‘Tis Better to Get than to Receive

Somebody needs to explain to this woman what the Christmas spirit is really all about. As a child I was taught that Christmas was something special, but the truth is that it’s quite a nuisance, as well as really irritating.

On a side note, if this woman lived by me she would still be nearly $300 short of felony larceny.

The Old Behind-the-poster Ploy

Haven’t the personnel of this facility watched Shawshank Redemption? Tragic.

Elaborate Jailbreak Sparks New Jersey Manhunt

For those of you that haven’t seen the film, I’m sorry to ruin it for you but he escapes. With that behind us, I have to say that this escape is actually an improvement on the one in the film. They got two out instead of just one, and they opted to hop a fence rather than crawl down several hundred yards of sewage pipe. Here’s to an early re-capture and increased correctional facility security.

Hazard Has One Z

When you as a citizen (a.k.a. normal person) think about a police vehicle pursuit, you probably envision a bunch of police vehicles chasing a bad guy where-ever necessary at whatever speed is necessary to get him or (of course) her to stop so the cops in question can haul the evil-doer out and slap the cuffs on him or (naturally) her. This makes a bit of sense, generally, because hey you have to catch that bad guy right?

Contrary to the popular belief, police departments have policies governing when (and when not) and how (and how not) to pursue fleeing vehicles. The goal of these policies is ultimately to protect officers, citizens, and their respective property. There have been a number of tragic incidents lately bringing more attention to the need for such policies. In general, a pursuit policy has three main elements: the need for authorization by a supervisor, a guide to assessing risk, and a matrix for weighing that risk against the reward of catching the suspect.

Sometimes the police shouldn’t chase bad guys because it endangers themselves and bystanders. A good example of this can be seen here. Police officers in these situations generally aren’t thinking about a pursuit policy; they’re more interested in backing up their brothers, which is how it should be. The supervisor needs to know when to call it off, though. Sure, it’s tough to watch any bad guy get away, but if he’s an income-tax evader that jumped in his car to avoid being picked up on a warrant, the law is eventually going to catch up to him. Violent fleeing felons are obviously a different story.

End of Watch

2007 was a rough year here in the United States for Law Enforcement Officers. Currently according the Officer Down Memorial Page, 176 American men and women have given their lives while performing their duties. That’s 21% more than at this time last year.

The casket bearing OFC Robert Kozminski, GRPD,
is carried past his comrades standing at attention.
End of Watch: Sunday, July 8, 2007

Few occupations outside of Law Enforcement include death as part of the job description. But millions of police officers world-wide go to work knowing that the work of the day could require them to give up their life. This is why Law Enforcement and the military have always had a close relationship. Police officers also face more than just the malevolence of criminals; the majority of Line of Duty Deaths in the United States is due to traffic incidents.

The benefit of all this is that by police officers’ courage in offering determined resistance to law-breakers and putting themselves in harm’s way, citizens gain the assistance they require and criminals are put in fear of their own lives when they abandon the protection of the law by breaking it.

“We sleep soundly in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do us harm.”
Winston Churchill