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Police Chief Magazine|Columns|Chief's Counsel

Chief’s Counsel: Accommodation Requests for PTSD

Police departments are experiencing an increasing number of requests for accommodations from not only returning veterans, but also officers and civilian employees, especially dispatchers, claiming anxiety, workplace stress, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

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Chief’s Counsel: Using an Early Intervention System to Promote Wellness

Recent surveys and studies indicate a notable percentage of police officers experience and are affected by job-related stress and anxiety, in addition to stress stemming from personal matters. These s...

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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...