Letter to America
The Letter to America topic provides law enforcement officers and police advocates a platform to explain the complexities of critical issues impacting policing to a civilian audience. Content addresses why the New York water attacks matter, how the war on drugs is waging a war on us and how civilians can support quality policing. If you are interested in writing a “Letter to America,” email editor@police1.com with a short description of your proposed letter.
The discourse surrounding the crisis in police staffing has omitted an unsettling emergent pattern: the steady erosion of democratic protection through the privatization of safety
Officers are under unprecedented stress, working long hours and in many cases feeling little support
Corrections officers, our protectors, need your interest, research and compassion just as much as the infamous predators and anonymous inmates they protect us from
Parents, schools and law enforcement must work together to prevent young lives from being needlessly taken
Wanting equitable wages for rural cops is not about greed or ingratitude, it’s just economics
Our society cannot expect any reasonable person to put their life on the line without significant guarantees in terms of their compensation, benefits, personal liability and physical well-being
A reporter being hit by a vehicle during a live news report highlighted the danger of working near roadway incidents – a danger that proved fatal for two LEOs this past week
The notion of the least amount of force sounds nice, which makes it deceptively easy to believe – however, the concept is inherently flawed
When asked to predict an assailant’s intent, officers can only guess, based on articulable observations compared with experience
A new report highlights many examples of positive community-police engagement from 58 police foundations
Real reform means accepting that change is hard and expensive – but it’s worth it, if you do it right
Training is a necessity and should be an ongoing priority at every police agency, but getting it done is not as simple as it may seem
If you think so, you are out of your mind
When law enforcement practices become political fodder, both officers and civilians lose
To rebuild trust between police and the public, neither party can hold on to stereotypical views of the other
To the family of a fallen law enforcement officer, it represents the death of someone they love
It is critical the public understand the many ways school resource officers protect our children
While no solution will likely attract everyone as signatories, any reform must be credible and impactful to succeed
A letter to the American public: Why police reform must address immunity and evidence-based training
Just as we use evidence-based medicine to determine treatments, we should use evidence-based research to determine police policies
In an analysis of 80 countries, only Iraq and Afghanistan had lower training requirements to become a police officer than the United States
My husband has spent 20 years serving the public – I only wish that as a police spouse, I could carry some of the emotional burden that service has caused
A common complaint officers hear from citizens is, ‘What took you so long?’
Concerned citizens must act to ensure equity and opportunity in their communities
It is not always easy for officers to compartmentalize all the hurt they have encountered on calls without it having an effect on their own psyches
Every contribution of service matters to helping our country, community, neighborhood and family through this time of crisis and great need
It takes a special person to risk his or her life to keep others safe, but that’s exactly what public safety personnel do all the time
While some headway has been made recently with a decline in overdose deaths, our “allies” in our efforts have become part of the problem
Given the many hats modern law enforcement officers wear, it’s arguably one of the most difficult jobs to execute perfectly
If you recruit well, conduct thorough background checks and train constantly, you can have a human with a kind heart and good ethics – but you can’t have perfection
