mass appeal and popularity?

Professionalism entails adhering to a set of standards, conduct and demeanor expected in a particular field or industry. It encompasses traits such as reliability, expertise, and a serious approach to one's work. Maintaining professionalism instills trust and credibility among peers and others, laying the foundation for a successful career trajectory.

On the other end of the spectrum lies popularity, a coveted status in the age of social media and influencer culture. Popularity brings attention, followers, and a sense of validation from the masses. It can open doors to opportunities and widen one's reach in the digital landscape. However, the allure of popularity often comes with a trade-off in terms of authenticity and depth of relationships.

While professionalism and popularity may seem like opposing forces, striking a balance between the two is key. I want to believe that it is possible to exude professionalism while still connecting with a broader audience on a personal level.

In the digital age, the lines between professionalism and popularity can become increasingly blurred. Social media platforms offer individuals the opportunity to showcase their professional expertise while also engaging with a wider audience on a more personal level.

Ultimately, authenticity emerges as the cornerstone of navigating the professionalism-popularity dichotomy. Being true to oneself, maintaining integrity, and staying genuine in interactions can set individuals apart. Authenticity breeds trust and fosters genuine connections.

In the ever-evolving landscape of professionalism and popularity, finding a balance that aligns with one's values and goals is paramount. Embracing professionalism while staying true to one's authentic self can pave the way for a fulfilling and successful journey.

Although no longer naïve to the power of popularity over professional achievement, tribal mentality or the power of “good ol’ boy” politics, I will continue to keep the faith in all things I have to offer based upon my knowledge and successful experiences in my endeavor to improve the lives of others and make our world the best place possible to leave to future generations.

So when feeling slighted in the political realm of things, bear in mind the wisdom of Muhammad Ali who pointed out “You don’t lose if you get knocked down; you lose if you stay down.” Or as Donald Trump would advise as he puts his faith in the voters “Never Surrender.” 

Joel E. Gordon, Managing Editor of BLUE Magazine, is a former Field Training Officer with the Baltimore City Police Department and is a past Chief of Police for the city of Kingwood, West Virginia. He has also served as vice-chair of a multi-jurisdictional regional narcotics task force. An award winning journalist, he is author of the book Still Seeking Justice: One Officer's Story and founded the Facebook group Police Authors Seeking Justice. Look him up at stillseekingjustice.com

The DOJ’s War on the Secret Service?

By: Joel E. Gordon

How often has the left hand of governmental agencies been out of sync with the right hand on critical decisions and policy on federal, state and local levels?

Ever since learning of the August 2022 raid at Mar-a-Lago I have questioned the Secret Service protective details role in protection of President Trump, his family, and the contents in his residence. Did The FBI/DOJ question the ability of the Secret Service to protect the residence, its occupants and contents? It turns out my curiosity was just the beginning of thought which apparently was even worse than I could have anticipated. An apparent example of left hand/right hand discord.

The mission of any Secret Service executive protection detail is outlined online @ www.secretservice.gov/protection/leaders...

Protecting Leaders:
Since our protective mission began in 1901, our protective work has expanded to not only include traditional physical protection, but also protection against threats from airspace, cyber systems and chemical and biological weapons. Permanent protectees, such as the president and vice president, have special agents permanently assigned to them. Protection for the President and Vice President of the United States is mandatory… The protection of an individual is comprehensive and goes well beyond surrounding the individual with well-armed agents. As part of our mission of preventing an incident before it occurs, we rely on meticulous advance work and threat assessments to identify potential risks to protectees. 

The United States Secret Service is not part of the Department of Justice. This law enforcement agency falls under the umbrella of the Department of Homeland Security. Before the creation of Homeland Security in 2003, the Secret Service was part of the Department of the Treasury.

The August 2022 raid was part of the Department of Justice (DOJ) investigation into Trump's alleged handling of classified records. Special Counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into Trump’s alleged improper retention of classified records included an "Operations Order" that was produced during discovery.

This order revealed that the "FBI believed its objective for the Mar-a-Lago raid was to seize "classified information, NDI, and US Government records," as described in the search warrant.
The order also contained, according to a court filing, a "Policy Statement" regarding "Use of Deadly Force," which stated, "Law Enforcement officers of the Department of Justice may use deadly force when necessary."

So was the FBI prepared to engage in a gun battle with Secret Service agents assigned to protect the life of President Trump and his family? What coordination, if any, was planned in advance to avert such a conflict? Was the Secret Service willing to walk away from its obligation to protect a mandatory protectee?

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, spoke about authorization of deadly force on his podcast, believing that the FBI was anticipating potential conflicts with the Secret Service. Cruz actually read through the unsealed document on his podcast, which made clear the FBI being prepared to engage with deadly force, should agents encounter resistance.

"So, they’re anticipating Secret Service may actively resist the FBI, and they’re prepared to engage," Cruz said. "And they’re prepared to engage with an order that explicitly authorizes deadly force. Like, what in the hell?"

Pam Bondi, the former Florida attorney general and also expressed outrage over the FBI’s authorization to use deadly force during the Mar-a-Lago raid.

"How upsetting is that, especially to all the great men and women in the Secret Service who were in Mar-a-Lago," she said. "It was a safe place. I’ve been part of executing multiple search warrants, and nothing about this was standard. It was a siege by land, by sea, by air, of Mar-a-Lago. "Nothing about this was normal, yet, we’ve heard now that they even had medics and EMS there, in case there could have been a shootout. Can you believe that," Bondi added. "No. Nothing about this was standard. What you do is you coordinate with other federal agencies before you go in there."

Federal agencies once served as an example of mission integrity and competence to all of law enforcement. Are those days now long gone? American’s need to have faith restored in government and law enforcement must not allow itself to be used as pawns in lawfare or political gamesmanship. Leadership must always act in the best interest of the population served.

Joel E. Gordon, Managing Editor of BLUE Magazine, is a former Field Training Officer with the Baltimore City Police Department and is a past Chief of Police for the city of Kingwood, West Virginia. He has also served as vice-chair of a multi-jurisdictional regional narcotics task force. An award winning journalist, he is author of the book Still Seeking Justice: One Officer's Story and founded the Facebook group Police Authors Seeking Justice. Look him up at stillseekingjustice.com

Making the Same Mistakes

These shameful pro-Hamas and antisemitic demonstrations occurring on college campuses across America are a repeat of the same student movement that occurred in 1968 and 1969. The issue back then was over the U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War, and race riots were going on in urban cities in the summer. The organizers of these events were socialists trying to bring down the U.S. government. There were two notorious ones, Students for a Democratic Society and the Black Panther Party. These were highly organized and well-funded. They had connections to the Communist Party in Cuba and Moscow. The subversives put naïve students on campus and young blacks in urban centers out front like human shields to mask themselves and their true motives along with some manufactured claim like in this instance, Free Palestine and Stop Genocide in Gaza and From the River to the Sea. Keep in mind that resorting to violence and threatening people unless they acquiesce to demands are tactics used by terror groups.

The tactics used by the 1960 subversive groups have not changed. They specialize in sloganeering, chants, berating and attacking police, campus and government officials. They utilize taking over buildings, blocking ingress and egress to area locations including streets and transportation hubs and setting up encampments. Remember Occupy Wall Street and the riots by Black Lives Matter? It’s the same street-fillers. Many are social misfits and outcasts looking for a sense of belonging. So how should these be dealt with by government (law enforcement) and school officials?

First of all, please stop referring to these as student protests. Words matter here. Properly labeling these events can go a long way in gaining public support for the police tactics they have to deploy. It is important to classify these illegal activities occurring on college campuses for what they are. These are not protected activities under the First Amendment. These are acts of lawlessness and disorder and should be ended immediately. Illegally blocking ingress and egress to buildings, noise that disrupts classes and residential areas around these schools is a public nuisance. Occupying a building or space on university property is an illegal activity. A college or university is not a sanctuary for lawlessness.

If police are called in, they must act immediately and assertively to restore order. I am seeing too much patty cake being played with these law breakers. Declare an unlawful assembly and then clear the area. That is job one. If people refuse then a proper, measured and controlled application of all the force that is necessary should be deployed to get them to leave. If people start to throw objects at police, a higher level of force should immediately be deployed to keep things from spiraling into a full-blown riot. This includes tear gas and other less lethal options. A riot can be prevented, and officers protected from injury by an early shock of force. To delay this is an abdication of police responsibility.

This originally occurred on a few campuses and spread quickly because of inaction by university officials. These events start with a few students but have a drawing effect by other troublemakers who are street filling non-students because of the irresistible impulse on the part of these petulant, spoiled brats who want to be part of something.

University Responsibility:

Leniency by school officials on students who are involved in the disorder and lawlessness can be held to civil liability suits from taxpayers, area residents and non-involved students. The legal rights of non-involved students whose education is adversely affected by this lawlessness and disorder perpetrated on college campuses must have their rights protected. Students who are only interested in getting an education should sue universities for failing their fiduciary responsibility by not doing enough to protect their interests. They have a right to a safe place in which to obtain an education. This includes civil rights violations.

Students who are not expelled could be the basis for a taxpayer lawsuit because failure to act constitutes a misuse of funds. At private colleges, donors should sue to get their money returned. Injunctions should be sought against any university not ensuring the personal safety of uninvolved students and faculty.

University officials should curtail the salary of professors for not fulfilling their teaching obligation because of their personal beliefs in support of dissident students or when they themselves are involved in the lawlessness and disorder. A faculty member who engages in or encourages illegal acts is in breach of their contract and should be fired.

Actively interfering with the rights of others should be prosecuted under the Federal Civil Rights Act. Any non-student involved who has been shipped in to participate or has traveled in as part of an organized effort is subject to federal criminal prosecution for prohibited travel in interstate commerce to promote disorder. This includes the funders of this organized chaos.

This is not difficult. Making the mistakes that law enforcement and university officials made in the past will make this difficult. There are papers written about how these were handled. Commissions were formed that looked into the unrest of the ‘60s. After-action reports have been filed. Memo to law enforcement and university officials: Go back and read them.

Sheriff David A. Clarke Jr. is former Sheriff of Milwaukee Co, Wisconsin, President of America’s Sheriff LLC, President of Rise Up Wisconsin INC, Board member of the Crime Research Center, author of the book Cop Under Fire: Beyond Hashtags of Race Crime and Politics for a Better America. To learn more visit www.americassheriff.com

Lies, Damn Lies and Statistics

The use of statistics in just about every aspect of things that can be counted has become a tool to distort reality about what is actually occurring. The origin of the phrase lies, damn lies ad statistics is unclear, but it is most commonly attributed to Mark Twain who attributed it to former British Prime Minister Benjamin Disaraeli. He used it to describe the way statistics can be manipulated and persuasive in bolstering weak arguments. There is another often used phrase to describe the exploitation of numbers-figures lie and liars figure. No more is that evident than with policing.

Ever since I can remember, numbers about police traffic stops, arrests, use of force, field interview stops and even crime rates are continually collected to produce a picture on how things are progressing or not progressing. Those raw numbers are then used or misused to fit one’s argument. When police executives want to measure the effectiveness of a crime prevention initiative, they use numbers as evidence. They can always find a statistic over a particular period of time to demonstrate that the strategy is working. Those are outputs, not outcomes. Recently, the Police Commissioner of the New York City Police Department said that a high-profile criminal event causes people to have a perception of fear. He said it is not always reality based.  You don’t have to be the actual victim of a crime to have a fear about the environment around you. If I hear that there has been a rash of home burglaries in my neighborhood, it is not unreasonable to think my home might be next and no police statistic snapshot about a reduction in home burglaries is going to put my mind at ease. It is a quality-of-life issue that is going to affect people psychologically and it is real.

On the other hand, the media manipulates statistics about police use of force that gives the public a distorted reality of police that contains no truthful context. The Associated Press in collaboration with the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism recently released an ‘investigation” that concluded that black people bear a disproportionate impact of police use of force. The “investigation” uses the term disproportionate in describing the number of people who died after being restrained, beaten or shocked with stun guns by police in the United States. It points out that blacks represent one-third of the deaths in such police encounters over a ten-year period even though they represent just 12% of the population. According to the AP story, the US Department of Justice has documented racial disparities after probes of several police agencies. The USDOJ points out that black people accounted for high rates of unjustified stops for minor offenses like jaywalking, illegal searches and frisks that produce no contraband. Let me stop there. First of all, as for the claim of unjustified stops for minor offenses? Ok, I might agree that these are minor offenses however the cities then should wipe these “minor offenses” off the books as ordinance violaions, then police could not use these as the basis for a stop. But these cities want the revenue produced from the citations generated. Police should never be used as a revenue generator for municipality. More importantly is what the US Supreme Court has said about police stops. They have opined that when police stop a person for questioning, as long as the stop is lawful, the subjective intent of the officer is irrelevant. In other words, jaywalking is a lawful reason to stop a person. As for the frisking of individuals stopped, the officer has to articulate reasonable suspicion that suspect that the person may have a weapon that can be used against them. The AP pointing that many frisks produce no weapon is irrelevant. The question is whether or not the officers had articulable suspicion. The AP doesn’t indicate that.

The Police Executive Research Forum, a useless think tank, took a swing at this as well. They conducted an audit according to the AP story. They looked at the data between 2018 and 2020 and found that at least 602 use-of-force incidents where black people accounted for 57% of the incidents even thought they make up just 25% of the population in those areas. That by itself means absolutely nothing. We need some context here. Shame on PERF. Many of them are supposedly former law enforcement officers who have obviously forgotten what life is like on the street. They have been away from the street for too long. Many of their careers were spent in police administration sitting in offices. They are academics, not cops.

Using racial disparity and disparate impact when analyzing data is not just the wrong benchmark, it’s just plain dumb. Things that happen in life don’t necessarily follow a racial pattern. Thinking that because black people comprise 13% of the population, things happening to black people outside of that number is evidence of racial discrimination defies logic. Here is some context. Police stops of black people occur primarily in areas where blacks comprise more than 13% of the area's population. Police deployment is primarily based on where crime is predominantly occurring. That would be disproportionately in black neighborhoods. Nobody points that disparity out however. Blacks are not evenly spread out across the United States. They tend to live in urban areas. It stands to reason then that most police contacts in urban areas are going to involve black people. Crime rates determine who police will stop. The AP, Howard Center for Investigative Journalism and the Police Executive Research Forum don’t tell you that nor do they tell you that black males are overrepresented in terms of involvement in criminal behavior including violent crime. Nobody asks why that is. These entities don’t point out that black males are identified as suspects in crime in percentages well above their 13% representation in the total population. In fact, according to the USDOJ FBI Uniform Reporting data in 2022, the same year PERF released their study, 33% of persons arrested for violent crime including rape, robbery and aggravated assaults were black. Blacks are also overrepresented in terms of victimization but we never hear about that disproportionality. By the AP, PERF and HCIJ, blacks should only be 13% of people victimized by violent crime. Blacks are murdered more than their 13% representation in the total population. Nobody wants to talk about why black suspects prey on black people in numbers far exceeding their representation in the population. Do you see how insane using disparate impact and disproportionality when it comes to police stops?

When these flawed studies, that are not subjected to peer review by the way are released, they receive headline attention as prima facia evidence that policing is a racist activity and that police are inherently racist. No, it is not. What policing does is gives respite to the overwhelming majority of law-abiding black people living in crime riddled neighborhoods. For many seniors and single mom’s trying to keep their children alive as errant bullets rip through the siding of their homes, they quietly support what the cops do on a daily basis to keep their neighborhoods safe. The AP, PERF and HCIJ didn’t interview any of these folks to get their opinion of police stops. Typical.

Sheriff David A. Clarke Jr. is former Sheriff of Milwaukee Co, Wisconsin, President of America’s Sheriff LLC, President of Rise Up Wisconsin INC, Board member of the Crime Research Center, author of the book Cop Under Fire: Beyond Hashtags of Race Crime and Politics for a Better America. To learn more visit www.americassheriff.com

JUDICIAL BIAS IS REAL: WHERE’S THE JUSTICE?

By: Joel E. Gordon

In this age of allegations of “lawfare,” judicial bias, and accusations of a two tier system of justice, confidence in our system of justice has quite understandably eroded in the eyes of many.

In addition to answering calls for service much of my time as a police officer entailed letting the community get to know me and working toward preventing criminal activity in my area of responsibility through my presence and community engagement. A frequent topic of conversation was why repeat criminals aren’t “put away” as if the police were somehow responsible.

When crime does occur it’s easy to blame the front-line police. In reality when crime occurs it is the responsibility of the police to bring criminal investigations to a conclusion which may or may not result in criminal charges. Officers must work through an increasingly complex maze of rules about engagement and seizure of evidence to make cases that are valid to the court. Then it’s up to our legal system to bring or validate charges and up to our judges to adjudicate same.

As I have previously addressed in past columns, how often do we see a violent criminal being let loose on society prematurely resulting in further violence and criminal acts? It is why the police seemingly arrest five percent of the population ninety-five percent of the time repeatedly for serious crimes.

When will we start to hold our courts accountable for their actions?

As our system has largely failed in holding violent criminals responsible for their actions, lacking incarceration due to bail reform and other progressive initiatives and views, and while disempowering law enforcement has further compromised safety, our courts are increasingly being scrutinized. The fact of the matter is that judicial bias is not new.

As far back as in the early 1980’s I had a district court judge say in my presence that all defendants were guilty in his eyes if arrested by the police. Conversely, I have heard a district court judge say in court that all police officers are liars meaning no case can be proven beyond a reasonable doubt. The cases before these judges were not judged on merit. They were all pre-judged!

These judges when assigned to a district courthouse in the city of Baltimore did have a profound impact on the rate of crime. When guilty verdicts prevailed, street crime went down. Whenever the sitting judge who rarely entered convictions had a period where cases were heard by him, crime on the street in the surrounding community increased.

Another problem we all face is the reliance on government from revenue generated from court proceedings. Both in rural West Virginia and elsewhere I have seen instances in municipal and smaller town mayor’s court where decisions on innocence or guilt appeared to be rooted in revenue collection goals. Case facts seemed to be deemed irrelevant and legitimate mitigating circumstances were either ignored or denied.

We need to hold our courts accountable for ensuring that all live up to our rights and responsibilities and that our right to be presumed innocent is not infringed upon, nor our security and safety unnecessarily compromised upon determination of guilt beyond any reasonable doubt and to a moral certainty.

Have we been witness to the collapse of our system of justice which by design is the best the world has ever known? In practicality our system is only as good as the people serving within it. Common sense and justice should prevail. If only our courts truly reflected the motto of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation as so well stated… “That guilt shall not escape nor innocence suffer.”

Joel E. Gordon, Managing Editor of BLUE Magazine, is a former Field Training Officer with the Baltimore City Police Department and is a past Chief of Police for the city of Kingwood, West Virginia. He has also served as vice-chair of a multi-jurisdictional regional narcotics task force. An award winning journalist, he is author of the book Still Seeking Justice: One Officer's Story and founded the Facebook group Police Authors Seeking Justice. Look him up at stillseekingjustice.com

DANGER: The Devastating Consequences of Failure to Incarcerate Violent Criminals

By: Joel E. Gordon

In a world where safety and security should be paramount, the failure to incarcerate violent criminals can have devastating consequences. When individuals who have committed serious offenses are allowed to roam free, it not only puts innocent lives at risk but also undermines the very foundation of justice and law enforcement. The perplexing question that arises is: why are some violent criminals not held accountable for their actions?

The frequency of violence, characterized by sudden and unpredictable outbursts of criminal behavior, poses a significant challenge to law enforcement and society as a whole. When violent offenders are not appropriately dealt with through incarceration, the potential for further harm and chaos only increases. This creates a sense of unease and insecurity that pervades communities and erodes trust in the justice system.

The failure to incarcerate violent criminals is a pressing issue that has long demanded attention and action. The recent tragic and preventable death of 31-year-old NYPD police officer Jonathan Diller who was murdered by a convicted felon with an arrest record including 21 prior arrests demonstrates the danger first responders’ face in dealing with the same violent people over and over again when our system of “justice” fails to incarcerate.

Unfortunately, this is not new. In my past experience in the mid 1980’s I was nearly stabbed. The call came out for a domestic assault just occurred in an apartment complex. I responded and upon my arrival was met by a female who had been kicked in the abdomen by her boyfriend who had left the apartment. While waiting for an ambulance to arrive and taking information and statements for my investigative report inside of the apartment, the boyfriend/suspect climbed onto the apartment balcony. I stood between the victim and the suspect. The man slid open the unlocked sliding glass doors and came toward me. I saw that he was reaching for a knife that was tucked in his waistband.

I called a “Signal 13” (officer in need of assistance) on myself; my one and only time to have ever done this. No one heard me at first because I was in a largely “dead” spot for radio transmissions. I was able to disarm the suspect at close range and affect the arrest although being resisted aggressively. Finally with the situation under control, I was able to get my request for a paddy wagon out. Back up also finally arrived.

A records check of the suspect that I had just arrested revealed a lengthy criminal record. A 

“rap sheet” that extended from ceiling to floor when unfolded including numerous assaults on 

police officers in both Baltimore and Washington D.C. and yet he was out in society as a free man.

 The charges that were levied reflected that the suspect had assaulted his girlfriend, intended to stab me with the knife he was carrying, and that he subsequently broke a toilet in the cell block for a destruction of property charge.

 At trial he received ninety days for assaulting his girlfriend. Thirty days for breaking the toilet consecutive to the ninety days for a one-hundred-twenty day total. Thirty days for attempting to stab me, concurrent to the thirty days for breaking the toilet. No extra time, at all, for intending to stab me and put me in fear for my life. The Assistant State’s Attorney actually turned to me in front of the packed open courtroom and said to me in front of the judge, “Officer isn’t it nice to know you’re worth as much as a toilet?” 

 Two weeks later the convicted defendant was somehow already, once again, released from jail and threw another officer down a flight of stairs on a subsequent call for service causing injury.

Another vivid example of how incarceration should have served not only as a means of punishment but also as a crucial tool for accountability and deterrence. When violent criminals are swiftly and decisively dealt with through imprisonment, it sends a clear message that such behavior will not be tolerated. This also acts as a deterrent to others who may be contemplating similar acts of violence, thereby helping to keep our law enforcement officers and communities more safe and secure.

Failure to incarcerate violent criminals often leads to a cascade of negative consequences. From emboldening offenders to commit more brazen acts to instilling fear and anxiety in law-abiding citizens, the repercussions are far-reaching. Furthermore, the lack of consequences for criminal behavior can contribute to a cycle of violence and recidivism, perpetuating a cycle of harm and suffering.

 By recognizing the importance of accountability, deterrence, and public safety, we can work towards a society where justice is served, and our first responders and communities are protected from preventable harm. It is imperative that we address this issue with urgency and resolve, ensuring that violent offenders are held accountable for their actions and that the safety and well-being for us all are rightfully prioritized.

 Joel E. Gordon, Managing Editor of BLUE Magazine, is a former Field Training Officer with the Baltimore City Police Department and is a past Chief of Police for the city of Kingwood, West Virginia. He has also served as vice-chair of a multi-jurisdictional regional narcotics task force. An award winning journalist, he is author of the book Still Seeking Justice: One Officer's Story and founded the Facebook group Police Authors Seeking Justice. Look him up at stillseekingjustice.com

Houston, You Have a Problem

The saying goes something like this. Everything’s bigger in Texas. What the Houston Police Department is facing right now is as big as Texas itself. It has been revealed that the Houston PD through its standard operating procedure has a written policy in place to “suspend” investigating as many as 264,000 criminal cases including sexual assault and other felony and misdemeanor cases since 2016. That figure represents about 10% of the 2,800,000 cases filed over the last 8 years. An elaborate coding system was put in place that a case could be marked as “SL” which means “Suspended Lack of Personnel.” Let’s drill down into this. I have always said that when in my opinion the police act properly and responsibly, I will go to the wall defending them and when in my opinion police conduct is questionable, I will say that as well. My credibility with the public is important to me. I won’t jump to a conclusion just yet, but this doesn’t pass the eye test upon initial review.

 As usual in this kind of disclosure, people who could face political fallout immediately begin to engage in CYA--short for cover your a$$.  The mayor says he had no idea of this practice. Plausible deniability can be given to him … for now. The chief of police, Troy Finner, repeatedly denied ever signing off on this policy and said that he ordered employees to stop using these codes years ago, but since the start of this practice it has been renewed into policy as recently as December 2023. This is going to cause a lot of finger-pointing internally as people in these situations scatter like roaches when the light is turned on. Survival is the first law of nature. Nobody wants their fingerprints on this.

 The problem for Chief Finner is that in his position, he is responsible for what goes on in his agency. The buck stops with him. Within any large city department, it is impossible for the agency head to know exactly what is going on every minute of every day. He has highly paid supervisory staff whose job is to keep their finger on the pulse of what goes on and keep the Chief briefed on the big stuff. I held that position as elected sheriff of Milwaukee County, an agency with 1,100 employees with divisions spread out all over the county. I know how difficult this can be.  I appointed all the higher-ranking officers in my agency and made it clear that they were to know what was going on in their divisions and to keep me informed and if they did not, they would be held accountable.  That, however, is why Finner is given a supervisory staff, to watch the day-to-day operations. If in this case they let him down by defying his order to cease and desist sweeping cases under the rug, then heads should roll. If all the higher-ups dump this on some front-line people to save themselves, shame on them. That isn’t leadership. If Finner determines that changes have been made to keep this from happening again or that miscommunication is to blame and that’s it? That isn’t accountability.

 The chief of police is one of the most high-profile positions in city government. A mayor’s administration could fall from a scandal emanating from within the police department. Whitmire will not hesitate to throw his police chief overboard to save himself. Fair or not, that is the way this works politically and when you take the position of chief of police, you know this going in. At worst, Finner has to be willing to fall on the sword, accept full responsibility and offer to resign.  The mayor is now calling for an outside independent investigation. He said, “I trust and believe that Chief Troy Finner is doing the best he can to manage the internal investigation, get to the bottom of it and hold people accountable. The independent panel will be people I also trust to review and validate the outcome and help bring closure to the victims.”

 It is my position that the mayor cannot allow the people who created this problem to investigate it. There must be an outside review.

 Drilling down even further, there is the issue of not investigating reported criminal cases. Everybody understands that police staffing shortages all across the country are having a profound effect on an agency’s ability to keep up with caseloads. The Houston Police Department currently has about 300 officer vacancies. Follow-up investigations will naturally lag. You can’t simply write them off as “suspended” especially felony cases including sexual assaults. That is intolerable. A better way is to sort them out by determining which cases have a higher solvability factor and giving those priority. You don’t write the rest off, but you get to those when time and staffing allow. Some misdemeanor property crime cases are a low priority. Many have no solvability favors and are only being reported by people because to make an insurance claim most insurers require that a police report be filed. It is acceptable to list those as suspended due to lack of personnel.

 After sorting these out, it is imperative for the chief to inform the city council and the public through the media of what he is doing due to lack of staffing. Most of the public will understand this. Simply wiping these off the board in the fashion they were is inexcusable. Mayors and city councils do not like surprises that they find out about through an explosive media investigation. The headlines in the Houston Chronicle newspaper about this were ugly. This revelation couldn’t be very comforting to the residents of the city of Houston. They have to feel victimized, first by the criminals and then again by the HPD after finding out that criminals are going unpunished. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott chimed in, calling for the state to impose consequences for what he labels as “neglect” by the HPD.

 There is a feeding frenzy going on right now in Houston, Texas. Chief Finner should be aware that sharks and piranha are circling in the water, and they smell blood.

Sheriff David A. Clarke Jr. is former Sheriff of Milwaukee Co, Wisconsin, President of America’s Sheriff LLC, President of Rise Up Wisconsin INC, Board member of the Crime Research Center, author of the book Cop Under Fire: Beyond Hashtags of Race Crime and Politics for a Better America. To learn more visit www.americassheriff.com

BEFORE THE DECLINE: REMEMBER WHEN?

By: Joel E. Gordon

Back when police were allowed to police, there was a time when on any call for service, no matter how frivolous a complaint or request for service seemed to be, police were dispatched to investigate the true nature of the complaint and the need for police or other governmental services or lack thereof.

What determinations can be made if a call comes in with a statement such as “I’ve been hit?” Is this a traffic accident or perhaps an assault and battery and is it in progress or not? The investigating officer should ascertain this information through response and firsthand knowledge. Is a complaining party being threatened to give false or misleading information by someone holding them hostage? An officer, or any first responder, can never take for granted that information given to a call taker and then forwarded is accurate, true or complete.

In recent times, the quality of police service has notably declined, leaving many communities feeling vulnerable and unprotected. The diminished presence of law enforcement officers has sparked concerns about public safety and the ability of the police to effectively uphold the law and combat crime.

In the city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh police won't send officers to certain emergency calls but will redirect to a newly established telephone reporting unit. Based upon a directive by Pittsburgh Police Chief Larry Scirotto, the department will not respond to any calls that are not in progress; they will go to an enhanced telephone reporting unit and online reporting.

One significant factor contributing to the deterioration of police service is budget cuts and resource constraints. With limited funding, police departments struggle to maintain adequate staffing levels, provide necessary training and acquire essential equipment, leading to a decrease in overall effectiveness and response times.

Staffing shortages and high turnover rates further exacerbate the issue, as experienced officers leave for better opportunities, leaving behind inexperienced recruits who may lack the skills and knowledge needed to effectively address complex law enforcement challenges.

The increasing demands placed on police officers, coupled with rising crime rates in many communities, stretch resources thin and make it difficult for law enforcement agencies to keep up with the evolving nature of criminal activities.

The diminished police service erodes public trust and confidence in law enforcement, leading to strained relationships between officers and the communities they serve. In Pittsburgh, people are reacting to the new changes made by the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police. The prevailing sentiment is that the whole city of Pittsburgh is at risk.

In Houston, Texas, Police Chief Troy Finner apologized to victims and their families after an internal review revealed that about 264,000 criminal incident reports were suspended in the past eight years. In February of this year, it was announced that hundreds of thousands of incident reports were dropped because of a "lack of personnel." The number of reports, which included violent crimes, sexual assault, and property crimes, represents about 10% of the 2.8 million incident reports filed in the past eight years with the Houston PD.

The fact remains that without strong community partnerships and trust, police efforts to prevent and solve crimes are hindered. Residents in areas with diminished police service often experience delayed response times to real emergency calls and limited availability of officers for visible preventive patrols, further creating a sense of insecurity and unease among community members.

The inability of police to effectively address criminal activities often leads to an escalation of crime and disorder in neighborhoods, further jeopardizing the safety and well-being of residents.

Diminished police service poses significant challenges for a modern society, impacting public safety, community relations and the overall effectiveness of law enforcement efforts. Addressing the factors contributing to this decline is crucial to ensuring that police agencies can fulfill their mission of protecting and serving the public in a proficient and highly responsive manner.

If you ask me, it’s time to turn back the clock to the best practices of old. 

Joel E. Gordon, Managing Editor of BLUE Magazine, is a former Field Training Officer with the Baltimore City Police Department and is a past Chief of Police for the city of Kingwood, West Virginia. He has also served as vice-chair of a multi-jurisdictional regional narcotics task force. An award winning journalist, he is author of the book Still Seeking Justice: One Officer's Story and founded the Facebook group Police Authors Seeking Justice. Look him up at stillseekingjustice.com