Policing Matters

We are all better off reading books, whether to expand our knowledge learn or just to relax. On this episode of Policing Matters, host Jim Dudley is joined by fellow podcaster, detective and Police1 columnist Christopher Littrell to share some book recommendations, both texts that will improve your performance as an LEO and recommended books to read for leisure. What books would you add to this list? Email editor@police1.com. Check out Police1.com for the full list of books mentioned in this episode.

In this episode of Policing Matters, host Jim Dudley chats with Pocatello Police Department Chief Roger Schei about how this mid-sized agency in the fifth largest city in Idaho is addressing defensive tactics training, police recruitment, law enforcement leadership and community engagement.  Chief Schei has a widespread training background that includes the FBI National Academy, FBI Command College, and several other leadership courses. His management certificate in high liability instruction through Idaho Police Officers Standards and Training (POST) has assisted in implementing several progressive programs for the department, including training from Rener Gracie and embracing the leadership principles of Jocko Willink’s Extreme Ownership Academy.   The chief is a resolute protector of children’s rights and takes pride in serving as the President of the Board of Directors for Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA). In 2016 he was honored to receive the Ron Timpson award from the local branch of the NAACP

The City of Irving (Texas) Shop Talk program is a community outreach program designed for residents who would not normally attend community town halls but have a desire and need to have their voices heard. The program provides police officers with the opportunity to talk with barber shop clients and workers to facilitate honest and genuine dialog and may be a vehicle that helps build trust in communities. In this episode of Policing Matters, host Jim Dudley chats with Irving PD Officer Jon Plunkett who oversees the program and facilitates opportunities to use barber shops and beauty shops for outreach efforts. Since the start of this program, which is partnered with OneCommunityUSA, more than 30 shops are currently participating. Officer Plunkett recently received a US Attorney’s Distinguished Service in Policing award for the program.

On this episode of Policing Matters, host Jim Dudley speaks with Axon President Luke Larson about the cutting-edge technology that is bringing relevant, realistic and efficient virtual training to law enforcement. Luke joined Axon in 2008 and has filled a variety of executive and management roles before being appointed president in April 2015. Prior to joining Axon, Luke served two tours in Iraq as a Marine Corps infantry officer and was awarded the Bronze Star with V for valor on his first tour.

Recruitment and retention are huge issues in policing and whether you are trying to get into law enforcement, applying as a lateral transfer to another agency, or if you are a recruitment officer, this is a show you will not want to miss. Rob Cate is the CEO and co-founder of Interview Now, a modern recruitment system for law enforcement. The company makes it easy for agencies to recruit, communicate and manage the next generation of law enforcement officers using automation, modern communication tools and analytics. Interview Now’s text-message-based software is already helping agencies both large and small in 20 states, including the New York State Police, the Memphis Police Department, the Dane County Sheriff’s Office and the Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety.  In this episode of Policing Matters, host Jim Dudley chats with Rob about how his software solution streamlines the policing recruitment process, making it more engaging for potential candidates and more effective for law enforcement agencies.

In this special episode of the Policing Matters podcast, law enforcement, fire and EMS leaders from across the Lexipol media sites come together to reflect on the 20th anniversary of the September 11, 2001, attacks. Policing Matters podcast host Jim Dudley looks back on the industry-altering event with Inside EMS host Chris Cebollero, Side Alpha Podcast host Fire Chief Marc Bashoor and EMS One-Stop host Rob Lawrence.

Dr. Ervin Staub studied the roots of violence between groups after living through the horrors of Nazism and then communism in Hungary. His best-known book is “The Roots of Evil: The Origins of Genocide and Other Group Violence,” in which he explores the psychological, cultural and societal roots of group aggression.  After the Rodney King incident in 1991, Dr. Staub was invited to create a peer intervention training program for the LAPD with the goal of lowering the number and degree of uses of force. Then in 2014, he and other consultants assisted the New Orleans Police Department’s in developing EPIC (Ethical Policing is Courageous) training, designed to educate, empower and support patrol officers to play a meaningful role in “policing” each other. Georgetown Law's Project ABLE (Active Bystandership for Law Enforcement) peer intervention program builds upon EPIC and Dr. Staub’s research to prepare officers to successfully intervene to prevent harm and to create a law enforcement culture that supports pee

Over the past year, we’ve seen school districts nationwide scrutinize the deployment of school resource officers, with several cities moving to remove SROs from schools. In this episode of Policing Matters, host Jim Dudley chats with Mo Canady, executive director of the National Association of School Resource Officers, about the critical role SROs play, including addressing student mental health issues as children return to the classroom following a year of virtual education.

Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that has contributed to many of the 91,000 overdose deaths in America over the past year. This Schedule II drug is said to be 80-100 times more potent than morphine. A recent video of a San Diego sheriff deputy who collapsed after he was exposed to fentanyl in the field went viral and led to much discussion about the risks of exposure. In this episode of Policing Matters host Jim Dudley chats with John M. Williams, Sr., MD, MPH, about the hazards of fentanyl and how officers can minimize risks.

As Lexipol’s own Gordon Graham is wont to say, “Predictable is preventable” and that is probably true when it comes to the homicide spikes nationwide in 2020 and 2021. In a recent article in the Wall Street Journal, former Baltimore Police Department officer and professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice Peter Moskos wrote, “Civil unrest and calls for police accountability don’t directly cause an increase in murders and other violence. The danger is when antipolice sentiment rises to the point where policing is seen as the primary problem to be solved rather than as an essential part of maintaining public order and safety. Onerous restrictions on the police can lead to the worst of both worlds: poorer policing and more violence…Mayors, city councils and police chiefs must accept responsibility for dramatic increases in street violence under their leadership, and they must be ready to defend the legal and necessary use of force by police.”  In this episode of Policing Matters host Jim Dudley chats wit

You may have seen the viral video of a masked suspect in San Francisco astride his bicycle deep down an aisle of a retail drug store, corralling armloads of expensive makeup and sundries into a plastic garbage bag on his bicycle handlebars. There is a security officer in the frame, recording the brazen grand theft burglary with his cellphone. He even takes a swipe for the bag as the criminal escapes with his loot. In this episode of Policing Matters, host Jim Dudley speaks with consumer finance expert Erica Sandberg about how the increase in property crimes and retail theft impacts business districts and erodes community safety and quality of life.

If you review the FBI report on active shooter incidents from 2000-2019, you will find that in 277 incidents, there were 2,430 casualties, including 1,546 wounded and 877 deaths. We have seen recent spikes in mass shootings in 2021 already. What is the answer? How can we limit or stop the increasing number of mass shooters? In this episode of Policing Matters, host Jim Dudley speaks with attorney Katherine Schweit, who spent 20 years with the FBI as a Special Agent executive. After the Sandy Hook massacre, she was assigned to head the FBI’s active shooter program where she authored the FBI’s seminal research, A Study of 160 Active Shooter Incidents in the United States, 2000-2013. Through her extensive experience, Schweit has become an expert in active shooters, mass shootings, and security policies and procedures. She is the author of the book, “Stop the Killing: How to End the Mass Shootings Crisis” set to be released by Rowman and Littlefield on August 15th, and runs Schweit Consulting LLC, providing lead

Host Jim Dudley continues his reports from the FBINAA 57th Annual National Conference in Orlando, Florida. In this episode, Jim speaks with former past president of the IACP Chief Don De Lucca, who now serves as a public safety ambassador for WRAP Technologies, about how the company’s device – the BolaWrap – aids law enforcement officers in safely restraining resistant subjects.

There is currently a shift away from holding suspects responsible for the consequences of their decisions to placing blame on the officer's use of force. This concept of “officer-created jeopardy” is being debated among academics and used to inform changes in police training and response. In this episode, Jim Dudley talks with Lewis “Von” Kliem, editor of the Force Science Institute’s FSI Newsletter bulletin, about police use of force training, de-escalation, qualified immunity and other use of force issues, as well as a recent article he authored about a new report that shows San Francisco police peacefully resolved 99.9% of crisis-related calls.

This week, host Jim Dudley reports from the FBINAA 57th Annual National Conference in Orlando, Florida. In this episode, he chats with Below 100 instructor Sergeant Jeff Welch about the tenets of this officer safety initiative that aims to eliminate preventable line-of-duty police deaths and serious injuries through training that focuses on areas under an officer’s control.

Policing often involves personal communications between the officer and a variety of other actors including peers, supervisors, citizens, crime victims and offenders, yet development of communication skills receives little attention in the police academy. Emotional intelligence is a key part of being a successful communicator, as well as providing benefits in many areas of your life. On this episode of Policing Matters, host Jim Dudley chats with Dr. Michael Goold and Dr. Obed Magny about the need for agencies to provide training for officers to develop their emotional intelligence skills.   ABOUT OUR GUESTS Dr. Michael Goold retired as a chief of police after 23 years in law enforcement. He served in many capacities including patrol officer, communications center supervisor, corrections watch commander and CSI/detective division assistant commander. His doctoral dissertation examined traumatic stress and 9-1-1 personnel. He is a certified executive coach and certified facilitator in emotional intelligence

It cannot be overstated that 2020 was a tough year for anyone connected with public safety and 2021 seems to be on par for the same level of stress, although hopefully to a lesser extent, experienced by our police, sheriffs, 911 emergency communications personnel, firefighters, EMS providers and others. There is good news that comes in the form of support and wellness for these heroes and their families and support groups. Cordico is a wellness application that addresses the needs of our public safety family.  On this episode of Policing Matters, host Jim Dudley chats with Cordico founder and president Dr. David Black about his work to provide customized, confidential, mobile wellness applications for law enforcement agencies nationwide.

Body-worn cameras first began to be deployed in the mid-2000s in the UK and the early 2010s in the United States, primarily to capture on-scene statements and video evidence relating to domestic violence incidents. The use of these cameras soon morphed into a police “monitoring” tool in order to “catch” officers doing something wrong. In reality, the majority of body-worn camera videos show officers doing professional and heroic work while facing extreme danger, as well as dispute fraudulent citizen complaints against LEOs. On this episode of Policing Matters, host Jim Dudley chats with Jason Dombkowski, who serves as director of law enforcement relations for BodyWorn by Utility, Inc., and Bill McAuliffe, the director of professional services for Lexipol, about new BWC technologies and policy-based recording that are helping improve officer safety. Jason retired as Chief of Police in January 2019 after 25 years of service with the West Lafayette (Indiana) Police Department. Under his leadership, his agency

As the policing scrutiny continues around issues such as use of force and broken windows policing to traffic stops and other enforcement operations, communities say they are left out of the loop when it comes to how their local law enforcement agencies operate. Is it time to provide more interaction and transparency in how we deal with policing policies and the community? On this episode of Policing Matters, host Jim Dudley chats with two experts in the field of police and public policy, Dr. Darl H. Champion, Sr., Professor Emeritus of Justice Studies at Methodist University in Fayetteville, NC, and Chief Harold Medlock who served as chief of police for the Fayetteville Police Department and for over two decades with the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department. Discussion points include the importance of police transparency, how to conduct meetings with the public and the topics police departments should consider for discussion.

Has your career been just like a crime novel? Are you working from whodunnit to whodunnit? Are there really crime masterminds, syndicates and secret organizations intent on doing harm? Marc Cameron was a law enforcement officer and detective with the Weatherford Police Department before accepting a position with the United States Marshals Service, where he served as a deputy, fugitive task force commander, supervisory deputy, senior inspector and chief. He is also an award-winning author known for the Jack Ryan series, which is part of the Tom Clancy universe, as well as for the critically acclaimed Jericho Quinn series of action-adventure novels. On this episode of Policing Matters, host Jim Dudley chats with Marc about how he made the transition from police work to crime writing, how much of his own experiences go into the novels, and how he is living up to the expectations of carrying on the mantle of Tom Clancy.