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Podcast: Death of George Floyd/The Response That Might Have Been

It’s pretty obvious by now that the name George Floyd will soon brand itself permanently in law enforcement history just as much as Michael Brown, Rodney King , Miranda,  Graham,  Connor, and quite possibly more than all of them combined.

Whatever happens, too you know and I know that the seemingly surreal actions of ex-Minneapolis officer Derick Chauvin will, by themselves, become the stuff that is required academy training, likely, now and forever. Probably an academy class unto itself.

I did a very informal survey of several veteran officers, decorated cops, longtime trainers, and most current line of duty technical advisors. Among them cumulatively, they have nearly 150 years of total service to law enforcement.

Not one said he had ever seen anything like Derick Chauvin’s knee to George Floyd’s neck. Not one. Continue reading Podcast: Death of George Floyd/The Response That Might Have Been →

Podcast: Cops and coronavirus; Things Will Never be the Same. Here’s why.

Not long ago, one of the great cops I have ever known told me that, often, the troops on his shift at the San Francisco P D have calls that are stacked 10 deep. As a Sergeant, Adam Plantinga said it’s up to individual officers to determine, as best they can, which calls to respond to first or, quite possibly, not at all. 10 calls deep, for God’s sake.
And that’s just the start of their shift.
I’d imagine that is not an infrequent quandary for cops in busy districts and precincts in every metropolitan area of the country. By the end of their shifts, many calls just never get answered and fade away like so many fuzz balls billowing out of sight on a lovely spring day.
Then, it dawned on me how unbelievably many calls for police are total and complete bull jive. Continue reading Podcast: Cops and coronavirus; Things Will Never be the Same. Here’s why. →

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