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Police Chief Magazine|Columns|Chief's Counsel

Chief’s Counsel: Partnering with Mental Health Providers to Improve Outcomes

Rarely a week goes by without a news report involving unfortunate and often disastrous interactions between armed law enforcement officers and individuals with mental health issues.

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Chief’s Counsel: Street Takeovers

The image is familiar. A crowd is gathered, yelling and forming a circle around an intersection. Mere feet away, vehicles slide, smoke, and spin, accelerating in a circle at a high rate of speed. Pass...

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Chief’s Counsel: Providing Equal Access During Police Interactions with Individuals with Disabilities

The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) is a U.S. civil rights law that protects the rights of individuals with disabilities. Title II of the ADA prohibits public entities from excluding any...

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Chief’s Counsel: Visa Programs Designed for Cooperative Victims and Witnesses

The U.S. government does not intend for a victim of a crime who is in the United States unlawfully to be shuttled across borders by the federal immigration authority when that victim is needed for the...

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Chief’s Counsel: What Hath the Court Wrought?

The past year, 2024, has seen the U.S. Supreme Court issue several decisions of importance to police leaders—not just as police officers but as employers and government employees. And there is more ...

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Chief’s Counsel: Officers’ Duty to Intervene

A review of federal court decisions during 2023 confirms that the same principles enunciated in the leading case on the subject, Byrd v. Brishke, which was decided over 50 years ago, are still in pla...

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Chief’s Counsel: Safe and Secure U.S. Elections

The 2024 U.S. General Election will be held on November 5 across all 50 U.S. states. It is impossible to drive down a street, enter a shop, or go for a neighborhood walk without seeing campaign sign...

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Chief’s Counsel: Order in Chaos

Molotov cocktails exploding, bricks smashing into windshields, and the storming of barricades—these chaotic scenes highlight the challenges faced by police personnel during public order events. W...

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Chief’s Counsel: EEOC Pregnant Workers Fairness Act Regulations

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s (EEOC) Final Regulations interpreting the Pregnancy Workers Fairness Act (PWFA) took effect on June 18, 2024.1 In addition to actual pregnancy, ...

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Chief’s Counsel: Protect and Serve

The first duty of any civilized government is to protect the life and property of its people through its military and justice functions.1 Policing’s first duty then is, and must be, to protect co...

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Chief’s Counsel: Decision-Making for No-Knock Warrants

In Jimerson v. Lewis, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit brought to the forefront the complexities involved in the decision-making processes of supervisory and command-level offi...