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Site of the Week A fitting green over white theme echoes throughout the Maui PD website. This Calea accredited agency is well represented by their information-rich website. It covers everything from firearms permits to patrol sectors to an excellent page on agency programs. Patch Traders are welcome too. All of it falls under a top shared border of two Hawaiian badge impressions over a picturesque Hawaiian background. Nice job PD and Webmaster! |
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ROLL CALL A random look at different job-related information of interest to the law enforcement community
Sunday, May 23, 2004 Irrelevant but Interesting The United States Secret Service creates codenames for dignitaries and others that they are sworn to protect. Here are a couple:
Sunday, April 25, 2004 Firearms Training Tip HIDTA is an organization made up of various law enforcement agencies including the DEA. HIDTA is actually an acronym for High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas. It is a nationwide group that provides various resources including information, networking, and training. In the one-week course (which is free) offered in New York, they do a block on firearms. In this block they no longer refer to your non-primary shooting hand as the weak hand. They call it "the other strong hand." While this may seem trivial, referring to a shooting hand as the "weak hand" does kind of suggest lesser skill and ability. Use the link above to visit the New York / New Jersey HIDTA website.
Sunday, April 25, 2004 Newly Uncovered Line of Duty Deaths Steve Weiss and the other amazing and truly dedicated volunteers at the Officer Down Memorial Page website have uncovered two more instances of previously unrecorded line of duty deaths involving New Jersey officers. The first is Isaac Hibbs of the Camden County Sheriff's Office who was killed in 1916, and the second is John Clark of the Harrison Police Department who died in 1897. Please click the above links and leave a memorial message on the pages of these officers. Also, if you are able, we ask that you make a donation to the Officer Down Memorial Page. You can go to their site and click the donation link on the top link bar. The ODMP site is such a necessary part of our culture, and it is run by all volunteers. The people involved are doing God's work, and we cannot thank and tout their efforts enough.
Sunday, April 18, 2004 Law Enforcement Suicide
This is an issue that we like to keep up front. Suicide claims many more officers than line-of-duty-deaths. Statistics vary, but it is estimated that the number of officers who commit suicide is double the rate of those who are murdered while on duty. Some studies suggest that the suicide rate is five times greater. This is so unacceptable. Recently we found another tool to add to the list. It is a website called Tears of a Cop. It is a well-organized, rich-in-content, excellent resource created by Police Officer Robert J Rehl, Jr. This site contains a wealth of information that can be used by an officer suffering from depression or friends and family of an officer suffering from depression. Fixing the problem will almost always require real help, but visiting this site may be a good first step to making the call. Click here to visit the website.
Wednesday, April 7, 2004 State-of-the-Art Training, Room & Board, Full Accommodations and Free? It's called the Northeast Counterdrug Training Center, and there are two locations. The first is located in Fort Indiantown Gap, Pennsylvania. The other is in Volk Field, Wisconsin. It's not just narcotics training either. They offer classes covering everything from Interview and Interrogation to Grant Writing to Search Warrant Execution. Many of their classes are held over several days, but they provide full lodging and meals at no cost to your agency. And again, there is no tuition to attend any of their classes. Yes, the entire course will cost your agency nothing. It is an excellent way to get your officers state-of-the-art training as well as rewarding officers for accomplishments. Most officers immensely enjoy going to schools, and this one is one of the finest. Click here to visit their website.
Wednesday, April 7, 2004 Investigations and Hypnosis Using hypnosis during criminal investigations is certainly not a widely used or accepted practice in New Jersey law enforcement. However, the tool of hypnosis has been hanging around the outer fringes of law enforcement for some time. We recently found a website that discusses the place of hypnosis in modern-day law enforcement. The site was designed by a law enforcement officer who took an interest in using hypnosis in cases where other leads had been exhausted. It is a quick and very interesting read. The author sites all of his sources, and there are links for additional information. Having at least a familiarity with hypnosis and its possible uses in investigations is probably a good thing for all investigators. Click here to visit the site.
Sunday, March 21, 2004 Federal Inmate Locator This one was sent to us by one of our readers. Thanks Manny.
The United States Bureau of Prisons has an Inmate Locator feature on their website. The database contains Federal prisoners from 1982 to present. A search may be conducted by the inmate's Register number, DCDC number, FBI number, INS number, or by using the inmate's first and last name. We will also add this resources to our Investigative Resources page.
To visit the website, click here.
Sunday, March 14, 2004 Terrorism Abu Sayyaf Group. Islamic Jihad. Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades. Hezbollah. Hamas. FARC. ETA. Who are these groups, and what do they want?
While the chances of a line officer having direct dealings with any international terrorist group are very slim, professional law officers today should be at least acquainted with the various terrorist organizations.
The recent deadly attacks in Madrid, Spain have been speculated by some to be the work of ETA, a group little known to most Americans until now. ETA stands for Euskadi ta Askatasuna, which means “Basque Fatherland and Liberty” in the Basque language. The Basques are a distinct Christian group that want their independence from Spain. They live in a mountainous region between Spain and France.
We found an excellent website that covers terrorism and its practitioners from A to Z. It is called TerrorismAnswers.com. We strongly recommend you visit and educate yourself a bit.
Monday, March 8, 2004 Calibre Press - The Website Calibre Press, the Texas based company, is primarily known for the Street Survival seminars they give around the nation. Calibre Press also has an excellent website which contains many articles, a nationwide law enforcement message board, resources, and an online catalog of their products. Most of the site is limited to law enforcement only. Click here to visit the Calibre Press Website.
Sunday, March 7, 2004 Top 10 Stolen Cars For those of you who like running MDT checks in the parking lots of no-tell motels at 3:30 a.m., this list is for you. Below are the top ten stolen cars for 2003. This list is adjusted for the number of vehicles on the road.
Cadillac Escalade 4WD Dodge Stratus Mitsubishi Mirage Jeep Wrangler 4WD Lincoln Navigator 2WD Dodge Intrepid Lincoln Navigator 4WD Dodge Ram 1500 Ford Expedition 2WD Chrysler Sebring
Wednesday, February 18, 2004 Iraq Wants You In the mood for some serious adventure? How about a one-year term of service in Baghdad as a police officer.
We received an email from a company called International Police Programs (IPM) which has been contracted by the US Department of Defense to recruit up to 1000 police officers of all ranks to help the Iraqi citizens organize effective civilian law enforcement, judicial, and correctional agencies. The minimum term of service is one year, and officers would be armed and working in plain clothes positions. The pay structure is as follows:
Senior Police Advisors and Section Chiefs: $153,600.00 Judicial Officers: $104,000.00 All Other Positions: $75,076.92
There are also available positions in East Timor and Kosovo. Click here to visit their website.
February, 2004 Accident Reconstruction Calculator We found this site some time ago. It contains a calculator for accident reconstruction. Admittedly, we have zero knowledge in the immensely complicated area of accident reconstruction. If any traffic safety officers have any feedback good or bad about this resource, give us an email. Click here to visit the site.
February, 2004 Language Translation Website There is a website we found that allows you to enter text and have it translated to English or from English to several different languages. Right now the site includes English, Spanish, French, Italian, German, Dutch, Portuguese, Norwegian, and Chinese. It is an excellent tool for law enforcement, but be careful as the translations are not always exact. The site is www.Freetranslation.com.
February, 2004 Anti-Cop Website One of our readers gave us this one. There is a website that conducts investigations of area law enforcement officers. While their exact mission is somewhat unclear, they seem to have a strong disdain for law enforcement. A quick scan of the site suggests that they are another anti-police misconduct site which is fine. There are hundreds of those on the web. However, a more detailed look shows that they gather personal information of officers including name, address, home phone number, email address and post same on their site or link to such information on a different site. They also post pictures of undercover law officers. They primarily target NYPD, but some New Jersey agencies and officers have also been depicted. While we do not normally post links to anti-law enforcement sites, you might want to take a look at this one and make sure that you are not featured. Click here to take a look.
February, 2004 Ricin Last month British Police discovered Ricin in a North London Apartment. They made four arrests and believe that there are links to al-Qaeda. Ricin is an extremely dangerous substance that usually can be found in a white powdery form.
Ricin was a concern once before back in the 1990's. In fact, DEA had dispatched an alert to all US Law Enforcement. In that case, it was suspected that drug traffickers were mixing Ricin with cocaine. Since this dangerous weapon has resurfaced, officers should be familiar with it. Following is a portion of that original alert describing Ricin. Again, this is not a current alert. It is the text from an old one, but it explains Ricin well.
This alert advises that nationwide trend among drug traffickers is to "bait" law enforcement officers with a white powder called RICIN. RICIN is a derivative of Castor beans and looks like powder methamphetamine. It is highly toxic and if it contacts human skin, it is fatal. The death process takes several days, depending upon the dosage, and is almost impossible to detect during an autopsy.
Forensic experts advise that if you field test RICIN in the Scott Reagent
Kit, it will foam and bubble extensively. The test will also produce a gas
that is very similar to mustard gas and can also be lethal if inhaled.
RICIN is
Due to this situation, in the event of suspect drug seizures, do not come into direct skin contact with any powdered substances, and exhibit caution of field testing any powdered substances.
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Line of Duty Deaths Baton Rouge PD, LA EOW: May 22, 2004 Cause: Gunfire
Tabor City PD, NC EOW: May 15, 2004 Cause: Vehicle pursuit |