May 2012

Guest Editors: Erin Vermilye, IACP, Scott Brien, IACP, and Stephen Fender, IACP

In this age of austerity, the prospect of providing the best tools and resources to law enforcement has grown increasingly difficult. Executives have been called upon to “do more with less” while being tasked with hometown security as the basis of homeland security. This month’s issue of Police Chief magazine explores officer safety strategies and resources within the broader context of the current climate.

Articles

• National Peace Officers Memorial Day

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• Creating a Culture of Safety

  By Erin Vermilye, Manager, Division of State Associations of Chiefs of Police, IACP Scott Brien, Project Manager, National Center for the Prevention of Violence Against the Police, IACP Stephen Fender, Project Coordinator, National Center for the Prevention of Violence Against the Police, IACP
  The International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) has always considered the safety of all law enforcement officers its top priority. To ensure safety in the face of numerous and varied threats,...

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• Dealing with Downed Suspects: Some Lessons from the VALOR Project about How to Properly Manage the Immediate Aftermath of Officer-Involved Shootings

  By David Klinger, Associate Professor, University of Missouri–St. Louis; and Senior Fellow, the Police Foundation
  The U.S. Bureau of Justice Assistance recently launched the Preventing Violence against Law Enforcement and Ensuring Officer Resilience and Survivability (VALOR) program, an initiative designed to enh...

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• Schedule Matters: The Movement to Compressed Work Weeks

  By Karen L. Amendola, PhD, Chief Operating Officer, Police Foundation, Washington, D.C.
  The compressed work week (CWW) is a schedule in which officers work longer but fewer days in a work cycle. These schedules are not new in policing; since the early 1970s, this topic has been the focus...

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• Shave Seconds, Increase Safety: Innovative Deployment Practices for Critical Equipment Increase Officer Safety

  By Melanie Bevan, EdD, Police Major, Saint Petersburg, Florida, Police Department Charles "Chuck" Harmon, Chief of Police, Saint Petersburg, Florida, Police Department Robert Lord, Officer, Research and Planning, Saint Petersburg, Florida, Police Department
  Located on the central west coast of Florida, Saint Petersburg is Florida’s fourth largest city with approximately 250,000 residents. For nearly 30 years, police officers at the Saint Petersburg Pol...

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• Law Enforcement Suicide: Current Knowledge and Future Directions

  By Daniel W. Clark, PhD, Dept. Psychologist, Washington. State Patrol, and Immediate Past Chair, Police Psychological Services Section (PPSS), IACP Elizabeth K. White, PhD, Law Enforcement Psychologist, Riverside County, California., Human Resources, and Chair, PPSS, IACP John M. Violanti, PhD, New York State Police (Retired), and Associate Research Prof., Univ. at Buffalo, State Univ. of New York, School of Public Health and Health Professions, Dept. of Social & Preventive Medicine
  Is suicide among law enforcement professionals a problem? Various sources report 300 completed police suicides annually.1 Other sources report that a law enforcement office...

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• The Benefits of Law Enforcement Advocates within the Denver Police Department

  By Steve Cooper, Division Chief (Retired), Denver, Colorado, Police DepartmentLilas Rajaee, Director, Treatment Accountability for Safer Communities and Treatment Court Programs, Denver, Colorado, Juvenile Probation DepartmentJulie Madden Rodriguez, Drug Endangered Children?s Liaison, Denver, Colorado, District Attorney's Office
  On 2003, the Denver, Colorado, Police Department partnered with the Denver Juvenile and Family Justice Treatment Accountability for Safer Communities (DJFJ TASC), Colorado Judicial Branch, to create t...

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