On Feb. 20th 2017 Keith Boyer, a 27-yr veteran of the Whittier, CA Police Department did what he was supposed to do: he went to help people. In this case, he went to help people involved in a serious motor vehicle accident. What officer Boyer didn't know was that the "victim" in this accident had been released from the California Department of Corrections a week earlier as a parolee. Despite his prior convictions for robbery, burglary, and resisting arrest (among others) Michael Mejia was considered a "low level" inmate under the newly passed California Assembly Bill 109.  Officer Boyer ..read more

“De-escalation” has become a real buzzword in the law enforcement industry. A confluence of forces have thrust our ability to talk to people into the forefront of modern policing. As tempting as it is to critique these forces, I think we have to accept that the community, the courts, and our departments now expect a whole lot from us with regard to our ability to talk to people. Specifically, agitated people, in a rapidly changing environment, with lots of opportunity for Monday morning quarterbacking.  There is nothing new in the idea of trying to calm people down so that we don’t hav ..read more

Firstly, I want to thank you for taking the time to check out my blog. I've received a good amount of correspondence from people saying they get something from this, so thank you. It's heartening to hear from people from all over the world. For the last three years or so, I've been a contributing editor for Calibre Press. This has been a great opportunity, and I love the work they do at Calibre. However, I now feel a need to write completely from the hip, without requirements about the number of words used, or topics that other feel are important that I do not, or visa versa. Topics for this ..read more

It has become abundantly clear to just about everyone that there is something mightily wrong with our mental health system. As LEO’s, we don’t spend much time in places where things are going splendid. We spend are time in broken places. And, so it is with the mental health system. Police executives have been wringing their hands, asking how in the world we can manage the tidal wave of mentally ill subjects in crisis our officers are interacting with. According to the Treatment Advocacy Center, a full half of everyone with a serious mental illness in this country receives no treatment whatsoe ..read more

I am hoping to be starting the Master Instructor Certification Course (MICC) sponsored by the California Commission on Peace Officers Standards and Training (POST).  All MICC students are required to design a law enforcement course from 3-5 days in length, which will be submitted to POST for approval. If approved, it will become a POST reimbursable course offered statewide. POST courses tend to have much better attendance because officers get CPT credit for them.  My course will be on Emotional Wellness for Law Enforcement.  In addition to having grown up in a law enforcement ..read more

The other day as I was driving, I saw a twenty something guy skateboarding down the sidewalk. His clothes were dirty and torn, and he carried a piece of card board under one arm with writing on it. Within only a few seconds of seeing this young man, a rather harsh judgement popped into my mind, the specific words of which I’ll plead the 5th on.  In this same few seconds, however, something quite amazing happened. Before I even completed the sentence in my mind, replete as it was with a colorful adjectives, I stopped myself. Not only did I stop myself, but I turned my attention to the you ..read more

A ..read more