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Category Archives: Street
Video Captures Daytona Beach Police OIS
Daytona Beach Police Department released this video of their officers engaging a hostage taker on September 25, 2013. The officer involved shooting was captured on a body camera worn by one of the officers. Former New York Giants player Jermaine Lanier Green, 32, was holding his girlfriend at knife point when the officers entered the home. In reviewing the video of the Daytona Beach OIS, I noted a few things. At the outset, the officers assess the situation from witnesses on scene. The first responders take immediate action based on there being an armed, mentally ill (“Signal 0 with a knife, Signal 20.”) person holding a hostage inside the residence. … Continue reading
Posted in Officer Safety, Street
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New Morphix Technologies TraceX Explosives Detector Kits
Morphix Technologies is releasing a new explosives detector kit, which is made to test for home made explosives (HME) and improvised explosive devices (IED). I received a Morphix Chameleon Chemical Detector kit, which I reviewed in April of 2012. It is good basic technology for the rank and file. The Morphix TraceX HME kit tests for nine different explosive families in under three minutes with a single swabbing. The results are clearly indicated in the window of the test box. The kit is rugged and sealed in its own protective plastic case, which fits in a cargo pocket. No word on pricing for the TraceX, but the Chameleon was running … Continue reading
Posted in Officer Safety, Street, Technology
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Drug Deaths Decline in Florida
In September, the Florida Medical Examiners and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement disseminated the Drugs Identified in Deceased Persons Report for 2012. The report identified 8,330 drug-caused and/or drug-related deaths in the 178,000 Floridians who died in 2012, as reported to the Office of Vital Statistics. The report cited 17.7% fewer drug-caused deaths in 2012 verses 2011, a decrease of 2,090 persons. Drug-related deaths, where at least one legal or illegal drug was present in the decedent’s body but was not necessarily the cause of death, dropped 9.9% to 4,944. Oxycodone killed 41.1% fewer Floridians in 2012. Deaths attributed to alprazolam, diazepam, hydrocodone, and methadone decreased as well. Said … Continue reading
Zebra F-701 Pen Review
Since moving to a plainclothes job, I started to re-examine my daily load out. Seems it no longer qualifies as such. The utility of a duty belt and cargo pockets has given way to the functionally spartan nature of dress shirts and slacks. In both Patrol and CID, a writing instrument is required. I decided I needed something less than a full blown “tactical pen,” but more than a plastic clicky pen. Thus, I bought a Zebra F-701. An Internet darling, the Zebra F-701 is a stainless steel barreled retractable ballpoint pen with a 0.7mm fine writing tip. The pen’s overall length is 5 3/8″ and its weight is 1.1 … Continue reading
Posted in Detectives, Misc., Officer Safety, Street
Tagged Officer Safety, Zebra F-701 Pen Review
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They Stole my Crown Vic!
Okay, “they” meaning my Administration. I went to work last night and saw a set of keys and fobs on my desk to a brand new Chevrolet Tahoe. An email instructed me to vacate the CVPI posthaste. She had been reassigned. I had been given my first Crown Victoria in 1990, when I went off to K9 school. The previous handler had taken great care of the 1988 model and had even installed a cassette player! I was thrilled, since I had no real love for the anemic Dodge Diplomat that had been my daily cruiser. I have spent many an hour in Crown Vics over the years and I … Continue reading
Posted in Humor, Street
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Back on the Street with the K9’s
After a few weeks of getting reacquainted with the K9 Unit’s handlers and dogs, I am back in the swing. Cleaning up a year’s worth of administrative backlog, I un-assed myself from the desk and hit the street. Last night, I ran lights and siren to a foot chase involving one of the shift officers. He had interrupted a mobile check cashing scheme at a cash advance place. The felonious utterer took flight. The officer lost the bad guy in a…wait for it…mobile home park (Welcome to Florida). The K9 had just deployed and I had a visual, so I exited the CVPI and tagged along. Sometimes a near zero … Continue reading
Tiny Inconspicuous Handcuff Key
Let’s all keep a watch out for this crowdfunded officer safety hazard. The TIHK, tiny inconspicuous handcuff key, is made for a person to evade being “illegally restrained in handcuffs.” Here is their disclaimer: “The TIHK is to only be used to counter illegal detainment and in accordance with all local, state and federal laws by trained law enforcement, military and security professionals. Improper use by civilians is not endorsed or encouraged. Use of the product is at your own personal risk and discretion.” It is a felony for a civilian to carry a concealed handcuff key in Florida under FSS 843.021, but my agency has seen an increase in … Continue reading
Yesterday
Yesterday, my shift responded to what was dispatched as an attempted kidnapping. A small boy was in the restroom of a supermarket when a male grabbed the boy and made a lewd comment. The boy fled the restroom. Because no one in the store was immediately notified and police were told about the incident over 30 minutes later, the suspect was long gone. Yesterday, when I got home at 2300, I heard about the little girl abducted in Jacksonville. We found out this morning that Cherish Lilly Perrywinkle was murdered by sexual offender Donald James Smith. Heartbreaking. Yesterday’s events reminded me why I was a protective, paranoid parent when my … Continue reading
Posted in Street
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Zero Motorcycles 2013 Electric Police Models
Zero Motorcycles of Santa Cruz, CA has introduced police-specific 2013 electric motorcycles for street and on/off road patrol uses. This follows two years of testing with local California law enforcement agencies and the London, England police. I don’t know why I think these electric motorcycles are cool, but I do. I got to train on some of our big Kawasaki KZ1000’s back in the day, but I’m not a rider and I was never able to go to police motorcycle operator’s school. Something about not having sidecars for the dog. Still… Electric cars for policemen are not currently on my wish list. When a neighboring jurisdiction got Prius’s for their homicide … Continue reading
Posted in Street, Technology
Tagged police technology
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Search Incident to Arrest? Not for Cell Phones.
You may have heard yesterday that the Florida Supreme Court ruled a police search of a cell phone incident to arrest violates a person’s right to privacy and is therefore illegal. In Smallwood vs. State (No. SC-11-1130), justices decided 5-2 to eliminate the practice. In reference to Smallwood vs State, Cedric Tyrone Smallwood was arrested by the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office for a convenience store robbery. Ofc. Ike Brown looked in Smallwood’s cell phone in a search incident to Smallwood’s arrest. Seeing possibly incriminating photographs of Smallwood with a handgun and what looked like the stolen money, packaged as described by the victim clerk, JSO investigators applied for and received a … Continue reading
Posted in Legal, Street
Tagged Cell Phone Search, Florida Supreme Court, Smallwood vs State of Florida
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Counterfeit Money and the Patrol Officer
I was lucky to have taken a class in Fraudulent Documents when I was a detective. I found the entire subject riveting (really). Back at my agency, I get requests to examine currency for the officers when they are on counterfeit calls. I try to pass along some basics to the patrolmen, because there are a few shortcuts to identifying real money from fake. Quick ground school on the Federal Reserve Note: “Paper” currency is made from 75% cotton and 25% linen. To be durable and hard to reproduce, U.S. currency is more cloth than traditional paper, which is made largely from wood cellulose. The counterfeit pens you see used … Continue reading
OIS
I was the supervisor on scene when a gunfight broke out between the suspect and an officer at a wanted subject call two nights ago. All the officers reacted appropriately and the incident eventually came to a successful conclusion. I was proud of our troops and of the troops from the two assisting agencies that responded to help. Following the volley of gunshots (and after ducking), I had been moving some of our guys around on the perimeter, adjusting fields of fire, when I asked one of the officers to take up a position further east. He was proned out behind a tree with his AR. As he went to … Continue reading
Posted in K9, Officer Down, Officer Safety, Street, Tactics
Tagged K9, Officer Involved Shooting, Police Debrief
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What You Don’t Know…
The weather was beautiful, so my wife and I took a walk to get out of the house. Along the journey, we headed down the sidewalk near a set of waterfront condos. There was a sheriff’s office cruiser parked parallel to our path. As we went by the driver’s side of the patrol car, my wife and I waved to the deputy sheriff. She was young and appeared to be talking on her cell phone–no problem there, she was stationary. That would pass muster under our General Orders. She smiled and nodded back to us–good public relations for Starman. I could not help but feel uneasy as I was strolling … Continue reading
Posted in Concealed Carry, Officer Safety, Street
Tagged concealed carry gun, off-duty gun, Officer Safety, Police Ambush
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Easy on the Less Lethal…
I just got back from an armed barricaded suspect call. Why do they always come out right at the end of shift? I was a little taken aback when I saw that the three officers at the door to the knife-wielding suspect’s room were armed with either TASERs or a less lethal beanbag shotgun. I made some adjustments to the personnel configuration and brought a handgun up to the door. We practice to have lethal cover with a less lethal option available when practical. But the lethal cover should be up front, not from the guy way at the back of the stack. When another sergeant and I did the … Continue reading
Posted in Officer Safety, Street, Tactics, Taser
Tagged Less Lethal, Officer Safety, Police TASER, TASER International
4 Comments
Lakewood, CO Blue-on-Blue is a Safety Reminder
I read a CNN news report of a Blue-on-Blue shooting in Lakewood, CO yesterday where one officer accidentally killed another. Lakewood officers had surrounded a house where shots were reportedly fired by a suspect. After assisting in detaining three subjects on the front porch, Ofc. James Davies went to the backyard as a rear cover. Another officer in an adjoining yard could see Davies through a fence, but in the dark did not visually identify him as a police officer. After giving Davies commands to drop his gun, the other officer fired and killed Davies. Ofc. Davies was in full uniform at the time of the shooting and apparently did … Continue reading