Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40AMERICAN POLICE BEAT: NOVEMBER 2016 35 T he off-duty police officer who stopped the man suspected of stabbing nine people in a St. Cloud mall was naturally on the receiv- ing end of praise for his outstanding heroics. Jason F. Falconer likely saved others from harm and/or death. Falconer is a former police chief, a police marksman and the owner of Tactical Advantage and Tactical Ad- vantage Firearms Training. Like most real-deal heroes, Falconer does not consider himself as such and has been reluctant to do interviews. “I’ve been trying to stay away from it all for the time being,” said Falconer, a medal-winning marksman who operates a firearms training business in neigh- boring Waite Park. St. Cloud Mayor Dave Kleis said at a news confer- ence that Falconer’s “life was clearly in danger” during what had been an unevent- ful shopping trip for the part-time officer. “Officer Falconer was there at the right time and the right place,” Kleis said. That place, where the as- sailant died, was inside Ma- cy’s. St. Cloud Police Chief William Anderson told re- porters that things could have turned out differently. Police Officer and Trainer Jason F. Falconer. Image courtesy of whotv.com “This could have been much, much worse if not for Falconer’s swift and di- rect response to the chaos, Gov. Mark Dayton said in a statement released to the Minneapolis Star Tribune. He added that he is deeply grateful to the heroic law enforcement officer, whose swift response prevented an even worse attack. U.S. Senator Amy Klobu- char said, “While we will learn more about the facts surrounding this horrific attack today, one thing we know for certain this morn- ing. Due to the courageous actions of an off-duty area police officer, the good work of first responders, and the reaction of those present at the mall, lives were saved.” Hero cop takes down mall stabber If there’s one thing that most people can agree is just dumb, it’s the kind of zero tolerance policies that would get a kid kicked out of school for doing exactly what he should have. In an infuriating story out of Michigan, twelve-year-old Kyler Davies found a knife in a leather case inside his backpack. He was confused because he hadn’t put it there. But it was a bag his mother bought at Goodwill and the knife was probably already in it. Kyler, a student at Cold- water Community Schools in Branch County, Michi- gan, found a counselor and reported the knife imme- diately – you know, “see something, say something.” But now he’s been sus- pended. Not for a day, a week or month but for one full year. Davies’ mother said the school even tried to keep her son from playing football. “The school told me he could not go on their prop- erty, he could not play; he can’t ride the bus with his team because it’s a Coldwa- ter bus,” she said. The great thing about zero tolerance policies like the one apparently in place at Coldwater Community Schools is that they make life for teachers, counselors and administrators very easy. On the other hand, these policies are actively teach- ing kids not to trust people in positions of authority – whether it’s a police officer or a guidance counselor. Teaching kids to fear authorities On the one hand, the kid tried to do the right thing and got screwed. On the other hand, this zero tolerance nonsense means I don’t have to worry about it. Thank God for zero tolerance. According to KUTV in Utah, disciplinary action was recently taken on 28 mem- bers of Utah’s law enforce- ment community during a Peace Officer Standards and Training meeting. According to POST coun- cil member and director, Scott Stephenson, that num- ber is unusually high com- pared to past years. But there’s a good reason for that. “It’s an unusual amount in the fact of the sheer num- bers,, but it shouldn’t be alarming because we’re go- ing through the backlog,” Stephenson said. Whether or not that num- ber goes down will depend on how much progress in- vestigators make in terms of going through old cases. Discipline