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By integrating Dyneema fabrics from DSM with our proven TitanSkin anti-stab technology, the company developed a panel that adds stab protection without sacrificing either superior ballistic performance or comfort, according to EnGarde.

The MT-Pro panel meets the standards of NIJ Level IIIA, and was tested against eight different types of ammunition, according the the company. The MT-Pro passed the additional testing with flying colors, providing excellent performance against close to the edge shots and demonstrating compliance with NIJ STD 0101.06, including the 30-minute water submersion test.  

FBI crime statistics confirm that stabbing and cutting weapons are just behind firearms as the most likely threats faced by law enforcement, security personnel and corrections officers. While the death rate from attacks by stabbing weapons is lower, the overall injury rate is higher resulting in increased insurance costs and employee downtime. 

The new MT-Pro addresses the additional threats without making the panels noticeably heavier or less flexible. Comfort is an important consideration for people who have to wear body armor for extended periods of time, particularly in hot climates, according to the company.

Those who work in corrections, law enforcement and security will appreciate the comfort and extra level of stab protection offered by the MT-Pro one of the few products to be officially certified to stop the HOSDB P1 Blade at 15 Joules (<20mm) and a hypodermic needle at 5 Joules, according to VPAM KDIW 2004.

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The company's contribution was used to help fund C.O.P.S. observances during National Police Week from May 12-18 in Washington, D.C., for an annual event honoring fallen officers and their families.

This year, Streamlight again served as a major sponsor of the organization's annual survivors' luncheon, as well as a reception for participants in the Law Enforcement United's "Road to Hope" memorial bicycle ride. The ride honors fallen law enforcement heroes and supports their survivors.

In addition to sponsorship support, Streamlight donated proceeds from recent sales of its Blue Nano Light. The tiny aluminum keychain light boasts a super bright white LED and a double-sided fob that features the C.O.P.S. logo on one side and the Streamlight logo on the other side. Streamlight earmarks $1 from the sale of each light to C.O.P.S.

Streamlight's commitment also extends to the organization's programs throughout the year. Among them are C.O.P.S. Kids Camp and C.O.P.S. Outward Bound, as well as hands-on retreats for siblings, surviving spouses, parents, adult children, in-laws, and significant others. Streamlight is the lead sponsor of the Affected Co-Workers Retreat.

Streamlight also is the lead sponsor of the Annual C.O.P.S. Walk, and a gold sponsor of the C.O.P.S. Walk Southwest. Both walks bring together survivors, friends and members of the law enforcement community and challenge them to walk 25 miles in two days to support C.O.P.S. and its mission.

Visit the C.O.P.S. website here.

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The device allows instant, on-site identification and recording of the elemental signature of any material. The analyzer can identify elements, analyze both conducting and non-conducting samples, and requires no sample preparation, no consumables or cleaning between tests.

Unlike XRF instruments, there are no requirements for operator certification.  Samples as small as 100 microns can be measured.

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The 2013 additions to the GMG line include a wide range of AR-15/M-4 carbine stocks, buffer tubes, several two-piece quad rail handguards, free-floating handguards, sling adapters, a two-piece upper vice block, and a 25-pound gun magnet. The new products fill out a line that already included a wide range of stocks; rails; rail mounts; rail systems; bipods; foregrips; optic mounts; sights and magnifiers; iron and back-up sights; sling mounts and slings; tactical vests; holsters; and armorer's tools.

Among the most sought after new products are three different AR15/M4 aluminum skeleton stocks in 8-, 9- and 10-inch lengths, according to the company. These stocks are available either as a kit, which includes the spring and buffer, or just the stock itself. The new skeleton stocks are low-profile, light-weight and provide enhanced performance.

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Michael Dotro, 35, a 10-year veteran of the Edison force, allegedly used an incendiary device to set fire to the Monroe Township home of Edison Capt. Mark Anderko, a top aide to Chief Thomas Bryan, while Anderko and his family slept inside around 4 a.m. Monday.

Anderko, his wife, his two young children and his 92-year-old mother all escaped unharmed. The two-story, colonial-style home was badly damaged, with the greatest concentration of fire at the front of the house where Anderko’s children slept.

Read the full Star-Ledger story.

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The Rhode Island Board of Education voted 8-1 to allow leaders at the state's three institutions of higher education to decide for themselves whether to arm campus police.

URI President David Dooley favors the idea. The Community College of Rhode Island does not plan to arm its police. Rhode Island College officials are studying the idea and have not decided either way.

Read the full Associated Press story.

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Ephrata officers arrested Robert P. Herman, 55; his son, William L. Herman, 24; and and his daughter-in-law, Pearl M. Herman, 24, reports Lancaster Online. Police arrested the three April 3, after receiving an anonymous complaint.

William and Robert Herman also face animal cruelty charges. Robert Herman's bed-ridden wife and another son won't face charges.

In addition to the five people, the residence was home to an array of animals that included peeps, turtles, exotic birds, cats, dogs, ducks and pot-bellied pigs.

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Jeffrey Walker, a 24-year-veteran of the force, allegedly concocted plans to set up the dealers and shared the ideas with someone who he did not know was an FBI informant. The informant recorded their meetings, according to court papers.

The scheme came to a head yesterday when Walker allegedly planted an ounce of cocaine in a drug dealer's car, had the car pulled over, took the drug dealer's house key, and later went to the jailed man's house where Walker allegedly stole $15,000 as the informer took five pounds of marijuana.

Read the full Philly.com story.

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The foundation presented the software to Chief Joseph Cafarelli and Patrolman David Wilson on April 25 at the Revere Police Headquarters. The software will be utilized by investigators in their daily work and on major cases.

Amped Software played an instrumental and unsung role in the Boston Marathon bombing investigation by providing free access to investigative units for use of this software tool and by coding new custom applications to allow investigators to work with the specific video data formats that were being provided by the public.

"Just days after the bombing, law enforcement had tens of thousands of hours of cell phone and CCTV footage to comb through," said Todd Parola, Spirit of Blue's chairman. "Without a tool like Amped Five Professional that footage could have been rendered unusable. As we know now, law enforcement's ability to enhance and analyze that footage brought about the crucial break in identifying the suspects in the case."

Amped Software develops tools for the analysis, enhancement, and authentication of digital images and video for forensic, security and investigative applications. The Spirit of Blue Foundation works nationally to support the law enforcement community through the award of safety equipment grants, funded by private and corporate donations.

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The Active Ride Control System (ARCS) replaces a vehicle's standard passive shock absorbers with an automatically controlled active damping system that improves vehicle stability and ride comfort over a wide range of terrains and vehicle speeds. Much of the standard vehicle suspension system is retained, providing optimized ride comfort and range of operation, according to a company release.

With the ARCS package, handling characteristics are not compromised on rough or loose surfaces. The ARCS package consists of an Electronic Control Unit (ECU), electronically-controlled dampers, accelerometers, and the associated wiring harness to connect with the vehicle for power and CAN bus communications. The dampers used in the system are commercially-available parts and meet all appropriate durability requirements for passenger vehicles.

An armored Chevrolet Suburban demonstrator vehicle is available for ride and handling evaluations and has been used and evaluated for several months by organizations providing driver training to civilian and military organizations.

"I was extremely impressed with the quality and performance of the vehicle, the suspension system is second to none and far exceeded our driving instructor's expectations," said Kurt Delia, a former SWAT team leader and president of Delia Tactical International.

The ARCS system is now available as an installed option on armored Chevrolet Suburbans and Tahoes, GMC Yukons, and Cadillac Escalades built by The Armored Group.

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Max Joseph Plog-Horowitz, who was arrested last year for impersonating a federal agent, is back in custody, after he violated his parole by possessing the FN 303.

Hayward Police officers initially arrested Plog-Horowitz almost a year ago, on July 23, and recovered false government identification and other forged law enforcement documents. He was convicted of impersonating a federal officer earlier this year, on March 25, and sentenced to nine months of probation.

While serving his supervised probation, Plog-Horowitz obtained the less-lethal FN 303, a handgun, and other law enforcement paraphernalia such as fake badges and identification, according to the FBI. Federal agents arrested Plog-Horowitz at his Oakland home May 16. He will appear in federal court on June 24.

Plog-Horowitz is described as a white male, 5-foot-4-inches tall, and about 120 pounds. He has brown hair and hazel eyes. He is known to drive a white, 2012 Ford F-250 truck with California license plate 04507B1 that had markings, including emergency lighting, which made it appear to be a law enforcement vehicle. He has also been known by the name Max Heartmann.

Julianne Sohn, an FBI spokeswoman, told Policemag.com the FBI is advising the public to seek verification from officers that make contact with them wearing conspicuous clothing or say they represent unusual agencies.

"We want to make sure that when people are pulled over by someone who says they are a law enforcement officer, people can verify that," Sohn said. "If doesn't hurt to ask for verification from someone with an agency you're not familiar with."

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More than 100 Valley officers attended the ceremony for Tatum Raetz, who lost her father Daryl Raetz, a Phoenix police officer, early Sunday when he was struck and killed while investigating a DUI.

"Most of these officers here today were in uniform, but they weren't working, they were here on their own time," Phoenix PD's Sgt. Ben Kartchner told Fox News.

The Phoenix Police Department provided several updates of the event on its Facebook page.

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The four men who were led by Julian Zapata Espinoza (aka "Piolin") ambushed the agents at a checkpoint. Espinoza pleaded guilty to Zapata's murder, while the others pleaded guilty to murder, attempted murder, racketeering and accessory charges.

On Feb. 15, 2011, Los Zetas commander Espinoza attempted to hijack the agents' Chevy Suburban SUV on Highway 57 in San Luis Potosi. Two armed Zetas hit squads (known as "estacas") forced the agents off the road and surrounded their vehicle.

Espinoza ordered the agents to exit their vehicle. When the agents refused and attempted to identify themselves as American diplomats from the U.S. Embassy, the hit squad members fired weapons into the vehicle, striking both agents. Estaca members continued to fire at the vehicle as the agents attempted to escape by driving away.

Mexican soldiers arrested the Zetas members shortly after the attack. On April 19, 2011, Espinoza was indicted by a federal grand jury in the District of Columbia. He was extradited from Mexico on Dec. 20, 2011.

Three other defendants also pleaded guilty. Ruben Dario Venegas Rivera ("Catracho") pleaded guilty on Aug. 1, 2011. Jose Ismael Nava Villagran ("Cacho") pleaded guilty on Jan. 4, 2012. Francisco Carbajal Flores ("Dalmata") pleaded guilty on Jan. 10, 2012.

All four defendants face a maximum sentence of life in prison. No sentencing date has been set for the defendants, according to the FBI.

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VIDEO: Deadly OIS In Calif. Station's Fleet Lot

Inglewood (Calif.) Police shot and killed a sword-wielding man, after he smashed the windows of eight police vehicles parked at the agency's headquarters.

Charles Curl, 46, was shot and killed Saturday night after allegedly using an 18-inch sword that was thicker and heavier than a machete, reports City News Service.

The shooting was captured by a passerby and broadcast by KTLA. In the footage, the man can be seen walking toward an officer who crouches behind the door of a squad car.

The man was likely mentally ill, reports the Los Angeles Times.

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Vicki Serfoss told KRQE the agency should fire Sgt. Adam Casaus, who has been charged with vehicular homicide. Casaus turned himself in April 11 and awaits trial. Casaus was off duty and speeding when he ran the light and broadsided a vehicle. Ashley Browder, 21, died in the crash, and her younger sister Lindsey, who was driving, suffered serious injuries.

Casaus has said he was pursuing a drunk driver. Casaus remains on paid administrative leave.

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Maj. Nidal Hasan's request, announced Wednesday by Fort Hood officials, is to be considered at a pretrial hearing next week. The request prompted the military judge, Col. Tara Osborn, to delay jury selection to June 5, about a week after it was scheduled to start.

Hasan, an American-born Muslim, faces the death penalty or life in prison without parole if convicted of 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder in the Nov. 5, 2009, attack on the Texas Army post, about 125 miles southwest of Fort Worth.

Read the full Associated Press story.

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Made to match perfectly with Blackhawk's Off Duty Pants is the company's new Women’s Pistol Belt (model 4103RBB). Fashioned with premium materials along with a polymer reinforcement spine, the belt is ideally suited for carrying holstered weapons of any size. The 1.25-inch-wide reversible belt (black/brown) comes with a brushed nickel buckle in sizes 28 inches to 40 inches.

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In fact in my gang training sessions I usually recommend that every officer tour a major jail or prison and walk the yard among the inmates. I recommend that they visit the gang unit office and physically handle some of the jail-manufactured weapons recovered by staff. That should give them a new respect for the officers who work in this environment every day.

However, no jurisdiction or individual is immune from the corrupting influences of criminal gangs. In the 2011 National Gang Threat Assessment, the National Gang Intelligence Center (NGIC) reported that gang members in at least 57 jurisdictions have applied for or gained employment with judicial, police, or correction agencies. The NGIC also reported that in at least 72 jurisdictions, gang members had compromised or corrupted judicial, law enforcement or correctional staff within the previous three years.

The report cited a November 2010 case of a parole worker in New York who was suspended for relaying confidential information to Blood gang members. In a similar incident in Los Angeles, it was reported that Los Angeles County Sheriff's Capt. Bernice Abram was caught on an FBI wiretap giving information to Compton's Original Front Hood Crips.

In July 2010, a Riverside County (Calif.) Sheriff's deputy was convicted of assisting her incarcerated Mexican Mafia boyfriend with the murder of two witnesses in her boyfriend's case.

In 1999, during the Mexican Mafia RICO investigation, I was a witness against Riverside County's Deputy Barbara Flores, who pled guilty in a conspiracy to murder a protected witness who was in custody. Deputy Flores had formed relationships with the incarcerated Eme associates; smuggled drugs to them; and identified the cooperating witness against the Mexican Mafia, who was booked under a false name for his protection. The witness was assaulted but survived.

In April 2010, a former Berwyn (Ill.) Police officer pleaded guilty to racketeering charges for helping an outlaw motorcycle gang's members target and burglarize businesses. Outlaw motorcycle gangs often utilize their biker females to lure cops into compromising positions.

Prison cell phones often provide the conduit for illegal activity. "Cell phone smuggling into correctional facilities pose the greatest threat to institutional safety," according to the threat assessment. Most commonly these illegal cell phones are smuggled into institutions by visitors or correctional staff. In 2010, more than 10,000 illegal cell phones were confiscated from prisoners in California. In March of 2011, the California State Senate approved legislation criminalizing prison cell phones for both inmates and smugglers.

In 2010, a New Jersey inmate used a contraband cell phone to order the murder of his former girlfriend for cooperating with the police investigation regarding his case, according to the threat assessment.

In March of 2010, an off-duty South Carolina Department of Corrections captain was shot in his home by an armed intruder. The captain was lucky to have survived an assault that had been ordered by an inmate using a smuggled cell phone.

Some of this gang-corrupted officer misconduct can be blamed on poor personnel hiring practices and inadequate background investigations. Some misconduct can be blamed on the employee unions and their over-protection of problem employees. Even worse is the negligent retention of these employees by the departments. Other factors include poor supervision and the strong "code of silence" among custody officers.

There are also some unspoken factors to take into account. Anyone who has worked in the jail or prison for any length of time is probably aware of the psychological manipulation practiced by many sophisticated inmates and gangs. They commonly employ tactics designed as corruption ensnarement traps. Being a nice officer and giving an inmate a few cigarettes can become such a snare. 

All of these negative factors apparently came together in a perfect storm the first week of May at the Baltimore City Detention Center. Federal prosecutors indicted 13 corrections officers for aiding Tavon "Bulldog" White, a member of the Black Guerrilla Family (BGF). The officers allegedly helped the gang to gain control of the Baltimore City Detention Center, and facilitated other criminal gang members operating outside the jail.

They are accused of smuggling food, tobacco, money, cell phones and drugs into the facility. In the past four years, four of the female COs gave birth to five children fathered by White. One officer had his name tattooed on her neck. Another tattooed it on her wrist.

Maryland runs the Baltimore jail system, and more than 60 percent of the guards are women, reports the Washington Post. Across the nation, 37 percent of the correction forces in 2007 were women, according to the American Correctional Association.

Men make up the great majority of the skyrocketing prison and jail populations. But the number of males able to qualify and pass the background investigation is shrinking. So women are filing this gap. According to 2008-'09 Bureau of Justice statistics on 39,121 male prison inmates who were victims of staff sexual misconduct, 69 percent reported sexual activity with female staff. The numbers were even higher in juvenile detention facilities, climbing to 90 percent.

In local jails, corrections officers often come from the same communities as the inmates they supervise. They may have outside social connections. Even before Bulldog White's arrival in 2009, jail corrections officer Antonia Allison was linked to the Bloods gang, reports the Baltimore Sun. In 2006, she was identified as having gang ties by a state investigator but remained on the job.

In 2010, a settlement agreement was reached between Antonia Allison and former inmate Tashma McFadden. Then-inmate McFadden sued Allison for allegedly opening his cell door and holding it open as nine other inmates stabbed and beat McFadden. Allison denied the allegations but settled with McFadden for $5,000.

In the federal indictment from April 23, Allison was accused of smuggling marijuana and prescription medications for Bulldog White and the gang. In a wiretap conversation she was recorded saying, "You know they gonna sell fast." Another intercepted call records inmate White saying, "I hold the highest seat you can get." He told another alleged member of the gang, "So regardless of what anybody say, whatever I say is the law. Like, like I am the law. My word is law."

My good friend Detective Tony Avendorf dealt with Tavon White back in 2008 in Prince George County, Md., during a similar investigation. It involved about five female officers with one being pregnant. This one involved mostly Blood gang members with only a few BGF members. Tony said that unlike the BGF prison gang in California, which prefers to remain covert, the BGF in Maryland operates with a street-gang mentality and controls West Baltimore. This street-gang attitude developed when old-school BGF leadership eventually was paroled and younger members "went off the deep end."

In the 2013 case, some of the corrections officers were motivated by money in the form of prepaid debit cards that flowed freely through the jail. However, some were drawn into the gang's web of control because of personal relationships with BGF members.

I saw the same type of corruption of custody staff through personal relationships and sex at the Sybil Brand Institute for Women in Los Angeles and the California Institution for Women at Frontera. Cunning and manipulative inmates charm unwary officers into relationships. And once the officer compromises herself, she's ensnared in a trap.

In the Baltimore case, investigators found a BGF operating manual teaching the gang's new recruits to target a specific stereotype of corrections officer—specifically women with low self-esteem, insecurities, and certain physical attributes. And once these officers were seduced, the women saw themselves as wives and girlfriends of White and his gang.

Women are no more vulnerable to this type of corruption than their male peers. The males just don't get pregnant. Fellow correctional officers and supervisors looking the other way is the real problem. Other officers knew what was going on; saw the officers breaking the rules; and decided not to report them.

They made this decision knowing that money, dope, and cell phones in the hands of incarcerated BGF gang members compromised jail security and enabled gang members to kill others inside and outside of the prison walls.

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Montague County (Texas) Sheriff's Deputy James Boyd wasn't aware that authorities were searching for Evan Ebel in connection with the murder of a Colorado corrections chief and pizza delivery man when he stopped his vehicle on March 21.

The video footage shows Deputy Boyd approach the Cadillac on the passenger side and bend down toward the open window. The driver then fired three shots, striking the deputy twice in his ballistic vest and once on his head. Deputy Boyd then falls onto a weed-and-dirt median.

Moments later, an off-duty Johnson County Sheriff's detective stops to help and radios for help. View the video here.

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VIDEO: Ohio Pursuit Leads To Fatal OIS

A grand jury has cleared a Coshocton County (Ohio) Sheriff's deputy who used deadly force when a suspect charged him with a pickup truck following a pursuit, reports the Columbus Dispatch.

The exoneration came after a two-month investigation by the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation of Deputy Ernest Snyder's fatal shooting of David Stahl, 20 on March 26.

Dash-cam video released Tuesday shows the officer-involved shooting and tail end of the pursuit in which Stahl rammed one deputy's cruiser and accelerated his pickup truck toward Deputy Snyder, who sidestepped the vehicle and fired into the driver's side window.

The 27-minute pursuit began when Stahl refused to stop for New Concord Police Officer Jeremy Downing. Stahl attempted to flee officers along Route 83 at speeds of up to 80 mph, reports CentralOhio.com.

The two Coshocton County Sheriff's units quickly spotted Stahl's pickup when he entered the county from Muskingum County. The shooting occurred at about 10:30 p.m.

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Chief Acevedo, who has lobbied lawmakers to expand background checks for gun purchases in recent months, got into a heated debate with @JohnGaltTx, who had tweeted the chief.

"I love the fact that I have pushed the button of your lying extremist undeveloped brain," the chief tweeted, reports Twitchy. "Thank God for the rest of America!"

The chief later deleted the incendiary tweet, reports the Stateman.

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James Carver, president of the Nassau County Patrolman's Benevolent Association, said the officers shouldn't be criticized for entering the home where Dalton Smith, 30, had taken Andrea Rebello, 21, hostage. The officer fired eight rounds, killing Smith and Rebello.

"There is some second guessing by people who think we should have stayed outside the house, but our job is to get inside and make sure we can protect as many people as we can," Carver told the Associated Press.

Carver offered condolences to the Rebello family on behalf of the officer, who has not been named. The officer was placed on medical leave and was reportedly "torn up" about the shooting.

Rebello was mourned at a memorial service today.

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Chevy engineers added the column-mounted shifter to the 2014 model-year Caprice—the patrol car is now in its fourth model year—at the request of numerous police fleet managers. Officers in general are more confortable with column-shifters, and the configuration enables easier installation of equipment.

GM announced details of the 2014 Caprice at a police vehicle trade show in Fort Worth.

The 2014 Caprice will also include increased use of high-strength steel throughout its structure to bolster roll-over protection. Redesigned front seat-mounted side airbags will reduce the risk of pelvic injury up to 30 percent, according to GM.

The automaker will also increase hip room to 57.5 inches and add a new driver's seat specifically sculpted for a duty belt. The previous seat included cutouts for a police sidearm.

Other upgrades include a "surveillance mode" circuit that darkens interior lighting for inconspicuous operation. The automaker added new electric power steering, a front stabilizer bar, and larger front struts to improve corning and stability.

For technology upgrades, GM will offer its seven-inch MyLink touch-screen radio with Bluetooth streaming audio and cell-phone connectivity. Trunk-release buttons have been added to the driver- and passenger-side doors.

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Ibragim Todashev, 27, reportedly "just went crazy" during questioning at an Orlando apartment and attacked the FBI agent with an edged weapon. The agent was wounded but returned fire, shooting Todashev in the head, reports ABC News.

The FBI agent, two Massachusetts troopers, and other law enforcement personnel were interviewing Todashev, when the violent confrontation took place, reports the Orlando Sentinel. The agent sustained non-life threatening injuries, according to an FBI release.

Authorities believe Todashev and Tamerlan Tsarnaev murdered three men on Sept. 11, 2011 in Boston by slitting their throats and sprinkling marijuana on their bodies, reports the Sentinel.

Todashev, who lives in Kissimmee, was reportedly staying at his girlfriend's Orlando apartment, when authorities caught up with him Wednesday. He had been cooperating with the ongoing homicide investigation.

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In partnership with the famed arms designer, John Moses Browning, Belgium's Fabrique Nationale d'Armes of Herstal has been producing semi-auto pistols since the turn of the last century. The company's first pistol, the 7.65mm Pistolet Automatique Browning Mle. 1900 was so popular that in many parts of the world "Browning" became synonymous with "semi-auto pistol." FN's Browning-designed pistol line culminated in the legendary Pistolet Browning Grande Puissance ("Browning High Power Pistol") of 1935, which was so popular that it remains in production today.

FN's U.S. division, FNH USA, was established in 1977 when the company built a factory in Columbia, S.C. Originally established to provide the U.S. armed forces with M240 and M249 machine guns, FNH USA soon started producing smaller arms, including the FNP series of law enforcement duty pistols.

The FNP series of pistols was FN's first entry into the market for modern polymer-framed duty weapons. FNP pistols are hammer fired, have fully ambidextrous controls, and feature replaceable frame rails. They are available in 9mm, .40 S&W, .357 SIG, and .45 ACP. In 2007 the U.S. Joint Combat Pistol Program was announced to find a .45 caliber pistol for American Special Forces. FNH entered the FNP-45. The program was canceled before a winner was chosen but word is that the FNP performed very well.

A few years ago, FN introduced the successor to the FNP line, the FNX. Like the FNP, the FNX is a hammer-fired, polymer-framed duty pistol with a double-action/single-action trigger system. The latest model in the series is the worthy successor to the FNP-45, the FNX-45.

Familiar Feel

Where the FNX-45 differs from the earlier FNP-45 is in its internal dimensions and in the fact that the magazines have been redesigned for optimal performance with a variety of commercially available ammunition regardless of bullet shape, profile, weight, or ballistics. The redesign of the magazines means that FNP mags will not operate in FNX guns. The FNX-45 is offered in two primary versions, a duty model and a Tactical with a threaded barrel. You can get an FNX-45 in basic black polymer with stainless steel slide or in a two-tone version with an earth-colored polymer frame and a matte black stainless slide. For this test and evaluation FN sent me a black duty model.

There were a few things I liked about the FNX-45 before I even took it out of the box. Heck, I even liked the box, a sturdy plastic hard case. Inside that box were the pistol, three mags, and four interchangeable backstraps. Getting three mags with the pistol is great, since as mentioned, you can't just use FNP mags in the FNX.

The FNX-45 feels very familiar. It has ergonomics and design very similar to those of the FNP line. In other words, after selecting the appropriate interchangeable backstrap for my hand and securing it to the one-piece polymer frame, the FNX felt like an old friend.

Like the FNP, the FNX has replaceable slide rails. This is an interesting feature for a polymer-framed duty pistol that will see a lot of work. Anyone who has put a lot of rounds through polymer-framed pistols will tell you that the slide rails can wear out. On many pistols, that means it's time to buy a new gun. With the FNP and FNX model pistols, it's time for new rails.

In addition to the interchangeable backstraps, I found a lot to like about the FNX's frame design. The grip and the trigger guard both have aggressive checkering to improve recoil control and help keep the pistol secure in your hand, even when you are sweating or wearing tactical gloves. And like most duty pistols now in use, the FNX has an integrated MIL-STD 1913 rail so that you can mount tactical lights, lasers, and other accessories. Thanks to a wide-mouthed magazine well reloads can be accomplished smoothly and positively. Front and rear grasping grooves allow you to retract the slide from various positions, which can be very useful when clearing a malfunction.

Operation and Loading

With a 15-round magazine, the FNX-45 holds more chunky ACP cartridges than any of its polymer compatriots. That sounds like a great idea in theory, but I found the magazines a bit difficult to load to capacity and would like to suggest that FN include a magazine-loading tool with the pistol.

Those officers who are southpaws, or who may have to operate the pistol with their "off" hands, will appreciate that the safety/decocker and magazine release are fully ambidextrous. The manual safety levers on the FNX let you carry the pistol in "cocked and locked" (Condition 1) mode. When the safety lever is pushed down past the "fire" position, it acts as a decocker, letting you safely lower the hammer on a loaded chamber.

The stainless steel slide's large ejection port and heavy-duty extractor ensure that spent cases are removed quickly and reliably. The ejector also functions as a loaded chamber indicator, which gives you a visual and tactical indication of the pistol's condition. As is common on most service pistols today, the FNX-45 uses the three-dot sighting system. Night sights are available as an option.

A four-inch, hammer-forged stainless steel barrel with polished feed ramp and chamber ensures the reliability and accuracy of the FNX-45. A captive recoil spring on a full-length guide rod ensures functioning and consistent lock and has the added advantage of simplifying disassembly.

Breech locking is accomplished by the barrel hood moving up into and bearing on the front edge of the ejection port. When fired, the slide/barrel unit reciprocates to the rear locked together. After a short distance the barrel is cammed down, which allows the slide to continue rearward, extracting and ejecting the spent cartridge case. The recoil spring then pulls the slide forward, stripping the next round from the magazine and chambering it. As the slide goes into battery, the barrel is cammed up, locking it and the slide together again.

Range Drills

My first shots with my test and evaluation FNX-45 told me a lot about the gun. The DA trigger displayed quite a bit of "new gun" stiffness but the SA trigger was excellent, having a bit of take-up before breaking crisply at six pounds. I also found that the three-dot sights were large and easy to acquire and fast to align on target.

Accuracy testing was conducted with three brands of factory ammo with varying bullet weight (See "Shooting the FNX-45" on this page. When fired from a rest at 25 yards all three shot to point of aim and produced extremely impressive groups running in size from 1.7 inches to slightly more than 3 inches. Although FN advertises the FNX-45 as a service-type handgun, I found such performance more akin to one of my tuned competition pistols.

As is my SOP, I set out a pair of combat targets and ran the FNX-45 through a series of offhand drills from seven, 10, and 15 yards. While the pistol's DA trigger pull was on the heavy and gritty side, its excellent ergonomics—and its nice SA trigger pull—enabled me to keep the vast majority of the rounds expended inside the IPSC targets' A scoring zones.

The FNX-45 proved to be a very accurate, reliable pistol during my test firing. I was impressed with the pistol's shooting qualities, especially how well it pointed and the low levels of recoil. The latter permitted me to make fast, follow-up shots with ease. The controls were also well positioned and positive in operation.

It should be noted from the spec sheet that the FNX-45 is a rather large handgun and thus its use in police service would be restricted to holster wear by uniformed officers or by tactical unit personnel, unless, of course, you have some rather "large" plainclothes officers.

Paul Scarlata has served as an auxiliary police officer and is a frequent contributor to POLICE.

FNH USA FNX-45 Duty Pistol Specs:

Caliber: .45 ACP

Magazine Capacity: 15 rounds

Overall Length: 7.85 inches

Width: 1.58 inches

Barrel Length: 4 inches

Weight (empty): 33.2 ounces

Sights: Front: white dot; Rear: dual white dots

Finish: Slide: stainless steel (bright or flat black finish)

Frame: polymer (black or dark earth colors)

Grips: Polymer

Features: Ambidextrous safety/decocking levers, loaded chamber indicator, ambidextrous magazine releases, ambidextrous slide release levers, replaceable slide rails, dual cocking serrations, interchangeable backstraps, two spare magazines, accessory rail, carrying box, lock, owners manual.

Price: $809

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I quickly switched gears internally to "cop mode," and I prepared to take evasive action and get the license plate number of this possible impaired driver. Just as this car approached mine, I was shocked to see that it was a marked POLICE.

I looked at the officer, and I could see what he was doing that was causing him to swerve. He was looking at his in-car computer while trying to drive. I thought to myself, "What if he had struck another car? Hit a stationary object? Injured someone?" This officer and his agency would be liable for his distractions and behavior. This is unacceptable.

Technology's Downside

New technology has improved modern policing in many ways. During my career, I saw many changes, including the move from revolvers to semi-automatic handguns, from straight batons to PR-24s and collapsible batons, from Mace to O.C., from stun guns to TASERs, and from 12-gauge shotguns with ghost ring sights to AR-15s with holographic sights. That's just the evolution of weapons. On the safety equipment side, I have experienced the widespread adoption of concealable lightweight body armor.

When it comes to communications, we have seen our two-way car radios with multiple channel knobs replaced by digital, programmable screens supported by computer dispatch terminals and better radio towers with microwave technology and secure public safety bands. Our portable radios are smaller and more compact versions of the old "bricks" that used to adorn our duty belts. And of course we can now dispatch calls for service electronically directly to cars equipped with onboard computer systems.

Computers and Distraction

In-car computers are useful tools in law enforcement and public safety. They work great when you are not distracted and have time to read the information on the screen that is being sent to you. Computers are also useful when you want to conduct records checks on vehicles and individuals that you encounter.

In-car computer deployment was intended to make the job of a modern law enforcement officer easier in conjunction with other tools in the car. But it also created several safety concerns.

The people who first thought of adding computer displays to the cockpits of patrol cars probably thought they would be used by the passenger officer in two-officer units. Sadly, very few agencies now use two officers in a patrol unit, so the computer is read by the driver and that can lead to deadly multi-tasking.

We have statutes in many states against distracted driving, including texting while driving, talking on a cell phone, and other technological multi-tasking. So given the prevalence of in-car computers in patrol cars and how they are often used by an officer who is driving, we have to ask if the rules governing distracted driving apply to police officers as well as the public.

You may think that distracted driving laws are not your concern because after all, your job requires you to monitor that computer display. But if you are sued for causing a crash and you were glancing at the computer at the time, you can bet that plaintiff's attorney will argue that you were distracted, and your agency will be on the hook for a big judgment.

I think we can all agree that operating a police vehicle takes more training than the rest of the motoring public. Emergency vehicle operations courses (EVOC) are required for most basic police academy students before they can drive agency vehicles. EVOC is also a requirement for in-service training.

Some 25 to 30 percent of police officer line-of-duty deaths result from motor vehicle collisions. Many officers are also injured in traffic crashes. Technological distraction is becoming a common cause for these accidents.   

Fixing the Problem

The best form of mitigation in any problem situation is to change the behavior through training and policy improvement. Supervisors, mid-level managers, and executives within your agency need to understand that managing your in-car computer involves risk management.  

In the early '90s, I was a member of my agency's Accident Review Board. We had just started a pilot project with our neighboring agencies to evaluate early in-car computer systems. What our board found was an increased number of crashes by deputies who had computers in their patrol cars.

All the crashes we investigated during this period were ruled "avoidable" because the deputy did not have to take his or her eyes off the road while driving the vehicle. These deputies had other options. The primary option was to tell the dispatcher, "Broadcast the call." Yes, use the radio. Communicate with the dispatcher by radio, and you will get the same information and keep your eyes up on the road where they belong in emergency driving situations.

Communication policies for both patrol officers and dispatchers must unilaterally indicate that the in-car computer is a tool, but the primary communications between the officer in the field and the dispatcher will be two-way radio communications.

Supervisors monitoring and directing resources in "hot call" situations should insist that the officers close the computer screen down and drive safely to the call. Dispatchers need to broadcast live updates on the emergency calls, giving situation updates and timely information. Remember, you can talk faster than you can type. 

Moving Forward

You should always be concerned with officer safety and information security. With the increasing use of encryption, the two-way radio channels available to public safety agencies make the technology more secure, so you don't need to worry about "scanner land" in many instances for officer safety. The radio is still your friend. 

The technology that has been developed over the past few decades makes your job easier. And the in-car computer, when used properly, is a great boon to officer safety. But we have to ensure that we are arriving safely to the call for service and that we are not creating a safety problem for the public that we serve. When in doubt, pick up the microphone and close the computer screen. 

Mark D. Reese is a retired sergeant from the Lane County (Ore.) Sheriff's Office. He has held assignments in patrol, corrections, special operations, and as an active field training officer.

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If you're an officer serving a small- to medium-sized department, you may want to start a traffic-enforcement unit. One officer will get the grand idea that he or she needs a big police motorcycle to be a ticket monster. Before you raise your kickstand, understand that there's far more to forming a traffic unit than the wind in your face and bugs in your teeth.

If the chief or sheriff wants to form a traffic unit, stop and ask what kind of unit. Is this purely enforcement or is this a special events traffic detail? Will you handle parades, funeral escorts or other special events? Will you investigate serious and fatal accidents up to and including reconstruction?

There is a wide range of what a traffic unit is or can be. First and foremost, can your staffing and budget allow it? Some may have a traffic-orientated officer on each shift to handle the demanding crashes and technical questions. Can your current staffing allow all of this expertise to be placed on a different shift configuration? If so, what will the budget look like? Now, let's look at the fleet budget. Vehicles will have to be equipped and possibly assigned to the unit that will have specialized equipment needs.

Motorcycles are a different creature all together. Consider your climate. If they're going to be fair-weather assignments, what do they ride in the winter? I suggest you contact your department's insurance underwriter before you go to two-wheel land; these rates are usually a tad higher than sedan coverage. Motorcycles require special motor officer training. I don't care how great a rider you are, you'll still need motorcycle emergency vehicle operations courses to protect your staff, fleet, and legal liability.

If you're still convinced that staffing, budget, and fleet considerations can weather the idea, move to training and selection. Once you pick a model to follow, the traffic unit will require training to meet those needs. Check with your state and other police training institutes for their curriculums and recommendations. I attended the Institute of Police Traffic Management. Some states now allow local officers to investigate the weights and measures on trucking (sometimes known as commercial) enforcement. These certifications require intensive training and equipment that's very expensive. Pricing on a set of portable scales and other truck-related equipment will frighten most away.

Staff selection will be guided by your internal transfer polices. I would strongly suggest officers who like traffic enforcement. They understand that working parades means everyone is watching them, and their schedules are extremely flexible. Between working special events, call-outs for crashes and court time, they must be dedicated before they apply.

There's one policy you'll want to get straight before you start. All too often the traffic unit becomes the S.N.E.W. (Stuff Nobody Else Wants) Unit. If there's an escort, they give it to traffic. If there's a pothole being repaired, they give it to traffic. If there's a special event and patrol is tied up, give it to traffic.

If you're going to budget, select, train, equip, and utilize all of this for traffic, then do it. But to make them a fill-in for patrol and special events is a waste of their talent and manpower. If you do this, do it correctly and use them as they should be used.

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Alejandro Valderrabano Contreras, 31, was arrested and charged Friday with exceeding the speed limit by at least 15 mph and no more than 25 mph, having no South Carolina driver’s license and trafficking in cocaine 400 grams or more.

Officers stopped his 2003 Nissan Maxima around 8:20 p.m. for speeding in the Galivants Ferry area, reports Mrytle Beach Online.

Officer searched the vehicle and located a hidden compartment in the center console that contained 10 kilograms or 22 pounds of cocaine, reports the Charlotte Observer.

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Kris Gungon, 31, swam out when he noticed his wife Denise run into trouble while swimming near the waterfall. Gungdon also ran into trouble. Lifeguards were able to save Denise, but her husband slipped beneath the surface.

Gungon had served the Border Patrol since 2009. He was assigned to the El Centro Sector.

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Officers responded to the Wells Fargo at 21st Street and Colonial Avenue about 2:40 p.m. for a report of someone trying to pass a bad check, reports the Virginian-Pilot.

As officers approached the vehicle, the driver accellerated and struck one of the officers. A second officer shot and killed 22-year-old Joshua Johnson.

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VIDEO: Phoenix Police Ram Kidnapping House

A Phoenix Police Department armored tactical vehicle rammed a house where a kidnapping suspect held at least five people hostage Tuesday to help end a standoff that began Monday night.

The man, believed to be 32-year-old Israel Celis, was found dead inside the home and a woman and child were rescued, reports the Arizona Republic.

Police responded to the home near 91st Avenue and Camelback Road Monday evening, following an Amber Alert about the kidnapping. Celis had reportedly met his estranged wife at a motel where he duct-taped the woman and sexually assaulted her at gunpoint. Celis then took off with the boy, reports Fox News. Celis barricaded himself in the bedroom of the home with two adults and three children.

During negotiations with Celis, police were able to obtain the release of several of the hostages. At one point, Celis reportedly fired at officers with an AK-47 rifle, a law enforcement source told PoliceMag.com.

By Tuesday morning, the Phoenix PD's Special Assignment Unit brought its Lenco armored vehicle to the home. Officers used the vehicle to ram two areas of the house's front wall. The two remaining hostages then exited the home. That's when police found the suspect dead in the home.

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The two special agents were fast-roping to the ship when the helicopter encountered difficulties and the agents fell "a significant distance," the FBI said in a statement obtained by the media outlet.

An unidentified law enforcement source told the Pilot the incident, which happened about 12 miles off the coast of Virginia Beach, was caused by bad weather. Special Agents Christopher Lorek, 41, and Stephen Shaw, 40, likely died as a result of impact rather than drowning.

Related:

FBI HRT Operators Killed In Training Accident

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Unlike most cornered suspects, the active, retired, or terminated cop who fights his former peers does so with a weapons cache that is wholly different from that of the usual suspects, one that comes with the experience, training, and tactical awareness unique to those who have worked in the profession.

When ATF agents attempted to serve a warrant on Aug. 31, 2001, the subject of their investigation, a former Arcadia, Calif., police officer named James Beck who was wanted for weapons charges and for impersonating a U.S. Marshal, opened fire on them. During the ensuing shootout, Beck exploited the second-story high ground, firing upon law enforcement personnel on scene. Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Dep. Jake Kuredjian was shot in the head and killed instantly.

Officer Robert Baker of the Cleveland Police Department shot and seriously wounded two security guards in an unprovoked attack. He then retreated to his home where he fired upon his fellow officers when they attempted to contact him. In the process, Baker shot at and nearly killed his own brother, a fellow officer who'd knocked at the door.

In the aftermath of such incidents, the offending officer is often dismissed as "just another dirtbag;" his or her relationship to law enforcement is diminished and its import lessened.

"That was no cop," is an expression that is often heard. "He was just a criminal with a badge."

But while such rhetoric provides isolation for the shooter and insulation for the profession, it does little to help us understand the problem and even less to prevent similar threats in the future, threats that appoint themselves to more elevated rungs in the officer safety arena.

If the question of what the profession can do to mitigate the threat of self-generated monsters wasn't routinely addressed before former LAPD officer Christopher Dorner's recent rampage, let's hope it will be now.

Thinning the Herd

Finding a silver lining to the Dorner episode can be a daunting challenge. But the wealth of information Dorner availed us, both consciously and not, through his now infamous manifesto transcends the strategic. For Dorner's manifesto simultaneously revealed his inner demons and reminded us of just what makes some tick and others explode.

Over the course of several days in February, Dorner attempted to portray himself as a West Coast Serpico, a good cop wronged by a corrupt system. But Serpico was not a one-man vigilante force hell-bent on exacting perceived justice on those he thought had wronged him, and no man or woman has come forth to repudiate LAPD's dismissal of Dorner, salvage his reputation, or otherwise validate his homicidal campaign of subverted justice.

If there are take away lessons from this tragic episode, they may well lie in an increased awareness of the profession's need to continually maintain the highest of standards. And the first step to that end is improving the hiring process and the caliber of personnel it hires.

All law enforcement personnel pass through a series of theoretical checkpoints. There's a hiring process that often includes a background investigation, polygraph, and a psychological exam, all geared toward identifying less desirables before they are employed and become manifest concerns.

But the psychological exam used by most agencies—the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) 567 questionnaire—is designed only to assess basic emotional fitness, and as such, tends to weed out only about five percent of applicants. This means that it is up to the training academy to weed out those who have flown beneath the radar of the polygraph and background investigations.

Optimal thinning of the herd works best during tough economic times when the supply of applicants is high and the number of available positions is low. With the luxury of time to evaluate candidates, departments are more likely to develop a stronger pool of qualified recruits.

"In the past when we've been in a hurry to hire lots of people during the background process we've not been as fastidious as we could be or had the time to really look at these applicants over a longer period of time," says Sgt. Mike Siegfried of the San Bernardino County (Calif.) Sheriff's Department. "With fewer jobs to offer and more qualified candidates, that's a positive thing. We're getting people with higher education than in the past wanting to apply and become a police officer."

But if the profession was batting a thousand in such arenas, it would obviate the need for everything from civil litigation units to internal affairs bureaus; many a black mark would've been prevented for most agencies. Fortunately, there are other early warning systems in place.

Once hired, the employee passes under the evaluative scrutiny of academy drill instructors and patrol training officers. Perhaps none more valuable than the field training officers themselves, those men and women who sit side by side with recruits and acquire first-hand knowledge as to their wants, needs, and priorities. FTOs are often in the best position to point out the bogeyman at the door and the last chance for the system to identify and correct a wrong before it becomes metastasized.

But it doesn't always work out.

Unique Dangers

When the worst-case scenario becomes reality, there are a multitude of concerns, both immediate and long-term. These range from lawsuits to damage to the agency's reputation and even loss of human life.

When an officer or former officer decides to attack fellow officers, there is a synergy at work, a melding of the skill sets the person has acquired through training and experience and the conditioned mindset to fight whatever the odds. Tack on the emotional component, and it is easy to recognize how officers can have their hands full on every conceivable front in dealing with such a threat. Negotiation becomes more problematic and strategic and tactical options are narrowed.

The inherent challenges of such a situation transcend the usual operational logistics, for beyond the usual concerns for community welfare they obligate a reflective refractory period. In the short run, the agency under attack needs to mitigate or eliminate the immediate threat. In the long run, it needs to prevent another officer from taking such a disastrous path.

None of this comes cheaply. The costs for the Dorner operation to the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department alone were more than $550,000; long-term aggregate costs for LAPD, including pending litigation, will be much higher. And while an argument could be readily made that the money was well spent in mitigating the threat to the community and the families of law enforcement personnel, how much cheaper might things have been if Dorner's hatred had been scotched early on?

In the aftermath of 9/11, government officials took an "Argo"-type page out of the Hollywood playbook, commissioning authors to envision various threats to the country's welfare. Our profession needs to do something similar and imagine what manner of systemic threats it may face ahead of time. In an age where cops freely avail themselves of the home addresses of co-workers to embarrassing ends such as the case of a former female Minnesota police officer whose former co-workers illegally accessed her driver's license history 425 times such imaginings should not be difficult, particularly in the context of someone with a Dorner-like agenda.

The Elephant in the Room

Attorney General Eric Holder has characterized America as a nation of cowards when it comes to discussing race. While the Attorney General's credibility might be suspect elsewhere, he may be onto something here. For race played a substantial role not only in Dorner's campaign, but in many of his spiritual antecedents such as the campaign waged by New Orleans sniper Mark Essex that resulted in the deaths of five police officers and a law enforcement explorer. It factored into Beltway sniper John Allen Muhammad's plan to kill a Baltimore cop before detonating planted explosives at an officer's funeral so as to kill more officers. Dorner's racial sensitivity was thematic throughout his career with LAPD.

To what extent did the precedent actions of such men play a role in Dorner's actions? The question is no less reasonable to contemplate than that of the degree to which Dorner himself may influence others—and perhaps as unanswerable.

Like Hitler's "Mein Kampf" and the Unabomber's manifesto, Dorner's diatribe found sympathizers. A Facebook page titled "We Stand With Christopher Dorner" garnered more than 18,000 followers; Website pages featured proclamations that the 6-foot, 270-pound Dorner was "the victim of a smear campaign." Twitter users began marking their comments with "#TeamDorner" in support of the ex-officer.

Psychologists and academics also weighed in on the matter. Marc Lamont Hill, an associate professor of English education at Columbia University, found parallels to Quentin Tarantino's ultra-violent slavery revenge film "Django Unchained." Elayne Rapping, a retired professor of American and media studies at the State University of New York in Buffalo, told CNN that for some people Dorner's episode tapped into the same underdog appeal  of Bonnie and Clyde—prolific cop-killers, themselves—and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.

SWAT consultant Bob O'Brien finds Hollywood and the news media culpable in part for the public's admiration for officers and former officers turning on their agencies, noting that the extent to which their portrayals of both law enforcement and the anti-hero plays a role.

"The media never once stopped to consider that it was their coverage of the LAPD that may have created the cultural background noise for Dorner's belief system," says O'Brien. "Liberal Hollywood and the media regularly portray law enforcement as a bastion of bigotry and nastiness. Every depiction of LAPD in the last 20 years has focused on its supposed hatred for minorities, its corruption, its violence. If we are going to suppose that culture creates criminals, then leftist culture is responsible for Dorner."

O'Brien refrains from pointing any fingers at LAPD, noting that it was in fact its success in terminating Dorner that precipitated his outrage. But while acknowledging a possible catch-22 aspect to the equation, he wonders how often things have been unnecessarily protracted so that possible threats remain in position to acquire additional skill sets and more emotionally invested and entwined with the profession so that any perceived transgression becomes magnified.

"You have a problem child? 'Oh, we'll move him to a different district or precinct,'" says O'Brien, parroting an attitude that he believes has been practiced too long among many agencies and departments. "We've all seen this intra-agency shuffle with these types getting moved around like a queen in a three-card Monte game. Then when they blow up, it's like dealing with a spurned lover."

O'Brien cites such a syndrome close to home to make a point: An applicant to his former SWAT unit presented himself as an outwardly viable candidate, one that may well have succeeded in being accepted to the team. Then the unit was apprised that the applicant was being investigated for the arson of his ex-girlfriend's house. It was the kind of information that would not have come their way through the usual channels. Fortunately, someone decided to act in the best interests of the department and community.

Because of this experience, O'Brien believes managers should listen to credible concerns and act on them. "I'm not condoning witch hunts, vendettas, and ill-founded rumors that are designed to kill an employee's reputation," he says. "I simply believe that you can get a lot more done through the informal network when it comes to getting the straight scoop than going through the usual sanitized hoops. Good people work well with other good people. And you really don't want to be doing search warrants and arrest warrants on people who are trained in your tactics."

Warning Signs

Don Alwes, a trainer for the National Tactical Officers Association, echoes O'Brien's concerns. He also wonders if supervisorial cowardice won't play a role in the fire next time, much as it did in the tragic Fort Hood shooting.

"It's established that the military overlooked warnings and let Hassan get tactical training and access to weapons and put him in a position where others were vulnerable to him," Alwes says. "One of the lessons there is that we cannot allow political correctness to overtake safety issues. We tell schools and businesses that if they have a student or employee or customer who is displaying warning signs they are supposed to do something about it. They are supposed to let someone know, they are supposed to address it. We have to take our own medicine about that."

And where they can't prevent the "out of left field" attacks, Alwes hopes that law enforcement agencies at least have appropriate contingencies in place.

"We need to be cognizant that our opponents may be every bit as well trained and well armed as we are," Alwes explains. "We should be prepared for some options to deal with that."

Incidents such as Dorner's rampage are thankfully rare. But the fact that they do occur and carry with them the threat of exponentially greater losses obligates a degree of introspection and initiative from the profession. If not, law enforcement may well be saddled with the question of not how to prevent the next Chris Dorner, but how to stop him.

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Officers on the job before '66 knew that the right to remain silent was guaranteed by the Constitution, but no officer from that era ever thought it was his job to remind offenders of their rights. That changed with the arrest of Ernesto Miranda in March 1963 and the subsequent appeals of his conviction that resulted in the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision Miranda v. Arizona.

Carroll Cooley was a fairly new detective working for the Phoenix Police Department back in 1963. He was assigned to investigate the violent assault and kidnapping of a young woman on her way home from work. Ernesto Miranda was a convicted criminal who was out of prison and on the streets of Phoenix. Tracking down leads on a car brought Cooley to the parolee's doorstep.

Miranda was linked to the crime and brought to the police department for an interview. During the interview, he admitted to the assault and kidnapping. Miranda was convicted of kidnapping, rape, and armed robbery. He was sentenced to prison. Case closed. At least that's what Cooley thought.

The Supreme Court

During the early and mid-1960s era of policing, arrests were made, confessions were obtained, and cases were prosecuted without giving a second thought to telling arrestees about their Fifth Amendment and Sixth Amendment rights. Officers were supposed to respect the rights of the accused; that fact was never in question. What did come into question was whether officers had a responsibility to tell suspects of their rights.

Miranda was literate, educated to the 8th grade, and volunteered his confessions knowing the consequences. Defense and appellate lawyers would argue to the contrary.

Miranda's arrest and conviction set forth a judicial process that lasted for more than three years. In 1966, Miranda v. Arizona was one of four cases that were brought before the U.S. Supreme Court dealing with custodial interrogations. All of the cases brought into question the rights of the accused and the responsibility of officers to advise the accused of their rights.

On June 13, 1966, the Court ruled that Miranda's confession could not be used against him because he was not advised of his right to remain silent, right to counsel, and what would happen if he talked. At Miranda's second trial, his confession was not used. But he was convicted a second time and sentenced to 20 to 30 years in prison.

Miranda was paroled in 1972, and he began selling autographed Miranda warning cards for $1.50. Arrested numerous times for driving violations, he eventually lost his license. He was also sent back to state prison for a parole violation, after he was arrested for possessing a gun. On Jan. 31, 1976, following his release from prison, Miranda was fatally stabbed during a bar fight in Phoenix.

Refining the Law

Of course the death of the man named Ernesto Miranda did not end his case's impact on law enforcement procedures. "Miranda Warnings" are ever changing in their application and interpretation just like every other aspect of a police officer's job.

Police implementation of Miranda warnings has changed over the years. When officers first got their marching orders to "read them their rights," they read the rights to everyone they questioned. Stop a man on the street to ask what he's doing, read him his rights. Everybody gets their rights read. That's the way it was in the mid '60s. Officers felt they were talking suspects out of a confession rather than trying to get one.

Thankfully, that's changed. Year after year, the application of Miranda rights has grown more refined. Miranda has now been defined to apply when two conditions are met. It must be a custodial interview and questions must be asked about the crime. Of course, "custody" is subject to judicial interpretation.

Miranda Today

In a recent case in Maricopa County, Ariz., a judge ruled in favor of a defendant whose attorney claimed that his Miranda rights were not read to him prior to a confession.

Detectives were investigating a teenager's claims that an adult touched her inappropriately. Like many other cases of this nature, a great deal of the case relied on the interviews of the victim and the accused. The detectives wanted to hear both sides of the story to see if a crime was committed. They did a non-custodial interview at the adult male's home. The interview did not result in an arrest, but it did result in the suspect's partial admission to the crime. After an interview with the victim, the detectives developed probable cause and arrested the suspect. Post-arrest, they read him his rights. He exercised his right to remain silent, requesting an attorney.

In a pre-trial hearing, the defense asserted that the detectives should have read the suspect his rights before the first interview; therefore the confession was not admissible. The prosecution argued the custody pretext was not met. The judge ruled for the defense. Without the confession, the case was never prosecuted.

This case is an excellent example of what officers face every day when weighing Miranda issues. If you get back to the basics of what the 1966 Miranda decision was all about, you'll remember that the defense claimed Ernesto Miranda was not educated enough to understand his rights, so the officers should have made sure he understood his rights before questioning. The recent Maricopa County case involves an accused with many years of college and there was no question as to his understanding of his rights.

Cases like the Maricopa County case have helped to refine the application of Miranda for officers. Miranda issues frustrate officers, but they adapt their processes to take into account new judicial interpretations that strengthen or weaken Miranda issues. Most officers take solace in the fact that they are only one part of the greater judicial process and, like the officers policing in the 1960s, they follow the rules and do their part to put criminals in prison.

The exact Miranda warnings were never defined by the Warren Court, but the concepts were clear. You have to tell accused persons of their right to remain silent before they are questioned in a custodial interview. You have to tell them what will happen if they choose to talk. The accused must be told that they can have an attorney with them during questioning to help protect their Fifth Amendment rights. They must be told that if they are indigent, they can have an attorney appointed for them free of charge. 

Mark Clark is a 27-year veteran police sergeant. He has served as public information officer, training officer, and as supervisor for various detective and patrol squads.

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One of the most lasting lessons that came out of the way law enforcement handled the Boston Marathon bombing came in the Twitterverse, where the Boston Police Department provided a clear beacon for using the social media platform.

The Boston PD's public information bureau steadied the nerves of its rattled city with its constant stream of Twitter updates about the bombing, manhunt, and eventual capture of the remaining suspect.

Cheryl Fiandaca, the bureau's chief, offered the first tweet on April 15: "Boston Police confirming explosion at marathon finish line with injuries. #tweetfromthebeat via @CherylFiandaca."

She set the record straight about the reported arrest; offered the first image of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev; and relayed this joyous news: "CAPTURED!!! The hunt is over. The search is done. The terror is over. And justice has won. Suspect in custody."

In the process, the agency added nearly 300,000 new followers and has become the most followed law enforcement agency on Twitter.

Fiandaca provided a model for the possibilities of Twitter for law enforcement during a critical incident, as agencies continue to explore the possibilities of a social media platform inspired by the clipped, coded messages of public safety dispatchers.

In late April, "web intelligence" firm Bright Planet offered a deep dive into how police agencies are using Twitter. Nearly 3 million people are following the 772 active law enforcement accounts. The most common types of tweets from agencies report "police activity updates" and traffic alerts, according to research presented in an infographic.

The Boston PD's Twitter feed (@Boston_Police) had 332,219 followers as of the time of the study. In the days following the bombing, the agency increased its number of followers by 514 percent from 54,087 on April 2.

Other top-followed agencies include the Masachussetts State Police (32,502 followers), Baltimore PD (31,256), Seattle PD (29,469), New Jersey State Police (22,758), and Kansas City PD (21,230).

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Sgt. Dwayne Polk, 47, most recently assigned to the transportation unit, was in uniform driving his tan-colored Chevrolet Silverado around 3 a.m. at the intersection of West Little York and North Shepherd.

Andres Munos-Munos, 22, sped through the red light at the intersection in his white GMC pickup, crashing into the driver's side door of Polk's truck, said Houston Police Department spokesman John Cannon.

Read the full Houston Chronicle story.

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VIDEO: High-Speed Pursuit In N.C.

A high-speed vehicle pursuit through rural Burke County, N.C., earlier this month ended with a suspect being taken into custody on the hood of the lead pursuing cruiser.

The pursuit began after Morganton Police Department officers responded to a call about a suspicious car in the parking lot of the Christian Outreach Center on May 2.

Officers recognized the vehicle as being wanted from an earlier crime and initiated a traffic stop of the green sedan. The suspect's vehicle pulled over just long enough for officers to exit two units. An engine revving can be heard on patrol-car video, as the suspect takes off on Highway 70.

The suspects blow stop signs and reach speeds exceeding 80 mph before pulling to a stop near a market. Donelle Nicholas Cuthbertson jumps out of the vehicle's passenger-side door. A plainclothes officer can be seen taking Cuthbertson into custody.

Vehicles from other law enforcement agencies blocked off intersections to keep the road clear until the suspect could be apprehended, reports the Hickory Record.

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The call, which went to 911, started like any other call to the police dispatcher, with the operator asking, "What is your emergency?"

But when no one answered, the operator didn't hang up, instead staying on the line and listening to the pair, who police identified as Nathan Teklemariam and Carson Rinehart, both 20, as they talked about wanting to do drugs. It wasn't long before the conversation turned to breaking into a car.

"Get the bolt and give me the hammer just in case," one of the two voices on the phone said.

Read the full ABC News story.

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The law, signed by then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, made California the first state to require micro-stamping, which engraves the gun's serial number on each cartridge. But the legislation specified that it would take effect only when the technology was available and all private patents had expired.

Gun owners group Calguns Foundation tried to forestall the law at one point by paying a $555 fee in an attempt to extend a patent held by the inventor, who wanted it to lapse. Gun manufacturers said the technology was expensive and ineffective, and a National Rifle Association lawyer has threatened a lawsuit.

Read the full San Francisco Chronicle story.

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Bail has been set at $60 million for 27-year-old Richard DeCoatsworth, who retired from the Philadelphia PD in 2011, reports CNN.

DeCoatsworth became a hero in 2007 as a rookie on the force. He had followed a group of suspicious men and, after one fired a shotgun at his face, continued the pursuit until they were taken into custody.

In 2008, the National Association of Police Organizations honored DeCoatsworth with its Top Cop award. In 2009, he joined the first lady at the State of the Union address.

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VIDEO: Colo. Sheriffs Announce Gun-Rights Lawsuit

Nearly nine of 10 Colorado sheriffs have signed onto a lawsuit seeking to overturn a trio of new gun-control laws signed into law in March.

Of the state's 64 sheriffs, 55 support the lawsuit announced Friday that's spearheaded by Weld County Sheriff John Cooke. At a press conference, Sheriff Cooke blasted the laws as unconstitutional and ineffectual.

"For me, this lawsuit is about two things—first, upholding the constitution, which I took an oath to defend just like the other 53 sheriffs. But it's also about public safety. These bills do absolutely nothing to make Colorado a safer place to live, to work, to play or to raise a family."

On the eve of the passage of the laws, Sheriff Cooke announced he and other sheriffs wouldn't enforce the laws, which he deemed unconstitutional gun control. Oath Keepers Colorado released a statement Friday lauding the lawsuit and saying the group is "pleased by this kind of patriotism displayed by county sheriffs."

On March 20, Gov. John Hickenlooper signed three laws that would limit ammunition magazines to 15 rounds, require universal background checks for gun sales and transfers, and require customers to pay for the cost of background checks.

Only nine Colorado sheriffs haven't endorsed the challenge, including Denver County Sheriff Gary Wilson.

The lawsuit was filed on behalf of the sheriffs by the Independence Institute. Read the full complaint here.

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Donald "Bruce" Barlow, who served as the Mendenhall Police chief until October 2010, sometimes made people sign over their vehicles in exchange for him dropping charges and also demanded cash payments, in one case $4,500, the new charges allege.

Barlow was first indicted Feb. 5 on eight counts including conspiracy, extortion, soliciting bribes and witness tampering, reports the Associated Press. He was arrested on March 7 and has pleaded not guilty, according to an FBI press release. The new charges add nine additional counts.

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Officers shot and killed Tony Nim, 35, at about 7:30 a.m. Nim died at the scene, reports the San Gabriel Valley Tribune.

The fatal confrontation escalated after Nim appeared incoherent and didn't respond to officers' commands. The commands were given in several languages. Nim pulled the knife, which was a foot long, from his backpack. At that point, three officers opened fire.

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Andrea Rebello, 21, died early Friday along with 30-year-old Dalton Smith, who had broken into the student's Uniondale home where she lived with several other students. Smith entered the home wearing a ski mask and took Rebello hostage. Two of the students escaped and called 911. Police arrived 10 minutes later.

Two Nassau County officers responded. One entered the house and confronted Smith, who held Rebello in a headlock, reports CBS New York. Smith pointed the gun at Rebello's head and repeatedly threatened to kill her. He then pointed the gun at the officer. The officer acted quickly because he believed his and Rebello's life were in danger, police sources told CBS New York.

The responding officers may not have been aware that Smith had hostages in the home, reports the New York Times.

The 42-year-old Nassau cop, a 12-year agency veteran and former NYPD officer, is said to be inconsolable over Rebello's death, reports the New York Post. "He blames himself and keeps replaying it in his mind," a police source told the Post. "He is torn up about the poor girl." The officer has been placed on medical leave.

Smith has a lengthy criminal history and had been wanted since April for absconding from parole. His criminal record includes armed robbery and automobile theft convictions, reports the Post.

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