Blue Sheepdog
Police Gear Reviews, Training and Officer Safety Tips.
Updated: 2 days 13 hours ago
Meth Lab Dangers: Who Enters First?
I had an interesting call tonight. A woman calls from a residence stating that she thinks her roommate is trying to cook meth. She tells the 911 operator that he is heating acid on the kitchen stove, lots of noxious smoke is in the house, and she and/or someone else inside the residence is having […]
Smith and Wesson M&P Pistols Adopted by More Departments
Smith and Wesson has always been a mainstay in the police sidearm market. Smith and Wesson’s latest pistol series, the Military and Police (M&P), has become wildly popular with officers and citizens alike. To date, more than 330 police departments have issued the M&P pistol as the standard handgun in 9mm, .40 S&W, or .45 […]
Foot Pursuits: Use Care When Chasing Suspects
Police officers receive a lot of training in vehicle pursuits, yet most cops get very little training in foot pursuits. The reason comes down to lawsuits. If an officer initiates a vehicle pursuit and subsequently the suspect or officer strike an uninvolved citizen, the officer’s city will be facing an expensive lawsuit. If the same […]
Field Training Officer Burnout: A Real Problem in Many Agencies
Field Training and Evaluation Programs (FTEP) are the foundations that police agencies use to build quality, career police officers. When a recruit officer is teamed up with motivated, knowledgeable field training officers, that recruit stands a very good chance of becoming a motivated, knowledgeable officer also. The often overlooked benefit of a quality FTEP program […]
New Firearm Site: Guns Holsters and Gear
Based on several conversations I have had with some of my readers here and some people in the firearms industry, I have started a new firearms and gear site at GunsHolstersAndGear.com. The new web site will focus on, that’s right, Guns Holsters and Gear. There will also be general shooting information, self defense articles, and […]
Pelican 7060 LED Police Flashlight: 130 Lumens from a Rechargable LED Flashlight Based on LAPD Specs
The Los Angeles Police Department to develop this light. While I have been told that the LAPD specs may have been politically motivated, the fact of the matter is Pelican developed what appears to be a darn good tactical light for police work. The 7060 advertises a brightness of 130 lumens, which is highly impressive. […]
Combat Verbalization: Police Officers Should Train to Verbalize During Combat
An interesting thing happened the other day. I was acting as cover officer on a call regarding a drunk vagrant. In addition to the me and the other officer, two firefighter-EMTs and two paramedics were on scene. The paramedics had already made the decision to involuntarily transport the vagrant to a nearby hospital due to […]
Armed Response Book Review: A Comprehensive Guide to Using Firearms for Self Defense
One of the books I got for Christmas this year was Armed Response: A Comprehensive Guide to Using Firearms for Self-Defense. I thoroughly enjoyed reading the book. I found the writing style kept my interest and the content was well researched. Armed Response is an excellent book that introduces the reader to the use of […]
Meth Tweakers: Officer Safety Training Tips
Methamphetamine is one of the more dangerous drugs on the street. The manufacture of meth in clandestine labs uses acids, ammonias, and a host of other dangerous chemicals. During the process, things like phosphene gas and yellow phosphorus can be produced with deadly results. It is a nasty process. As dangerous as the meth lab […]
In The Gravest Extreme by Massad Ayoob
In the Gravest Extreme by Massad Ayoob was a phenomenal book written by police training expert Massad Ayoob. Although the book is now out of print, the tome still holds many valuable lessons. Ayoob wrote this book as an introduction to the defensive use of firearms way back in 1980. Ayoob discusses the legal implications and […]
Crime Prevention: Try Incarceration!
Let me rant for a few minutes, if I may. I am tired of the courts not putting and keeping people in prison. I’m not talking about some dirtbag getting off because a police officer made a bad call on a Miranda issue, or should have gotten a search warrant when he didn’t. I’m talking […]
Police Officers Should Carry Guns Off-Duty
I have talked about this before: every police officer should carry at least one firearm off-duty. There are many specific reasons for carrying a handgun when you are not on the job, but they all boil down to one reason: you may need it. There have been plenty of instances where armed, off-duty officers were […]
No Guns for Police Officers at Disney World
Disney World appears to have a strict no gun policy. No law-abiding citizen, including an off-duty police officer, is allowed to carry a firearm, concealed or otherwise, to protect their family from violent predators while at Disney World. I searched Disney’s web site looking for clarification on this policy, but was unable to locate anything. […]
Locked Doors and Lockdowns: Police Officer’s Response to Active Shooters
Spree killers – more often, but less accurately, called active shooters – are a real threat that police officers train to confront. Active shooter incidents have occurred at shopping malls, office buildings, and other locations, but one of the scariest locations is at a school. Many police departments have trained in, or at least familiarized their officers […]
Investigating Domestic Violence Strangulation
Strangulation is a very grave form of battery in domestic violence (DV). By some estimates, about 10% of all women who experience domestic violence will experience a near fatal strangulation by their partner, and they are 7x more likely to be killed by their partner than any other victim of DV. Strangulation is so serious that […]
Suicide Jumpers: An EDP Police Officers Must Train For
Police officers often respond to calls involving EDPs: Emotionally Disturbed Persons. Some of these EDPs are high on drugs, mentally ill, or severely depressed about some event in their life. Suicidal subjects are one of the types of EDP that we have to deal with. Often times a suicidal subject does not have any real […]
Teaching Our Citizens to Protect Themselves
If it wasn’t so sad, I would laugh every time I heard someone say that a police officer’s job is to protect them. Perhaps I should explain… Although we wish it to be otherwise, I doubt there is any police officer who believes that he or she can protect any individual citizen from being harmed by criminals. Well, […]
Is the Use of Light a Use of Force?
Several years ago, I read an article called “Use of Force and High Intensity Tactical Police Flashlights: Policy Concerns.” Since then I have seen it re-printed in various other locations. In the article, R. Paul McCauley, Ph.D., a criminology professor at a university in Pennsylvania, opines that: I don’t know what background, if any, McCauley […]
Roadside Safety: Danger From Passing Vehicles
Making a so-called routine traffic stop poses a lot of potential hazards for a police officer. Officers rarely know the occupants of the vehicle, or what danger they may pose. So, academies and department in-services teach their officers safety and survival skills to give the officer the best possible advantage when dealing with a threat […]
Car 54…Where Are You?: Update Your Dispatchers on Your Location
I know… it seems like a no-brainer. When you get out of the patrol car, let your dispatchers know where you are. Recruit officers have this drilled into their heads by their FTOs, and we know it makes sense. After all, you never know what may happen at any given moment, and in the middle […]